Originally Posted by
WhyFi
but I know that many in ye olde times did that and lived to procreate just fine. *shrug* It's just too skittish for me and my brand of gravel.
Which is really the key thing. Most of the "we did gravel just fine on 25mm racing tires back in the day" people make false assumptions about what different folks' gravel is like.
To me, it's the increased weight/moment of inertia/gyroscope effect; mostly when moving the bike side-to-side. Again, I don't think that it translates meaningfully to the stopwatch, but the handling feel is significant to me, and if I want a bike that handles, I want a bike that handles (not that I'm a crit-boy, but still).
I really need to get around to finishing my Black Mountain Road+ build. It'll end up with a trail slightly
lower than typical road racing bikes, and my use of 650b rims should reduce the gyroscopic impact of the 48mm tires. It might end up feeling a lot like a road racing bike.