spinnaker

Do you go to a narrower tire, for better rolling resistance, i you know you are going to be on all paved surfaces? Or do the wider tires just stay on the bike?

djb

I'll bite.
I suspect that nearly everyone wouldnt switch during a trip, just because of the logistics-diff tires, diff tubes

Ive brought this up before, but here it goes again anyway. For my Latin American trips, I knew that wide was probably the wisest, 2in tires, as I knew and suspected that rough pavement and dirt roads would be involved. I did however take a chance and I went with a slickish tire, marathon supremes, as I figured I wouldnt be going on super chunky monkey rocky stuff, and knew that they roll along fairly well, but being 2in tires, the lower pressures would be a help to both me and my wheelset for more cushion suspension effect.
In the end, my decision was a good one, and I would do the same again, as I very much appreciated the ride over rough stuff, and it did make a real difference for being able to go off the road onto dirt or whatever if needed and th tires were a big help with being stable on loose stuff.

but it all depends doesnt it?
your question touches on all kinds of possibilities, so to you--have you changed tires?
Have you considered diff tires depending on what you knew awaited you?
Have you changed tires during a trip?

stardognine

Nah, just put on the toughest and fattest, and go. You never know when you'll find potholes, rocks, or what-have-you, and you'll be glad you have that extra cushion. Not only for the comfort aspect, but to possibly save your wheels from damage. 🙂

spinnaker

Not during the trip of course. Before you go. For years I used my road bike as a tourer I mainly toured on roads so I used 28mm tires. And they did just fine. Now I have a dedicated touring bike. It is fitted with 32mm tires currently but I need a new set soon. I have a pair of 28mm that I was going to use for my road bike but considering putting them on the touring bike for an upcoming tour in Oregon which will be all roads.

But next year I want to do the Route of the Hiawatha but all the way through to Avery. Even on the "good" part of the trail it can be kind of rough from my understanding. So for that tour I would want a wider tire.

HerrKaLeun

You are under the wrong assumption narrower tires would roll better.

In the real world roads are not perfect and narrow high pressure tires shake you up and down..... that lifting is wasted energy. On tougher terrain this is even more pronounced.

What slows you down are knobby treads, cheap rubber and overall cheap tire design. The tire width doesn't slow you down.

DropBarFan

I like wide tires in general even for pavement since there's usually some sections of rougher roads. I suppose some routes can be predictably smooth where it would help to mount narrower tires (say a Skyline Drive-Blue Ridge Parkway tour) but otherwise it seems more expense & bother than it's worth.

Doug64

I have used 25 mm, 28 mm and 32 mm tires for touring. My wife and I did a lot of loaded touring on 28 mm tires, including a ride across the U.S. They handled most conditions well with some gravel thrown in. The 32 mm tires have been our go-to touring tires for the last 7 years.

My wife who was using 28 mm tires just before taking this 5-mile stretch of gravel outside Yellowstone NP. We had a total of 13 punctures on this trip, mostly from goats heads. The 28 mm tires we were using were lighter, Continental Ultra Gatorskins, but they were a trade off as far as punctures. After we switched Schwalbe Marathons the amount of flats dropped a lot. Thirty-two mm Ultra Gatorskins were not available in the U.S. at that time or I would have tried them.

gerryl

I go with the widest tires my bike would accept. I see no point in riding narrow tires since I'm not a huge fan of feeling every dump, pebble or ant that I run over. There is also a safety factor in riding wide ties, that innocent puddle of water that you're about to ride through is actually a rim killing pothole, smooth road or not sh*t happens. Or there is construction on your hitherto smooth road and you're detoured on to a gravel/dirt shoulder for kilometers on end, good luck with those skinny tires.

As for rolling resistance, pro races are going to wider tires with lower pressure, they must be onto something I figure.

djb

spin, like Doug, I've toured a lot on 28 slicks and ridden on all kinds of surfaces. I've also ridden on 35s, 37s, 40s, 45-50 a lot also, and given that you've ridden so much on 28s, like Doug and myself, you'll be comfortable on them probably--and the probably really depends on the surface.

as has been said, even some pavement is often really bad, and this is where I find a 35 is so much more comfortable and at the same time, just as fast or faster than a 28.
I certainly can back this up from a lot of observing this over the years on commutes and touring, and I even find my 26x1.5 inch tires (37 or 38) to be a very good compromise for speed/comfort IF you know you'll have a much higher percentage of rough pavement combined with dirt trails.

re 28s, I certainly have lots of memories going back 25+ years of riding on 28s on annoying rough pavement all day, and it being hard on the hands. On great roads, its nice, but as mentioned, its very common to have rough stuff and chipseal rough stuff , cracks and all that, and wider tires just make it more comfortable and easier to ride when dealing with cracks and all that regularly.

really though, no clear answer, and it really comes down to you trying wider tires and evaluating the pluses minuses--not forgetting however that it is fairly common to "think" a fatter tire is slower simply because you are not feeling the familiar buzz and sharp feedbacks from a rough road that you have felt for years with 28s, and so its easy to assume that this equates "slower".

again, always a compromise, and of course, a given width of a tire certainly does not apply to how just any tire with that width will ride--the proverbial example of a more supple tire vs a tire with a very stiff sidewall and very stiff and thick main body--and again, this can only be felt by riding a fair amount on a very rigid vs a more supple tire---and of course, balancing flat protection against all this also.

