Originally Posted by
adamrice
I'm familiar with Jan Heine's crusade for wider tires, and in fact I am riding wide-ish tires. But bikes have limits on how wide your tires can get, and I'm interested in other ways to stay comfortable on long days in the saddle.
How wide are your tires and what is the maximum you can fit in your frame and fork?
Bike touring where I have long days in the saddle, day after day after day after day, for pavement trips I use 37mm or 40mm wide tires. I would not want anything narrower and for a trip with a lot of non-paved riding I will use 50 or 57mm wide tires. Brevets I use 32mm width on a steel frame bike that uses rim brakes.
A friend of mine did not like the harsh ride of his aluminum bike, he bought a steel frame bike with rim brakes that made him much happier. I was surprised that he felt that much of a difference, but he really liked long distance rides on the steel bike much more.