Not completely sold on wide tires

I might be in a real minority now. I run 23 and 25mm Conti GP 5000 strictly road bike. I do like the 25's and a bit lower pressure but I sure cannot see going to 28's and dropping pressure even more. Right now I run about 95-86 rear and front on the 25's. Going much lower to me would seem pinch flats, I weigh 169 pounds, at least if you hit a big hole. Then I can see more weight and less aero. I am the only only one not buying this go as low as you can, and wide.
Deacon Mark

On 5/18/21 3:18 PM, Mark cleary wrote:
I might be in a real minority now. I run 23 and 25mm Conti GP 5000 strictly road bike. I do like the 25's and a bit lower pressure but I sure cannot see going to 28's and dropping pressure even more. Right now I run about 95-86 rear and front on the 25's. Going much lower to me would seem pinch flats, I weigh 169 pounds, at least if you hit a big hole. Then I can see more weight and less aero. I am the only only one not buying this go as low as you can, and wide.
Deacon Mark


You should try these :-)

https://i1.wp.com/www.ebikeschool.co...ize=1024%2C768

On the road bike I see it like you, 25mm is enough and I run 110psi in
back and 100psi up front. I'd like 28mm in the back for better offroad
traction (at max pressure) but my frame does not allow them.

Even on my MTB which has 2.2" or 56mm wide knobby tires I keep them at
the max allowed pressure of 60psi. Gnarlier ride but no flats plus less
rolling resistance on road sections.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

On Tue, 18 May 2021 15:18:49 -0700, Mark cleary scribed:

I might be in a real minority now. I run 23 and 25mm Conti GP 5000
strictly road bike. I do like the 25's and a bit lower pressure but I
sure cannot see going to 28's and dropping pressure even more. Right now
I run about 95-86 rear and front on the 25's. Going much lower to me
would seem pinch flats, I weigh 169 pounds, at least if you hit a big
hole. Then I can see more weight and less aero. I am the only only one
not buying this go as low as you can, and wide.

No, I've never run on low pressure even when I was riding really wide
tyres and doing Cape York(lots of sandy sections). That low and wide
mantra is a crock of faeces in my view. It might work in the velodrome,
but in real life the road surface varies over a whole gamit of surfaces.
Especially so when off the tarmac.

On Tue, 18 May 2021 15:18:49 -0700 (PDT), Mark cleary
wrote:

I might be in a real minority now. I run 23 and 25mm Conti GP 5000 strictly road bike. I do like the 25's and a bit lower pressure but I sure cannot see going to 28's and dropping pressure even more. Right now I run about 95-86 rear and front on the 25's. Going much lower to me would seem pinch flats, I weigh 169 pounds, at least if you hit a big hole. Then I can see more weight and less aero. I am the only only one not buying this go as low as you can, and wide.
Deacon Mark

I went for that "fatter tires and less pressure" scheme and had a
number of pinch flats so went back to the 23's and 100 psi front and
back and (knock on wood) haven't had a flat since :-)

But I ride on paved roads which are generally in good condition and
frankly can see little difference in the ride between 25's with lower
pressure and 23's at 100 psi. But then, I rode "sew ups" for quite a
few years and was quite happy with them too:-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 5/18/2021 10:31 PM, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 18 May 2021 15:18:49 -0700 (PDT), Mark cleary
wrote:

I might be in a real minority now. I run 23 and 25mm Conti GP 5000 strictly road bike. I do like the 25's and a bit lower pressure but I sure cannot see going to 28's and dropping pressure even more. Right now I run about 95-86 rear and front on the 25's. Going much lower to me would seem pinch flats, I weigh 169 pounds, at least if you hit a big hole. Then I can see more weight and less aero. I am the only only one not buying this go as low as you can, and wide.
Deacon Mark

I went for that "fatter tires and less pressure" scheme and had a
number of pinch flats so went back to the 23's and 100 psi front and
back and (knock on wood) haven't had a flat since :-)

But I ride on paved roads which are generally in good condition and
frankly can see little difference in the ride between 25's with lower
pressure and 23's at 100 psi. But then, I rode "sew ups" for quite a
few years and was quite happy with them too:-)

It sounds like you lowered the pressure too much when you tried a wider
tire. Or perhaps you just had some really bad luck.

But in general, a wider tire should allow a somewhat lower tire pressure
without pinch flats. Super-narrow tires have very little room to deflect
before they cause a pinch flat, so they require higher pressures.

One friend of mine has used pressures as high as 160 psi on the very
narrow tires (maybe 19s?) on his lightest bike. He's convinced that
makes him faster. But on our rough roads? I doubt it.


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 8:19:47 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 5/18/2021 10:31 PM, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 18 May 2021 15:18:49 -0700 (PDT), Mark cleary
wrote:

I might be in a real minority now. I run 23 and 25mm Conti GP 5000 strictly road bike. I do like the 25's and a bit lower pressure but I sure cannot see going to 28's and dropping pressure even more. Right now I run about 95-86 rear and front on the 25's. Going much lower to me would seem pinch flats, I weigh 169 pounds, at least if you hit a big hole. Then I can see more weight and less aero. I am the only only one not buying this go as low as you can, and wide.
Deacon Mark

I went for that "fatter tires and less pressure" scheme and had a
number of pinch flats so went back to the 23's and 100 psi front and
back and (knock on wood) haven't had a flat since :-)

But I ride on paved roads which are generally in good condition and
frankly can see little difference in the ride between 25's with lower
pressure and 23's at 100 psi. But then, I rode "sew ups" for quite a
few years and was quite happy with them too:-)
It sounds like you lowered the pressure too much when you tried a wider
tire. Or perhaps you just had some really bad luck.