Ive never used super tough tires like a marathon plus for touring. For many years, I did however ride a super stiff, tough 1.5 tire, and when I finally changed them because I got sick of the harsh ride, the replacement 1.5 tires (regular marathons) were noticeably more comfortable right off the bat.

as Im sure you know, going from 28 to 32 isnt a huge jump, but there is the added air volume, so you'll be able to run lower pressures, and just that alone will make a comfort difference on rough stuff. Personally, if I knew I would be on dirt a lot, and rough pavement, I would go wider, but given you have the tires, at least ride them loaded and see if you are ok with them (if you have a reasonable idea of the surfaces you'll be on).

BobG

I have two sets of wheels for my BG Rock&Road. For the "rock" I use wheels with 700x42 knobbies. For the "road" I use wheels with 700x32 Gatorskins. Like Doug, I've found them adequate for light gravel. I tried Schwalbe Marathons once as a medium size on the "rock" wheels. I found them to be harsh and sluggish as many others have.

djb

Bob, which marathons? and what size?
There are a whole slew of them.
My regular 37 marathons ride fine, but I am aware that other models have a much stiffer overall construction, as well as being heavier.

indyfabz

No. I stick with my 35c (which measure 37c) Conti Top Contact IIs.

BobG

They just say Schwalbe "The Original" Marathon 700x32. From the ACA catalog, maybe the HS 420 640g? A lot fatter than a Continental 32. To be honest I didn't give them a fair shake. I took them off after one day I hated them so! Love the Gatorskins even though they may be more prone to flats.

https://www.adventurecycling.org/cyc...rathon-hs-420/

edit: I'm restricted to local day rides now due to health issues. If I still did extended paved/gravel tours like indyfabz I'd use more than a Gatorskin but perhaps less than a Schwalbe. So Spinnaker, yes I do swap tires for different conditions.

BlarneyHammer

I've swapped tires before a tour in the past, if I knew the tires currently on my touring bike weren't appropriate for the tour.

I use my touring bike as a full-time commuter, part-time joyride (I also have a lighter, faster road bike). For those purposes, whatever tires are still on the bike from the last tour will do, and I'll ride them until they wear out.
But! If the last tour I did was all paved, I might still have 32 mm slicks, and if the next tour has a fair amount of gravel, I might switch to 38 mm with some tread, even if the slicks are still in good shape. Or vice versa.

Yes, tires cost money, but good ones last a long time, and you can get your money's worth by riding your bike a lot, even when you're not touring. And the extra money spent is worth having a better ride on a daily basis throughout a tour. When you compare money spent to the effect it has, tires are a relatively cheap way to upgrade your bike.

Tourist in MSN

I assume you are asking if you change the tires during a trip, I do not.

Or, if you are asking if you use tires for the conditions and put those tires on the bike before you leave home, that I do.

For example, my Thorn Sherpa takes 26 inch tires, up to 50mm in width. I have used that bike on tours that were predominantly gravel and also on tours that were predominately pavement.

On GAP and C&O and also on Katy Trail I used 50mm wide Dureme tire on the front and (now discontinued) 50mm wide Extreme tire (now also discontinued) on rear. On those trails it was slightly overkill, as the trails had a well packed gravel base so I could have gotten by with a narrower tire, but they still worked great and I was glad I used them.

On that same bike for trips that are expected to be mostly pavement, I used 40mm wide Schwalbe Marathons (with Greenguard) on both front and rear. Used that for my South Florida trip and Glacier Waterton Loop.

My Iceland trip, I expected some of it to be on very poor quality gravel and I was right, but most of the trip was on good pavement. My Nomad takes up to 57mm tires, I brought 57mm Marathon Extremes (discontinued tire) and the tires were an excellent compromise, they rolled well on pavement and were not great but were good enough on gravel. If it was a pure mountain bike kind of trip, mountain bike tires with more grippy knobby tread would have been better. And if it was a pure pavement trip, a 40mm wide road tire would have been better. Photo shows the tire tread on that trip.



