Originally Posted by
Road Fan
No argument with your experience, I have some quite nice 21 mm Gommitalia tubulars which really feel great. I use 105 psi.
I think Bicycle Quarterly started pushing the point about bigger tires and rolling resistance way before gravel riding became a big thing. BQ started printing as antiquarians praising the French urban and randonneuring styles of 30 to 40 mm tires on roadish bikes intended for riding across France in all weather.
I always assumed it came from the MTB world, which quickly realized that 2.4" tires were faster and more comfortable than 1.95" tires. Now, I will say that under certain conditions, those skinny tires were fast - but not over the long haul on a good MTB track.