But in general, a wider tire should allow a somewhat lower tire pressure
without pinch flats. Super-narrow tires have very little room to deflect
before they cause a pinch flat, so they require higher pressures.

One friend of mine has used pressures as high as 160 psi on the very
narrow tires (maybe 19s?) on his lightest bike. He's convinced that
makes him faster. But on our rough roads? I doubt it.
Low pressures give you a softer ride but then they slow you up rather than giving you a speed boost.

On Wed, 19 May 2021 11:19:42 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 5/18/2021 10:31 PM, John B. wrote:
On Tue, 18 May 2021 15:18:49 -0700 (PDT), Mark cleary
wrote:

I might be in a real minority now. I run 23 and 25mm Conti GP 5000 strictly road bike. I do like the 25's and a bit lower pressure but I sure cannot see going to 28's and dropping pressure even more. Right now I run about 95-86 rear and front on the 25's. Going much lower to me would seem pinch flats, I weigh 169 pounds, at least if you hit a big hole. Then I can see more weight and less aero. I am the only only one not buying this go as low as you can, and wide.
Deacon Mark

I went for that "fatter tires and less pressure" scheme and had a
number of pinch flats so went back to the 23's and 100 psi front and
back and (knock on wood) haven't had a flat since :-)

But I ride on paved roads which are generally in good condition and
frankly can see little difference in the ride between 25's with lower
pressure and 23's at 100 psi. But then, I rode "sew ups" for quite a
few years and was quite happy with them too:-)

It sounds like you lowered the pressure too much when you tried a wider
tire. Or perhaps you just had some really bad luck.

But in general, a wider tire should allow a somewhat lower tire pressure
without pinch flats. Super-narrow tires have very little room to deflect
before they cause a pinch flat, so they require higher pressures.

One friend of mine has used pressures as high as 160 psi on the very
narrow tires (maybe 19s?) on his lightest bike. He's convinced that
makes him faster. But on our rough roads? I doubt it.

Well yes, I'm sure that lowering the pressure did result in the tire
being too soft to survive over the rough spots and perhaps my rather
simplistic solution to reinstall the more narrow tires and go back to
100psi pressures was over simplification but it worked :-)

But are U.S. roads really that bad? Here I can't remember riding on a
really bad road. Even in Bangkok, which probably had the first paved
roads in the country, I never came across a road as poorly
made.maintained as the one that Jay posted the photo of.
--
Cheers,

John B.

On Wed, 19 May 2021 16:53:25 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Thu, 20 May 2021 06:00:36 +0700, John B.
wrote:


But are U.S. roads really that bad?

https://www.cityworks.com/blog/10-fascinating-facts-about-potholes/
"There are an estimated 55 million potholes in the U.S."

There are 4.18 million miles of roads in the US. That would be:
55 million / 4.18 million = 13 potholes per mile
or one pothole every 406 ft. I'm not sure if that's considered bad,
but from my local observations, seems a bit conservative.

Of course, some potholes are larger than others:
https://www.google.com/search?q=sinkhole&tbm=isch

Drivel: Many years ago, I engaged in a series of discusions where I
claimed that potholes are alive and are really ancient dinosaur
tracks:
http://members.cruzio.com/~jeffl/nooze/pothole.txt

Goodness, the richest nation in the world and you have bad roads :-)
--
Cheers,

John B.

John B. wrote:
On Wed, 19 May 2021 16:53:25 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Thu, 20 May 2021 06:00:36 +0700, John B.
wrote:


But are U.S. roads really that bad?

https://www.cityworks.com/blog/10-fascinating-facts-about-potholes/
"There are an estimated 55 million potholes in the U.S."

There are 4.18 million miles of roads in the US. That would be:
55 million / 4.18 million = 13 potholes per mile
or one pothole every 406 ft. I'm not sure if that's considered bad,
but from my local observations, seems a bit conservative.

Of course, some potholes are larger than others:
https://www.google.com/search?q=sinkhole&tbm=isch

Drivel: Many years ago, I engaged in a series of discusions where I
claimed that potholes are alive and are really ancient dinosaur
tracks:
http://members.cruzio.com/~jeffl/nooze/pothole.txt

Goodness, the richest nation in the world and you have bad roads :-)

It’s hard to make people rich if you actually tax people and spend it on
infrastructure.

On 5/19/2021 8:44 PM, John B. wrote:
On Wed, 19 May 2021 16:53:25 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

On Thu, 20 May 2021 06:00:36 +0700, John B.
wrote:


But are U.S. roads really that bad?

https://www.cityworks.com/blog/10-fascinating-facts-about-potholes/
"There are an estimated 55 million potholes in the U.S."

There are 4.18 million miles of roads in the US. That would be:
55 million / 4.18 million = 13 potholes per mile
or one pothole every 406 ft. I'm not sure if that's considered bad,
but from my local observations, seems a bit conservative.

Of course, some potholes are larger than others:
https://www.google.com/search?q=sinkhole&tbm=isch

Drivel: Many years ago, I engaged in a series of discusions where I
claimed that potholes are alive and are really ancient dinosaur
tracks:
http://members.cruzio.com/~jeffl/nooze/pothole.txt

Goodness, the richest nation in the world and you have bad roads :-)


Naturally.
Road construction and maintenance has become a racket,
wherein more money only makes the roads worse. And the worse
they are, the easier it is to arrange more money.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971