lyradmil

Hi guys, anyone has photos of their upgraded Birdy3s to 20-inch wheels to share? How is the fold post-upgrade, and what are the pros/cons? Would mostly be doing long rides/touring; which tyres would be good post upgrade? Am currently using the schwalbe marathons on my 18-inch.

Appreciate the advise!

ttakata73

By going to 20 you are getting a taller but skinnier tire so rollover will be better but less grip, less comfort, and more resistance.
I think for regular roads a fatter tire is safer and more comfortable which is why I have left mine with 18".

grayrest

These very much depend on the tires involved. As far as I know, the main tires available in 355 are Schwalbe Marathon Racers and Kojaks. I know Panaracer makes a Minits Lite for BD-1 but it seems to be Japan only and I've only seen it on Ebay. You could easily go to 349 wheels to get into a broader tire selection, though I believe the fastest available tires are Comet Primos but I haven't looked that carefully. Moving up to 406 gives the broadest selection of tires where I'm fairly sure the fastest options are Schwalbe Pro-Ones / G-One Speeds, Greenspeed Scorchers, and Continental Contact Speeds. I've seen testing I trust showing them all as quite a bit faster than equivalent Kojaks so I expect them to be very unlikely to have more rolling resistance.

I've debated making the switch from 355 to 406 and if I knew the 40mm tires would clear I'd probably do it but I'm not that thrilled about going to 28-406. Despite being somewhat slow the Marathon Racers on my Birdy are actually pretty good at handling the glass on the road I run into on a regular basis.