Billydog

I'm an older guy and when I was younger they only had one tire width that i can remember... Now they have 23, 25, 28, 32 and soo on...
I weigh 225...
Whats a good tire width?

rumrunn6

I'm a similar weight, I have 3-4 bikes w/ various width tires depending on bike & season of the year, road bike = 25mm, hybrid = 40mm, 45mm, 2.0", MTB = 2.1" & 2.25"

veganbikes

They had many more widths and tire sizes all throughout the history of bicycles. However my theory is go as wide as you can fit. You will add more comfort, better contact with the ground, less chance of flats, ability to run lower pressures, and potentially up to a point better aerodynamics and potentially speed (not that those last two matter to everyone) If I had the budget and my way my road bikes would all be 700x32 minimum and my other non-mountain bikes could fit 700x50s easily with room for fenders and my mountain bikes 29x3.0 or 650bx3.0 though not that I would run those that wide but just for the options but no fat bikes for me. I don't see much snow and no sand nearby and probably wouldn't bring it with me at the beach.

Billydog

Thanks for the great info guys.

Eric F 

The type of riding you do, and the terrain/surfaces you ride, will also have a significant factor in proper tire selection. A tire for a go-fast road machine is not necessarily going to be a good choice for a bike used on mixed surfaces.

Billydog

Right now I have 700 x 23c ........ I'm not sure how much wider i can go.

veganbikes

Take a vernier caliper (or digital) and measure on a road bike you generally want about 3mm of clearance or more. Just measure all around and see what you have space for. Fork crown and seat stays tend to be the tightest spots but always good to check in mulitple spots to see how much room you have between tire and frame or fork. Also some manufacturers list a suggested max size and usually it is low only because of the wide variance in tire widths from their stated widths. You could also try going to a wider tire and seeing if that will work but that can be the more expensive option unless you are buying a good quality caliper then it could even out or be cheaper.

Eric F 

Additionally...If it's a rim brake road bike, be sure take a look at clearance under the arch of the caliper. On my primary road bike, the rear brake is my limiter. I don't have much room to go taller than my current 25mm tires. Wider almost always means taller.

Billydog

Great info everyone.

Iride01 

Back in my young life everyone rode 27 x 1¼" tires and those on racier more expensive bikes maybe 27 x 1 1/8" tire. We all bemoaned the demise of the 27" tire and never quite liked the ride of the 700C tires that replaced them. However it wasn't the diameter of the tire, it was the notion back at that time that skinny was faster that came about when the 27" tire left us. However now people are finding out that they like wider tires.

Surprisingly or unsurprisingly it's interesting that the width's people now want are the same 32mm and 28mm that our 27" tires were back then.

That being said, I'm still on 25mm wide tires. If I was riding rough roads, I'd probably go to 28 or 32 mm, but so far I haven't a need and my stock of 25mm tires hasn't run out yet.

Leisesturm

Not much. That's pure roadbike you've got there. My roadie came with 23's OEM too. 25's are as big as she will take. 28mm is the next stop after 25. I don't see that happening.

KerryIrons

The only caveat to this is to also get a quality tire with a compliant casing. A wide tire built like a garden hose will not be a good answer.

Billydog

I have 23's right now...I think i'm gonna try 25's.

biker128pedal

It may be easier to use Allen wrenches to check the gap between the tires and the frame and brakes. Just look close so the parallel sides are used for checking.

What bike and current tires do you have. There’s some knowledgeable people around that may have already tired wider tires.

Oh sometimes the front and rear fit different widths.

rekmeyata

Either 25 or 28 if they'll fit would work great for you, 23 is a bit too narrow for your weight, which is ok since 25's and 28's roll a tad faster, not to mention more comfortable riding. If the 28's fit I would go that route, doing so will mean you'll only need around 77 psi on the rear and 75 on the front, whereas with 25's you'll need around 90 front and 92 rear, that extra pressure will equate into a harsher ride,

WT160

Rim width plays a role, too. I consult this guide sometimes:

https://www.wtb.com/pages/tire-rim-fit-chart

The gist I get is that you need at least 15mm (rim) for a tire over 28mm. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

smd4

Nope.

--Some "dude" named Rene or Jan or something...

rekmeyata

yup.

https://www.bicyclerollingresistance...000-comparison

https://road.cc/content/feature/roll...t-tyres-279289

Alex_stompbox

2.1 - 2.25 I think

jsdavis

If the bike is older than about 5-6 years, then 23 or 25mm will be the maximum. Some endurance road bikes fit 28mm, but racing style bikes usually only fit 23 or 25.

rekmeyata

Not true, I have a bike from the mid-'80s, another that is 9 years old, and they have 28s on it; a lot of road racing style bikes were made as you mentioned, but not all of them, the two that I have with the wider tires are not endurance bikes, they fit but barely.

Kapusta

My tires widths range from 35mm to 105mm.

Any bike that can’t clear 35s is dead to me, now.

GetUpnGo

For recreational riding, mostly on pavement, I like 700 x 32---comfortable and not too slow. They work on bike paths with fine to medium gravel or packed dirt, but not as well on larger gravel or loose dirt roads. I had 28s once and they were faster but not as comfortable. I think that having good flat protection is as important as your tire size. Read the reviews carefully for things like longevity and rain traction. Tires have gotten pretty expensive---in some cases doubled in price---so you want them to last.

rekmeyata

Tires have indeed gotten expensive, but you do have to figure out what kind of rider you are, most of us are not racing, or training to race, so why buy expensive bikes? So you leave your house, ride someplace, and get home about 10 to 60 seconds sooner? Is that really going to matter? So don't go crazy with $90 for a single tire, there isn't any need for those.

The other thing is, always keep your eye open for tire sales, you can a lot of the times save as much as 45% on a tire. For all my bikes, except for my touring bike, I will do my best not to spend more than $50 for a tire; except as I alluded to my touring bike, I need a tire that will wear a long time, plus give me a high degree of puncture resistance, with low rolling resistance for that sort of tire, so I use Schwalbe Marathon Almotion tires, and I wait for sales.

Just 3 years ago I could buy really nice tires on closeout sales for around $40 and never spent more than that, I was able to get tires as low as $30 even, these were not cheap tires, they normally sold for around $60 range, nowadays I had to up my budget to $50, and I may have to go a bit higher depending on what the closeout sales come in at; thankfully I don't need any tires this year.

Bicycle tires are a huge rip-off, a lot of tires cost around the $100 mark each, two of those is as much as a single car tire yet the bicycle tire is far smaller, less technology, doesn't last as long...do you all see this? They got us by our balls because this is a discretionary income hobby and supposedly Americans have a lot of it, and they think everyone who rides a bike is wealthy, at least in America, because I talked to people who live in Europe and they pay significantly less than Americans do for their bikes, parts, and accessories. I found out other strange things too, like appliances in Europe come with a 7 year warranty, ours come with a year warranty, why? Because the appliances designated for American shores are JUNK, and they'll be lucky to make it 7 years, whereas with European designated appliances all still last an average of 25 years like ours did 50 years ago. Why do theirs last longer, because Europe requires at least a 7 year warranty so the appliance companies make the units better to make them last, Americans are wealthy, so we get ripped off and have to buy a new one every 4 to 9 years.

msu2001la

Just want to point out that there are some 26mm and some 30mm options on the market. Im currently running 30mm Specialized Turbo tubeless and like them a lot.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be 25-28-32.