Originally Posted by
kingston
Does anyone else feel like the jump from 23 to 25 feels like a pretty big difference, while tires in the 25-28 range feel pretty similar, then the jump from 28 to 32 feels huge again. Is that just me?
I do. I tried using a 23 front to avoid fender rub on the road bike I used for commuting. Had one too many scares with the tire riding into pavement grooves (some of the worst pavement in the city are on the parts of the only reasonable route to work with no alternatives), decided I'd rather live with fender rub than go down for something stupid like that. Never had any squirrelly moments on 25s, even inadvertently ridden gravel and single track on them once when my riding party followed some bad Garmin directions.
With the prospect of wanting to go fast while maximizing control during wet conditions on my commute, I retired that bike and replaced it with a CX bike that can easily take 32mm GP5k with fenders. Coming from riding mostly 25-28 (albeit blown out wider depending on rim) to those GP5ks was immensely confidence-inspiring. Really glad Continental offers GP5ks in 32mm.