Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
What you describe as sluggish, may not actually be slower.
For years people road tires that by today’s standards were way overinflated. A rock hard tire feels fast and responsive as it bounces over tiny imperfections. But that bouncing adds to rolling resistance and is actually slower.
Along these lines I recently bought new tires on my commuter that were tested to be faster than my standard tire. My first day riding I came home annoyed that the darn tires felt slower! I then noticed that my average speed was about a mph faster. How it feels isn't necessarily that accurate.