Road Fan

Other tires worth considering: Panasonic Pasela. Made by the same company that makes the Compass tires - supple but not as supple, much cheaper, very strong and robust, and often true to size. It's a nice all-rounder, unless you will have significant mud and snow.

bruce19

This year I replaced my Mavic clinchers and 25 tires with Mavic USTs and 25 tires. Much smoother.

Drew Eckhardt 

1. Inflate your tires to an appropriate pressure. I can drop below 70 psi without pinch flats although handling is getting a bit squishy, so I start the week at 80psi front / 90psi rear.
2. Run wider tires so you can run lower pressure.
3. Ride better tires that are more supple. I like Continental's GP4000SII as a good balance between ride quality, flat resistance, and longevity (4500 miles up front, then 4500 in back).

There's no reason today to ride 23mm tires now that the fastest tires come in 25, 28, and even 32mm. The lower rolling resistance from 25mm at the same pressure offsets the aerodynamic drag. Jan Heine (who makes supple Compass tires in widths past 40mm) contends that quality tires are no slower up to even 50mm, with pressures below 40 and even 30 psi allowing plush rides on horrid pavement.

https://www.renehersecycles.com/how-...should-i-ride/





For example, you’re a 140 pound rider on a 20 pound bicycle for 160 total. With a 45/55% weight distribution that’s 72 pounds on the front wheel and 88 on the rear. Running 23mm tires shoot for 75 psi front and 90 psi rear.

Higher pressures can be slower, or at least not appreciably faster than more comfortable ones.

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Drew Eckhardt 

You don't want to do that.

The Gatorskins are durable because they have thick carcasses. Stiff carcasses make the ride bumpier. They have higher losses due to hysteresis and take an extra 10-15W to maintain 20 MPH. When I did the math, I discovered I'd be faster riding better tires and changing a flat every five hours on long rides noting I can spend fifteen minutes including a methodical search for embedded debris.

If you're not riding on sharp gravel that might cut your sidewall you want a different tire.

To my surprise, I found that Continental GP4 Seasons and GP4000s didn't flat more outside the rainy season when even Gatorskins picked up tire wire. GP4s got half the life, GP4000s got within 10% of the mileage, so I settled on GP4000s (GP4000SII) after wearing out my first set of 4 seasons.

2manybikes

If you're going to be on Pavement, lowering your tire pressure 10 psi can make as big a difference as all of the things mentioned. What pressure do you ride on? if you're around 100 psi or more, try 90 psi. It's been working for me for a few decades. I've done century rides with 25s at 60 psi. No cost to experiment.

tkamd73 

You’ll be fine with the Gatorskins, been running them, size 700x 28c, on all my rides for the last 4 years. After a bit of experimenting, 75psi front, 85 psi rear. Really smoothed out the ride, on our not so smooth Wisconsin roads, as a bonus no flats in the past 4 years either.
Tim

curbtender

Carbon stem and seatpost helps also. When going with larger tires it's not always the width that's an issue but the height.

Wildwood 

Anyone who thinks 40+mm tires @ 30-40psi on pavement, have the same rolling/aero resistance (ie., 'are no slower') than 23/25/28mm at approx 90-100psi is delusional or grinding a personal axe or flat lying. Much more of a 'plush' or mushy ride = yes.

davei1980

If by "anyone" you mean "scientists and researchers" then fine, go live in your own reality. I would also posit this is dangerous advice to people looking to for advice on commuting because narrower tires are inherently less safe than relatively wider ones in a commuting environment for many reasons. And no, I have no axe to grind and no dog in this fight, on the contrary, the industry WANTS us to believe narrorwer tires are better for several reasons, not the least of which is they're cheaper to produce and ship = more corporate profits. If the dark forces of late stage capitalism are on one side of this debate, it's the skinny-tire side, for sure.

