sloar 

Coming from mostly race bikes, I’m a long time member of the 23c club. My current bike came stock with WTB Resolute 700x42 tires. I know the bike is a tank, but the tires feel really slow. 99% of my riding is asphalt. Should I be using a different tire? If so which one and size? Or is this all in my head? Thanks.

Cyclist0108

It's all in the tread.

Well, mostly, if they are otherwise supple tires, being wide shouldn't be a huge performance hit. Compass makes some nice wide tires that won't slow you down much.

If you want narrower tires for some conditions, it might be worth getting a second wheel-set at some point, unless you like changing tires a lot. But they might be too fragile for touring. Conti GP4000 or 5000 might be a good option, as they have very low rolling resistance and tend to run wide relative to their nominal size.

cyccommute 

It's not all in the tread. The number of threads per inch figures into the ride quality...more threads have a more subtle ride. The weight of the tires also figure into the ride. Heavy tires are going to be harder to push around. Weight of the wheels, especially if the rims are wider and heavier, play a role as well.


The fragility of the wheels and tires would depend on their use as well as several other factors. The WTB Resolute appear to be a more off-road oriented tire. A smooth tread road tire used off-road would be inadequate, although not necessarily fragile. But on-road, most any smooth tire would be a good choice. I'm not a fan of Continental but a number of Schwalbe tires would do nicely without being fragile. Panaracer Pasela, Vittoria Randonneurs, Vittoria Zaffiro Pro, or any number of Kendas in at least a 32mm width would do the trick.

Paul Barnard

I racked up about 400 miles on some 32MM Schwalbe Marathons in a variety of terrain including some fairly rocky gravel roads last summer in Colorado. I thought they were very well balanced tires. They were not dead feeling at all. It wasn't loaded touring, but I would not hesitate to tour just about anywhere on those tires.

Carbonfiberboy 

Yep. Not in your head. We tour our 360 lb. all-up touring tandem on 28mm tires, almost always asphalt, very occasionally gravel. We've tried several different tire models by different manufacturers. Our current opinion is that the Conti 4000 IIs in 28mm on 23mm (outside) rims are the best we've run both for resistance and flat resistance. We have not run "stupid-slow" tires like Gatorskins or Marathons. If we flat ~every 2000 miles, we really don't mind it. Gives us a nice break. Conti's new tire is the 5000 in 28 and 32mm. We have a pair of those in 28mm but are still trying to wear out our current 4000 models.

MarcusT

A wider tire would definitely feel slower due to increased weight and lower tire pressure, but if you are on the touring forum, it means you are touring, meaning you have a load to carry. I use 38, but will switch to 42, for comfort, durability. Why wider tires? Many times touring takes you onto gravel roads (or cow paths), or having a rider+bike+gear weighing 300 lbs, not sure I would trust 23 tires on a steep downhill with hairpin turns.
But it's all preference

boomhauer

very few times have I camped 10 yards off the asphalt. You need to be prepared for that.

revcp 

I agree with all this. I've ridden the Paselas in 35 and Vittorias in 37(Voyageur Hyper), and found them to be not as puncture proof as the 35 mm Schwalbes, even the Marathon Supreme. All three are very nice rolling tires.

fietsbob

If feeling insecure, bring a spare 3rd tire .. best tire goes on the front wheel..

Carbonfiberboy 

Good point. I never ride any bike more than a few blocks without a spare tire. A light 28mm only weighs 250g. A really nice thing about a spare is that if one flats, one just swaps tire and tube and worries about finding out why later. Saves time and secondary flats. We always carry 1 spare tire and 2 tubes plus patch and boot kit. With a 28mm tire, the 19-26 tubes work fine and are small and light. Hilarious that some people think one can't ride to a campsite on 28mm tires. Reminds me of an article spoofing a motorcycle tourist's prep work where he welded up his panniers from 1/4" plate.

BlarneyHammer

42 mm is wide for paved touring, but good if you know there'll be a fair amount of gravel. The most typical widths for paved touring tend to hover around 35 mm. If you're used to 23 mm, and both you and your gear are light, 32 mm might be the best choice.

Getting the exact same tire in 32 mm instead of 42 mm can make a difference of 200 g per tire, or 400 g total. That's almost a whole pound. Combine that with narrower tubes and we're probably up to a full pound in weight. And that's rotational weight, which, from a physics perspective, is 3-4 times as important. By switching to 32 mm tires, you're effectively making your bike 3-4 pounds lighter, in addition to less rolling resistance.