You did not mention a spare. Some trips I bring a spare, some I do not. When I bring a spare it is a lightweight tire that takes very little volume in my panniers. It is not intended to be a replacement tire, it is only intended to get me to the next bike shop where I can buy the replacement. My next trip I am bringing a spare, but it is 250 grams lighter than the tires that will be on the bike. Hopefully it stays in teh bottom of the rear pannier on the entire trip.

3speed

For pavement in a developed country, a supple 32mm road tread tire for me. I'm partial to the Vittoria Hyper(Discotinued. Get from Planetx bikes). There's no need to lug around a sluggish handling, stiff, heavy tire when a supple, much lighter tire will do, and give a better ride for less effort. I don't swap out tires, though, because that's what I normally ride on my daily "commuter." I'll put on a new set of tires before a long tour if the ones on the bike aren't pretty new already. You don't want a worn out, low on tread tire on tour.

Tourist, I also do the same with a spare for shorter tours. I carry a very light 700x25c race tire. As you said, it's not intended to tour on. It's there in an emergency to ride carefully until I can replace it at a bike shop. On longer tours, I figure I have a little more forgiveness in my schedule. I can make up one day out of a 30 day tour if need be. It's tough to make up a day when it's only a five day tour to begin with.

djb

ya, the 420 is the regular old marathon. Mine are the 26x1.5 and like I said, they are fine to me, ride reasonably well at reasonable pressures and have lasted for a heck of a long time.

I've only used 700x28 Gatorskins, have gone through numerous sets, and have had the same flat avoidance as with most of my tires, ie I tend to get a flat per season, but can go seasons with no flats.
I like them, and would go 32 , but the bike that has them is my nearly always unloaded bike, or maybe one small pannier, so its fun to have the 28s and ride faster than my other bikes. I do however use lower pressures than most people probably, and like how a small lower change makes the ride more comfortable and better cornering.

Leebo

Most of my tours involve dirt, gravel, pave, bike paths and single track. 29 x3 tires work great. Maxxis chronicles, sort of flatter type knobs.

DropBarFan

I switched from 38mm to 50mm Marathon Supremes on the Disc Trucker. The Supremes eliminated a lot of bounce on rough descents. Due to car/truck braking, downhill sections of pavement are frequently chopped up esp on secondary roads. Now downhill is fun again. & the Supremes corner better than my prev Conti Touring & Marathon 420 38mm tires.

But folks vary in their tolerance for bumps, perhaps lots of miles toughens up the joints. Personally, I'd like to see more touring bikes with suspension forks which would give increased comfort & allow lighter faster wheels & narrower tires. Added weight of suspension fork would be mostly negated by alu or Ti frame vs trad steel.

As to the pros, I've heard about their trend to wider tires. The more intense racing style of current times plus the dangerous roundabouts causes many crashes, maybe a grippier tire helps get thru those trouble spots. As they say in motor racing, "To finish first, one must first finish!".

spinnaker

No I am not. Don't know why someone would go through that trouble. Other than need because of a damaged tire which has happned to me. I am talking about preparing for a tour.

spinnaker

I decided to stick with the 32mm for now on the touring bike. I found a replacement for the rear Damn current one keeps causing flats. I have been over it an over it looking for the cause. My guess is a thread from a steel belt embedded somewhere that is not showing when the tire is deflated. Tread is almost gone anyway so Not worth crewing with anymore. When I get a chance I am going to go over the rim again too to make sure there is not something there.

28mms I have will go on the road bike.

Next year when I do the Couer d'Alene and the Route of the Hiawatha, I will revisit the 32mms to see if I want to go up a couple of sizes for the Hiawatha.

fietsbob

Do tell, what did you plan to do with your removed tires , you were wanting to change in the middle of the tour?

djb

Spin, I actually initially thought you were meaning during a trip, but it was me obviously thinking of longer trips and ones where conditions could vary a lot. I know when reading up for my Latin American trips, some folks have done this and I was open to it if necessary.

Re that trail you want to do, I wanted to mention a rail trail experience I had about 5 years ago, with 28 slicks. Dry the trail was perfectly fine, but the second day it began raining and rained so much and so long that the surface became exceedingly frustrating with the 28s as it got softer and softer.
I had a long day to do and realized I wouldn't make it, so I finally bailed on the trail and took the highway when I got near it, and probably doubled my average speed.

So that's a downside to 28s, soft trails when wet.

spinnaker

How many times do I have to mention preparing before the tour? This makes three with the one just a couple of posts up. You must not be reading.

spinnaker

Sounds like the C&O I used 32mm on that trip on my now sold Trek FX. Those tires were barely adequate to stay on the trail. .It actually took a lot of concentration and muscle to keep the bike in a somewhat straight line. One member of the group actually went sliding off the trail almost into the canal (of course it was one of the few sections where there is still water in the canal ).