23mm tires at or near 100PSI only FEEL faster when in reality you loose many watts by rolling over imperfections in the pavement (chipseal, cracks, small rocks, etc) than much more supple tires (wider, lower pressure) because there is no force required to lift you and your bike over each small object.

You're correct in a controlled velodrome and narrower tires also do have an aero advantage but beyond that, most people would do best to run the widest possible (given frame and fork and brake caliper limits), 60-120TPI tires with little or no tread on pavement for the best results.

TinyTm

Thanks sounds like the tires I’m getting!

DaveSSS 

Gator skins ride poorly. I put some on my bike last year and regretted it. If you want a long lasting tire that's still supple, try Michelin Power Endurance tires. The tread is very long lasting and the ride quality is good.

TinyTm

You hit the nail on the head! I installed 28's Continental Grand Prix 4-season tires, 60psi front and 70 rear (very smooth riding). I shaved 2 mins off my 10 mile run and gained 2 mph faster on my over all average speed! Also what a difference in the ride, the bumps and imperfections on the road I avoided before because it was jarring my teeth out where no issue what so ever. I purposely hit some bad areas just to see how the bike would take it and of course no issues, thanks to you and the others for the information here. I thought I enjoyed riding before but after my upgrades yesterday I can't wait to hit the road today!!!

Bill in VA

+1 on the Continental GP4000-SII (have not tried the new GP5000), but the 28s ran closer to 30 on my Alexrim A23. They are my second favorite 28mm tire after the Compass/Rene Herse Chinook Pass (standard weight)

George

You riders that put how much air you put in your tires, should put how much you weigh as well. Make a big difference. Thanks.

tim24k

TinyTm,
I run Schwalbe Kojak 700c 35 at 85 psi They roll very good and don’t beat up your backside. Also you can use gel inserts under a good cork bar tape that will help greatly for your ether end. :}

livedarklions

Might be enough to say that the heavier the load, the higher the minimum safe tire pressure for any given tire size.

rollagain

No one had mentioned sprung handlebar stems yet, so I'll just add that. Probably a non-starter, since TinyTim seems pretty happy just with the new tires. Just another option, and I have no experience with them, so it would be an experiment.

robnol

fatter tires and lower pressure

1Lieutenant

Everyone seems to have nailed it. I went from 23 to 25 Schwalbe Ultremo on my Look 566 and was greatly pleased with the improvement in ride comfort. After 10 years I upgraded to my current ride Look 765 that came with 28 mm tubeless. Not sure if it is just the ability to run lower pressure, but these are really smooth.

in my never ending quest for a soft, but fast, ride I have made a few other modifications that have worked quite well. A extra layer of Cinelli cork tape layered over the top portion of the bars. The area I ride on most. I added a Specialized Roubaix seat post. The one with the ugly goose neck but with 15-20 mm of shock absorption. Also a Redshift Sports shock absorption stem. The elastomer inserts absorb up to 20 mm as well. These last two really help to reduce vibration and harsh shocks. When riding I periodically check my tires to see if they have gone soft because the ride is so smooth.

Phil_gretz

In a thread loaded with misinformed guesses and witch-doctory, this is the correct response ^. /close thread

Afdica

Here is a guide that I have been using for years and years. It's a good starting point and you can make adjustments from there. Sorry I don't have the exact source. I only had it for road bikes. I just remember that I cut and paste it to a file:

Calculate Rear tire pressure:
Tire Width=20: Pressure(psi) = (0.33 * Rider Weight in lbs) + 63.33
Tire Width=23: Pressure(psi) = (0.33 * Rider Weight in lbs) + 53.33
Tire Width=25: Pressure(psi) = (0.33 * Rider Weight in lbs) + 43.33
Tire Width=28: Pressure(psi) = (0.33 * Rider Weight in lbs) + 33.33

Tire Width=32: Pressure(psi) = (0.17 * Rider Weight in lbs) + 41.67
Tire Width=37: Pressure(psi) = (0.17 * Rider Weight in lbs) + 26.67

Front Pressure = .9*Rear Pressure