What Is Your Skinniest Tire?
04-26-22, 11:49 AM
#51
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Now that the snow is gone I've switched to my "skinny" 4" tires, down from ~5" Jumbo Jims
Gotta say... the el-cheapo 4" Kenda's have something near 1900km on them and look nearly new.
The ride's not too bad either at max PSI... of 30
Gotta say... the el-cheapo 4" Kenda's have something near 1900km on them and look nearly new.
The ride's not too bad either at max PSI... of 30
04-26-22, 07:21 PM
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careful mine broke about the second cut across the pizza. Sad thing is I had kept it in its original box for years unused and then one day I decided to impress my oldest daughter and her boyfriend who are big cyclists when they were over for pizza..my daughter said "dad you should have gotten the gravel bike version" lol I was like they did not make gravel bikes when this was made....
04-26-22, 09:55 PM
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I forget. But my everyday bike is wearing 26" x 2.15" tires, which is -- a lot of mm.
04-26-22, 09:57 PM
#54
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04-26-22, 10:30 PM
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Last edited by Rolla; 04-26-22 at 10:38 PM.
04-27-22, 07:44 AM
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^ Yeah, it's kind of eye-opening how much smaller those 1.5" or 1.75" tires make a "26-inch" wheel once you do the math. Even if you're willing to use shorter cranks, that might not be enough.
04-27-22, 11:09 AM
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BITD, I once ran 26 X 1.85" Continental Cross Countries and had the same problem. As tires get skinnier, their sidewall profile gets shorter, so a 1.5" tire will lower the BB over a half an inch compared to a 2.1" tire. So pedal scrape can easily happen when leaning, even with normal 175mm crankarms.
04-27-22, 11:09 AM
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Sadly I do have a bicycle that is stuck with 700x25, I can cram 28s but they can rub at the rear and don't want that. Really 28mm would be my skinny tire if all my bikes would allow it and my road stuff would be 32s.
04-27-22, 11:38 AM
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04-27-22, 12:29 PM
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Oh, I know; my '90s mtbs all have 170 or 172 cranks. It's like climbing tall stairs on my short legs; after a while my knees tell me they do not approve. I have a gorgeous silver Sugino 160mm crankset that I need to bug my husband (again) to install.
04-27-22, 12:53 PM
#61
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I was looking for an eight speed rear wheel on craigslist (for a different bike) and found a set of what turned out to be pretty good wheels with an 8-speed cassette and the tubes and tires and some cool anodized red skewers too, all for $30 on craigslist. And, it was right on my way home from work that day. Naturally I bought the $30 wheelset and took the "free" tires. We put them on my son's bike and he tried them out on the street in front of the house and in the two nearby cul-de-sacs. I saw him hit a pedal on the ground right away and he did it some more while turning around in the cul-de-sacs.
It could be okay with an alert rider who always raises and keeps the inside pedal up when cornering, but they're not suitable for a kid who ought to be able to ride without such worries, as he could with the 2" tires. I didn't bother to try them on my 26" MTB after seeing what happened to him. I'm glad I found that wheelset, though.
04-27-22, 01:15 PM
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Narrowest road tyre for me is 30 mm. Conti GP5000S TR
04-27-22, 01:36 PM
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I used to run 165s on my fixed-gear bike, just to get more pedal clearance when cornering. It felt weird at first, but I got used to it and eventually came to like it a lot -- and of course they were silver Suginos! My BMX cruisers have always had 180mm arms -- they feel very long -- but most of my "regular" bikes are 172.5mm, which seems about right. It's good to have choices!
04-27-22, 01:45 PM
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The crank length is stamped on the inside of the crank; a little awkward to find, but not hard. That's one of the few problems with '90s mtbs; the cranks are long "for the leverage". Which is fine when you're mountain biking, but not so much on the street, especially on smaller frames.
If you have the clearance, Maxxis DTH's make great street tires. Big and squishy to soak up the bumps, and fast rolling too.
If you have the clearance, Maxxis DTH's make great street tires. Big and squishy to soak up the bumps, and fast rolling too.
I haven't measured the cranks, but it was on a 15" Trek 920 as shown below.
I was looking for an eight speed rear wheel on craigslist (for a different bike) and found a set of what turned out to be pretty good wheels with an 8-speed cassette and the tubes and tires and some cool anodized red skewers too, all for $30 on craigslist. And, it was right on my way home from work that day. Naturally I bought the $30 wheelset and took the "free" tires. We put them on my son's bike and he tried them out on the street in front of the house and in the two nearby cul-de-sacs. I saw him hit a pedal on the ground right away and he did it some more while turning around in the cul-de-sacs.
It could be okay with an alert rider who always raises and keeps the inside pedal up when cornering, but they're not suitable for a kid who ought to be able to ride without such worries, as he could with the 2" tires. I didn't bother to try them on my 26" MTB after seeing what happened to him. I'm glad I found that wheelset, though.
I was looking for an eight speed rear wheel on craigslist (for a different bike) and found a set of what turned out to be pretty good wheels with an 8-speed cassette and the tubes and tires and some cool anodized red skewers too, all for $30 on craigslist. And, it was right on my way home from work that day. Naturally I bought the $30 wheelset and took the "free" tires. We put them on my son's bike and he tried them out on the street in front of the house and in the two nearby cul-de-sacs. I saw him hit a pedal on the ground right away and he did it some more while turning around in the cul-de-sacs.
It could be okay with an alert rider who always raises and keeps the inside pedal up when cornering, but they're not suitable for a kid who ought to be able to ride without such worries, as he could with the 2" tires. I didn't bother to try them on my 26" MTB after seeing what happened to him. I'm glad I found that wheelset, though.
04-27-22, 01:48 PM
#65
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I used to run 165s on my fixed-gear bike, just to get more pedal clearance when cornering. It felt weird at first, but I got used to it and eventually came to like it a lot -- and of course they were silver Suginos! My BMX cruisers have always had 180mm arms -- they feel very long -- but most of my "regular" bikes are 172.5mm, which seems about right. It's good to have choices!
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04-27-22, 01:52 PM
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26mm (they actually measure the same as a 25) on my road-only bike, turbo cottons.
32mm road tires (GP5000 tubeless) on what i guess is a “gravelly” road bike, with another set of beater rims with 42mm knobbies for serious dirt.
2.0” on my commuter/kid seat bike.
i will defintielt go to 28 or 30mm on the road-only bike when these wear out. not really seeing any/the benefit of “skinny” tires.
32mm road tires (GP5000 tubeless) on what i guess is a “gravelly” road bike, with another set of beater rims with 42mm knobbies for serious dirt.
2.0” on my commuter/kid seat bike.
i will defintielt go to 28 or 30mm on the road-only bike when these wear out. not really seeing any/the benefit of “skinny” tires.
04-27-22, 06:45 PM
#67
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I used to run 18mm tires on my road bike BITD. The narrowest I currently run are 21mm tubulars. Once they wear out, those wheels are geting 27mm tubulars.
04-28-22, 03:32 PM
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04-28-22, 03:52 PM
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I have a CAAD9 which will only fit up to 28's which it is wearing. 2 Wabis with 32 & 38. Touring bikes have 29x2's.
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04-28-22, 07:16 PM
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04-28-22, 07:18 PM
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I run 23mm on my 2002 Lemond which was very popular back in the early 2000's.
04-29-22, 05:36 AM
#73
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