GeorgePatton

I think I messed up and bought the wrong tires. I like going fast on my road bike and I havent had that many problems on my factory road bike tires. I eventually got a flat that wasnt fixable on my tires after 3k miles. I went in an bought the bontrager AW3 tires and now i realize they are a heavy all weather tire. Am I going to notice they are really heavy when I bike? Should I have bought the R3 with hardcase? I had the bike shop install them and I have yet to ride them yet. I dont really bike in the winter. I mostly bike on smooth paths or road.

PoorInRichfield

These tires? They look fine to me for road tires. By "all weather", they mean rain or dry, not snow. You'd go nowhere with those skinny tires in snow.

Tacoenthusiast

Well if you already paid the bike shop to install them you're stuck

Next time research before purchase not after

They'll work fine, just ride a little rougher and slower than a good tire
Considering how important tires are you should consider trash canning them rather than ride on mediocre tires for the next year

bung

I doubt you’d notice the 50gram difference in weight.

GeorgePatton

the box says the tires are 300g each. I picked up my old road bike tires and they feel really light. I'm worried these tires will be too heavy to get going to like 20+mph. It only cost me 13 dollars to install them at the bike shop so not a really big loss.

Random11

Since they are already on your bike, why don't you ride them and then you tell us whether you notice any difference. (I put Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on my bike, knowing they are heavy, because I was getting so many flats, and I don't notice any difference from the weight. They do seem to be firmer, but as far as I can tell, they are not slowing me doiwn. And I haven't had a flat in six months.)

HTupolev

Changing weight at the rims can have a noticeable gyroscopic effect on a bike, especially when tossing it around out of the saddle at speed.
Adding weight to the tires will also create more gravitational resistance to climbing, and inertial resistance to acceleration. But, these effects are generally very small when looking at the overall bike+rider system: for an 80kg bike+rider, adding a whopping 200g at the tires will increase gravitational resistance by .25% and inertial resistance by .5%. These are not casually-noticeable differences.
Bicycle weight increases generally have practically zero impact on flat-ground cruising speeds.

Tire selection can have a big impact on road performance, but this is mostly as a result of rolling resistance, not weight. Beefier, stiffer tires tend to have more rolling resistance than lightly-built supple tires. For this reason, fast tires are lighter than slow tires, on average.

What tires are you comparing them to and how carefully are you doing the comparing? I haven't personally ridden Marathon Plus, but I can easily feel the drop in performance that my friends have on them when in group rides (relative to the same person on performance-oriented road tires), and the data coming off the power meter is pretty alarming as well.

Tacoenthusiast

It's more than just weight, it's rolling resistance too

So you may have to put out 15-20 more watts than someone with more efficient tires in order to go the same speed on the flat. Turn that uphill and you fight the rolling resistance and the weight


They will work, but they are robbing you of performance and that's not fun

Random11

Not a rigorous comparison, I admit. The OP asked if he would notice the difference, and my ride feels pretty much the same to me. I'm sure these tires are slower just from the reading I've done about them, but mostly I ride by myself so I'm not so concerned about how fast I'm actually going, but how the bike feels to me when I'm riding. I'm sure my tires aren't the fastest, but I'm not sure you'd notice the difference unless you were competing.

blakcloud

You are most likely never going to be happy with those tires because in the back of your mind there is always that regret. Talk to the shop, if the AW tires have never been ridden on they might just take them back. You never know until you ask. Worse case, purchase the new tires and sell off the AW's. Yes, you will take a loss but that is the price you pay for not being diligent.

I don't think I could ever ride those tires and it is not all about the weight. Thread count and pliability also play a part in the comfort and feel of a tire. I personally don't like stiff side wall tires and that is why I ride Grand Bois or Rene Herse tires. Suppleness is something that I look for in a tire. I don't care about speed, I care about feel. My Domane came with R2's and I think they are pig of a tire and they were replaced after three rides. I would like to try the 32 mm R3's which I will purchase next.

rubiksoval

You likely won't notice the weight but the increased rolling resistance will certainly slow you down a bit. Whether or not that's significant enough to matter is another thing.

GeorgePatton

I took them out on a ride and something just didnt feel right about them. I called the lbs and they agreed to exchange them and install them for me. I got the R3 bontrager tires instead. The weird thing is I checked my old tires and they were 290g but they felt really light when i pick them up. The AW3 tires were 300g. These new tires are 200g a piece so even lighter!

Dancing Skeleton

I use AW3's on my Project One Domane in the off-season & in loudsy weather. I absolutely love those tires, they roll nice & I've never had a flat with them.
I use R3's in-season, which are lighter, but more flat-prone (one every ~1,000 miles), I've been happy with those since I bought my Domane in 2013.
I think that I like the older version better than the new ones. I haven't tried the TLR's yet.