Some people pay a lot of money to make their road bikes 1-2 ounces lighter. Dropping from 42 to 32 mm is an order of magnitude greater than that, and the lower rolling resistance is icing on the cake. You'll be sacrificing a little comfort, but 32 mm is plenty for pavement on a lightweight setup (especially when I'm a lightweight myself).

pdlamb

"Feels slow" doesn't always mean slow (although sometimes it does). Have you compared your times to ride a few routes with 23s and with your new bike?

The high-frequency road shock that buzzes your high-pressure tires, and you can feel in your hands and saddle, is easy to confuse with speed. Wider tires soak up some of that buzz, so you don't feel it, but it doesn't mean you're going slower.

And since you're touring, if it ends up you are riding slower, stop and take a picture.

3speed

As many here are saying, definitely ditch those tires if you don't care for them. I love the 700x32c Vittoria Hyper. Sadly they stopped producing this tire, but you can find them on websites sometimes. Last time I needed some I got them from planetx cycles online. Basically you want to go for the lightest, most supple touring tire you can find. 32mm width with a smooth, road tread is fine for paved roads. If you're used to running 23mm tires, you'd likely even be happy on a 28-30mm. If you tend to flat a lot, I'd go for the Schwalbe Marathon Supreme. If not, just whatever you can find that's light and supple. Higher TPI(threads per inch) is typically a sign of a better tire for that.

djb

this makes me remember buying a touring bike in 90 or 91, and changing the stock 32 or whatever they were for some much lighter 28 slicks, and I still remember the first rides after the switch, and how the bike was just more lively.

so yes, while you did go and buy this bike , which comes stock with 42s, if you see you are always riding on good pavement, putting on some nice 32s will transform how the bike feels, which you will probably like, and still be ok for dirt roads (depending)
I rode on all kinds of roads with the 28s, and still do on another bike, so it does come down to preferences, and what you are comfortable on depending on the surface.

the neat thing with that bike is that you can easily switch back to wider if need be, or whatever inbetween.

and as others mentioned, there are really nice, supple 32-40 tires out there, so you have all kinds of options and playing around with diff ones.

JaccoW

I'm running 35-622 Continental Urban GP's. Really nice for paved riding and wide enough for some unpaved riding.

The Schindelhauer version has a really nice brown sidewall but the black ones with a hidden reflective stripe are a lot cheaper.

3speed

^ Dude! I've never seen those before! Thanks for the heads up on my next tire! If you have a chance to check, how do they measure, and what rims are you running? I'm curious to know if they're true to size.

JaccoW

I'm running these on H+Son TB14 rims. I can measure them later this week if you want.

jefnvk

I'm personally a big fan of the Clement (think they might be Donolley now?) USH. They're 35, but give a nice "slick" center tread pattern for the hard stuff and diamond tread on the sidewalls. Can get them in 60 or 120TPI, I'm running 60 and they feel great.

djb

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but certainly be aware that the actual width is very much dependant on the actual rim width. So not an easy answer to knowing if they are true to size.

my 2in 50mm Supremes measure 45mm on my rims, but I cant recall the outer or inner width of my rims, except I do know they are on the narrower side ish.

3speed

^ That's why I also asked what rims he was running. I figure I can look up the internal width of his rims and compare to my own and have a pretty good idea of tire width.

djb

does rim inner or outer width make the only difference, or are there different rim depths also that can play a part?

I should remeasure my rims that do the 50 to 45 change as a reference, I'll go do an outer width measure right now, or I'll never remember to do it again.....

interesting, my rims are 23mm exterior. I checked the stock rims on my wifes Troll, Alex adventurer 2 and they are 27mm exterior.

My wifes bike comes stock with 2.5in tires, 63mm which I'm fairly certain measured out to quite close to that before I took them off.
My rims originally had 2.5in mtb tires on it, and while I bought it used, had been set up like that from the get go, so they must have worked without problems as the guy had the bike for a few years. I put those 2.5 mtb tires on an old mtb of mine, on the front where it would fit into the fork, and road that bike in winter and had no problems ever, even at lowish pressures to help with riding on snow and ice.

roomenrider

i like gator skin or matron plus

3speed

I don't think rim depth would make any difference. I can't think of a way it would affect tire width at all.

ColonelSanders

What bike are you using these tyres on?

sloar 

2018 Marin Four Corners