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Why are 32mm tires standard now on new bikes?

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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Why are 32mm tires standard now on new bikes?

Old 05-30-23, 09:43 AM
  #101  
Redbullet
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Originally Posted by shelbyfv
Sorry, different rims don't constitute a bike "optimization" that isn't available to non-pros. If your bike can fit a 28mm tire, it can fit an appropriate wheel of whatever material.
Sure, they are available. Furthermore one can buy a 12000 - 15000 EUR bike very close to pros, or even 2 with different configurations for different types of rides. But the point is that most casual riders don't go so expensive (and many will never spend 1000-3000 EUR for advanced wheels). For the numerous belonging to that category, who spend 1/3 or less and don't overspend on new wheels (me included), a simple switch to wide tires has a different impact. Especially if they ride clean roads without the necessity to damper big imperfections. I still think that this topic has split "solution" and it is more subtle than simply increasing tire width no matter what.
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Old 05-30-23, 11:48 AM
  #102  
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Well sure, if you are happy with 25 tires and don't want to buy wider wheels, no problem. We all make decisions about what improvements are worth paying for. That doesn't mean something isn't an improvement.
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Old 05-30-23, 12:38 PM
  #103  
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No, my status is different. It simply happened to experience both 23 and 28 mm, only on flat and reasonable roads (the bike with 23 is not safe anymore for climbing / descending / hard braking). Both bikes are stock, good brands and below 4000 EUR (aluminum rims, nothing really special). The old bike with 23mm is more agile and feels marginally faster.

That's only my experience on good roads and stock bikes, thus, I can't ignore it for the sake of general articles on internet. Of course, somebody in another situation might feel the opposite.
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Old 05-30-23, 02:59 PM
  #104  
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Originally Posted by Redbullet
bike with 23mm is more agile and feels marginally faster.
The problem with 23mm tires is they always feel faster than larger tires, there is more pronounced bump feel at higher pressure and that is also what a road feels like when you are moving faster. But it is an illusion: you are probably going a bit slower. Fortunately a whole bunch of studies have been done to clear up this myth. I quoted one earlier in the thread and there are many more. Pro teams are all up on the science and are no longer on 23s. Somehow the illusion still lives on though..

To be clear the overall speed difference here is marginal and doesn't matter much to recreational riders. But the comfort and safety benefits are real and do matter to average riders.
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Old 06-01-23, 02:48 PM
  #105  
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today's bicycles have evolved and that is the wave of the future
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Old 06-01-23, 03:36 PM
  #106  
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^^^ Almost as if fietsbob has returned.
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Old 06-01-23, 03:57 PM
  #107  
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I didn't realize that my 28mm tires on old-fashioned 20mm rims were horribly un-aerodynamic and undoubtedly holding me back from stupendous speeds, until I read so on the Internet.
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Old 06-01-23, 04:42 PM
  #108  
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Originally Posted by ussprinceton
today's bicycles have evolved and that is the wave of the future
It seems like MTB goes first and road bikes follow. MTB rims brakes- gone! 1.9-2.1 tires- gone! MTB tubes- gone! MTBs are much better for it too.
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Old 06-02-23, 02:16 AM
  #109  
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A couple of things to add to the recent discussion:
  • In general wider is better but there is a point past which the added weight of a wider tire becomes noticeable. I think the sweet spot is 28-30mm for road slicks, but that's just my opinion. So I'm still a believer of "widest tire your frame can accommodate" but for me that's 27mm true width 😅 On my townie or gravel bike I do notice a big difference going from 28mm which still feels like a road tire to a 32mm or bigger which firmly puts me in commuter mode.
  • It is perfectly safe to have a bulb profile. You lose some aerodynamics but people have been riding 2.2" MTB tires on 15mm IW rims since the 90s and not very long ago folks used to race CX on narrow 19mm OW rims with 33mm tires.
  • I can imagine a lighter rider getting away with riding 23mm tires still, but for folks above a certain weight I think 25mm would be the minimally acceptable size.
  • A while back I rode 22mm Conti racing tubulars pumped up to 130psi. Compared to GP4Ks at 25mm (27mm true width) at 95psi, I guess the GP4Ks were more comfortable but the skinny tubulars were objectively faster (mostly excellent tarmac with short sections of poor tarmac) and not uncomfortable despite being pumped to 130psi.
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Old 06-02-23, 02:50 AM
  #110  
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Originally Posted by tFUnK
  • It is perfectly safe to have a bulb profile. You lose some aerodynamics
I think you lose more than aero, including cornering and braking performance and a good bit of measured width which will still be relevant for pressures, vs a tyre that suits the rim well with a flat interface.
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Old 06-02-23, 08:07 AM
  #111  
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Originally Posted by Chandne
It seems like MTB goes first and road bikes follow. MTB rims brakes- gone! 1.9-2.1 tires- gone! MTB tubes- gone! MTBs are much better for it too.
yeah, my next bicycle purchase will be a '23 Specialized S-Works Epic in a size large (L)

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Old 06-02-23, 08:31 AM
  #112  
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What a great racier bike though perfect for many many trails too. I just picked up a Trek Top Fuel to complement my Ibis Ripmo. I got the Trek on sale but the Epic and Santa Cruz Blur TR were my top two. It seems like 2.3 is the "racier" tire now, =for all these bikes. That used to be 1.9-2.0 but the grip and lower PSI simply outclass the narrower "faster" tires.
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Old 06-02-23, 03:31 PM
  #113  
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Originally Posted by tFUnK
  • A while back I rode 22mm Conti racing tubulars pumped up to 130psi. Compared to GP4Ks at 25mm (27mm true width) at 95psi, I guess the GP4Ks were more comfortable but the skinny tubulars were objectively faster (mostly excellent tarmac with short sections of poor tarmac) and not uncomfortable despite being pumped to 130psi.
Take care! For such statement, they might beat you!
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Old 06-21-23, 07:19 PM
  #114  
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ey buddy, was looking to buy the Roval Terra CL, but the first version for my BMC Roadmachine, are those any good for a road bike, not intended for gravel..
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Old 06-24-23, 03:39 PM
  #115  
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Originally Posted by tFUnK
  • A while back I rode 22mm Conti racing tubulars pumped up to 130psi. Compared to GP4Ks at 25mm (27mm true width) at 95psi, I guess the GP4Ks were more comfortable but the skinny tubulars were objectively faster (mostly excellent tarmac with short sections of poor tarmac) and not uncomfortable despite being pumped to 130psi.
Those 22 mm (standard sewup size, and why good racing clinchers started out with 23-25 mm widths) tubbies would have blown your mind at the ~100 psi that is usually correct. Sewups need less pressure than clinchers of the same width, since they are round to begin with and cannot pinch flat.

To me, a 22-ish mm, decent-quality nylon or cotton sewup rides about like a top-quality 28 mm clincher. 30 mm FMB silks... well, that's just not fair. (Which is why so many of them get snuck onto bikes at Roubaix and Flanders.)

--Shannon
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Old 06-25-23, 11:25 AM
  #116  
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I'm riding a Domane Al3 rental this weekend, with 32 mm tires.

I hate the endurance bike feel - I ride race geometry bikes at home - particularly as the rental shop has the bars way up high (and without a torque wrench, I'm not going to mess with them.) Also the Domane weighs a ton.

But the ride on the 32 mm slicks is pretty nice actually.
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