Rdmonster69

Have you ever ridden a modern 32c road bike tire at 60 or 70 psi ? I have ridden many thousands of miles on high pressure 23 on 25c tires. For me the 32s are worlds better. I would think that ride quality would be improved for anyone on larger low pressure tires. Especially someone at 220 plus pounds.

You might think 23s at tube destroying pressure and a mattress of concrete are super comfortable....most of the world would disagree.

Ride what you want at whatever pressure you want but there is a reason that more and more bikes come equipped with wider and lower pressure tires. That's because the vast majority of cyclists find them to be faster and more comfortable. Its great that the pro's want crazy high pressures and skinny AF tires. It makes sense for them to do that. For almost everyone else it the opposite.

smd4

Seriously? That's all you got?

smd4

Part of me loves being able to mention the tire size and pressures I run at, because it gets so many of you guys's spandex panties in a knot. But thank you for your kind permission to run what I want, how I want. You're kindness runneth over.

genejockey 

From the article smd posted - dated 2017:
"While air pressure usually varies by riders’ weight, most Tour competitors race on something between 6.5 and 8 bar (94-116psi)."

So, even five years ago, the TdF riders were generally pumping up their tires to pressures well below the rock-hard level. Since then, several teams have switched to tubeless, and are almost certainly running lower pressures than that.

njkayaker

Bizarre.

How the heck did you miss the other stuff I wrote?

Read everything I wrote.

Larry's claim is dumb. Talking about TdF riders isn't relevant to his situation. Why are you trying to divine meaning in his meaningless comment?

Barry2 

I'm now 58 years old.
In my younger days we "knew" narrow and high pressure was fast.
So I rode 18mm @ 120++psi. (Wolber ... if anyone remembers those)
Yes 18mm did exist, not a typo!

Come to find out, science and systematic testing has proven we were wrong.
Wider and lower pressure are the new fast.

Welcome to the 21st Century

Barry

HTupolev

What are you talking about? I didn't "infer" anything. Larry was directly objecting to icemilkcoffee's claim that TdF riders were going bigger than 23s:

smd4

I did read everything you wrote. I wasn't quoting Larry when I used the modifier, "pretty." He did day "narrow." When referring to TdF riders, so it IS relevant. And I submit that most folks on this site consider 25c to be "narrow."

Ironfish653

Big Gravel?

<laughs in NORBA>

Rdmonster69

Srsly ? No spandex panties here ... I wear loose shorts as often as not...and as I stated ... I ran pressures like that for years and it was indicated on the sidewall....until it became unnecessary.... and no permissions granted ....this is an internet forum... as far as my kindness to you. I have none ...you might be a total tool.

People jump in with suggestions that maybe lower pressures and wider tires have these benefits and it turns into a pissing match... and you steadfastly refuse to even concede the thought that lower pressure tires might possibly be better even for you oh king of comfort.

Hopefully your eardrums will survive the explosive blow outs from your PSI decisions.

smd4

You absolutely inferred that when Larry said "narrow," he meant 23c. But feel free to continue moving the goal post.

smd4

LOL!! Right! I'll be waiting a long time for that to happen.

njkayaker

Yes, you used the modifier "pretty". It looks like you were inferring he was talking about 25 mm tires.

Larry wasn't talking about TdF riders using 25mm tires.

Clearly, Larry is talking about tires narrower than 25 mm.

You aren't reading stuff carefully at all.

Rolla

"Back when 25mm tyres were becoming a thing, one French team asked its tyre sponsor to label all the new 25mm tyres as 23mm. The mechanics knew that the wider tyres were faster, but also knew that the riders wouldn’t like the change."

https://road.cc/content/tech-news/to...-choose-276949

HTupolev

I'm not "moving goal posts", you just didn't read the prior conversation. I assumed that he meant 23mm or less because that's literally what he was writing in reference to.

icemilkcoffee 

Most folks are fine with 25mm. Most of my bikes are on 25mm. The problem is that Larry is pushing 300lb.s. That is the crux of the issue. What works for a 160lb TdF rider, is not going to work for a 300lb rider. At that weight he should be riding 32mm. It's not a conspiracy by Big Gravel. It's just fundamental physics. Large rider needs wide tires. You don't put 185/60/14 tires on a F150 truck, do you?

genejockey 

See post immediately above yours.

smd4

So...in other words...you inferred.

Thanks for the clarification.

HTupolev

No, "inference" generally implies that nontrivial logical steps were taken to reach a conclusion. That's not the case here.

genejockey 

Dude. Give it up. You were wrong. No shame in that, only in pushing a bad position when you've been proved wrong.

genejockey 

He didn't really infer or assume. He concluded, based on the fact that Larry QUOTED the assertion that TdF riders gave up 23mm tires and claimed they had not. It's clear as day. Continuing to claim that he didn't do what he plainly did is nonsensical and embarrassing.

njkayaker

You aren't making any sense.

How the heck do you infer 25 mm from this text?

smd4

Talk about not making sense. I didn't infer anything from his text. After reading it, I did independent research and simply googled what size tire were they running in the TdeF, and the 25c quote came up. Why did you assume I inferred 25 mm from his text??

genejockey 

I'm reminded of the mistake high school students always make when they learn that the force of friction is not changed by the area of contact, and they think narrow tires should have the same grip as wider tires, ignoring adhesion.

genejockey 

Dude. Seriously.