Originally Posted by
WhyFi
Oh, and the other thing I'll say is this - while I don't think they're (much) slower, big, wide tires still feel sluggish to me. For a bike primarily intended to be run on pavement, I'd maybe run a 32 nominal at the largest, but only if it was a bike where steady power delivery was the norm. Anything that's expected to change speed and/or direction quickly is going to be a 28 nominal.
For tarmac, I have 28mm WAMs on both my road bikes, but will replace one with 30mm WAM (likely GP5ks) - and for my roads, that works plenty well. This bike is entirely for solo rides where speed doesnt matter - so I would be happy to trade off a little bit of speed on the pavement for better handling on dirt trails and some loose-over-hardpack. Now that you mention it, I do remember you saying 60psi for 28mm: so 40-45s for trails? I admit i am paranoid about running too low a pressure - years of ingrained habits to overcome, I guess.
Agree with you about the tires "feeling" sluggish. I suspect it is the lack of bounciness. On a similar vein, my Lynskey always felt a little flexy, even though the speeds didnt reflect it.