Originally Posted by
Kapusta
Well you’re certainly entitled to your opinion as much as anybody else, but I disagree.
In my experience, going bigger without lowering the pressure on the road provides marginal benefit.
The size of the contact patch has mostly to do with the pressure, not the size of the tire. The benefits you are describing for a larger tire will not be realized unless you lower the pressure.
Lowering the pressure increases the rolling resistance. Using a wider tire reduces rolling resistance over a narrow tire but not if you lower pressure at the same time.
There is also a practical limit to lowering the pressure and, in my opinion, most people are below that limit. A tubed tire will pinch flat if the tire pressure is too low. What many people don’t understand is that pinch flat is telling you something. The tube is pinched when the tire is trapping the tube between the tire and the rim. You are risking impacting the rim on the ground and the result could be a damage rim. Damaged tubes are fairly cheap to fix. Damaged rims are far more involved and far more expensive.
However, in Symox’s case, going from a 23mm tire to even a 28 isn’t going to result in much protection nor in a significant decrease in rolling resistance. A 28mm tire is still a very narrow tire.