51–60 of 144 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
can't you also get a smoother ride by having slightly slacker spokes on wheels? Then the wheel rim bounces over every rock and pebble, but the axle doesn't.
Not really, spokes work under tension rather than compression, you're essentially hanging from the top-most spokes on the wheel. Also if your spokes are too slack, they can move in the hub, cause wear, and are likely to snap at the elbow.
Unless you're on the ProTour, choose riding comfort over rolling resistance. Also see https://www.renehersecycles.com/12-myths-in-cycling-1-wider-... for a related myth-debunking of the impact of tire width (which contributes to rolling resistance) on speed.
>Unless you're on the ProTour You don't have to be on the Pro Tour to benefit from aero gains with narrower tires. Even moderately fit people usually can sustain 15 mph on flat, at which point aero gains start to matter. Even more for hilly terrain where you can easily pick up over 20 mph on descents. The wider tires roll more efficient at lower psi (when you have to air down for comfort). But roughness of pavement r…
I think than Valverde used a 28 mm in a Roubaix and at the end of the race said that it was too much and not worth of the extra weight and front section.
Every pro is riding on 30 or 32 mm now. Of course the rims are totally different and wrap those tires in a way that the old metallic rims could not do, hence the aerodynamic gains.
Edit: I've got a gravel bike with 42 mm tires and a 28 mm set. I use the 28 mm when going in the hills on asphalt. I'm with you on that: it's a day/night difference. On mixed mostly flat terrains the 42 mm tires are the best compromise.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Unless you're on the ProTour You don't have to be on the Pro Tour to benefit from aero gains with narrower tires. Even moderately fit people usually can sustain 15 mph on flat, at which point aero gains start to matter. Even more for hilly terrain where you can easily pick up over 20 mph on descents. The wider tires roll more efficient at lower psi (when you have to air down for comfort). But roughness of pavement r…
28 mm tires used to be huge tires. Pros didn't ride anything wider than 23 mm in the 90s. 25 mm would be for special occasions. 21 mm on tracks, sometimes even 19 mm. I think than Valverde used a 28 mm in a Roubaix and at the end of the race said that it was too much and not worth of the extra weight and front section. Every pro is riding on 30 or 32 mm now. Of course the rims are totally different and wrap those tir…
In the days of rim brakes a wheel had a finite life (the length of time it took to wear down the braking surface). Then shimano and the frame builders pushed everyone to disc brakes, so the wheels now last for ever. What do you know, 2 years later all the wheel manufacturers are claiming “wide is better” and flogging everyone new wheels.
I’ve not seen any clear evidence that they’re right, and there’s lots of intuitive reasons to think that wider tyres will be slower (aerodynamics!). I remain sceptical, but genuinely hopeful that someone who thinks that wider is faster can provide me with some solid evidence…
A super easy way to tell how efficient a tire is going to roll is weight. If you are comparing tires for the same diameter/width/tread pattern, in most cases, the lighter tire is going to roll better. Tire rolling resistance comes from effectively the rebound damping on the tread. As the tire rolls, the tread on the backside of the contact patch takes some time to rebound, so the tire is effectively always rolling ov…
Indeed based on your explanation the stiffness of the tread is going to be as much of a cause as anything.
A super easy way to tell how efficient a tire is going to roll is weight. If you are comparing tires for the same diameter/width/tread pattern, in most cases, the lighter tire is going to roll better. Tire rolling resistance comes from effectively the rebound damping on the tread. As the tire rolls, the tread on the backside of the contact patch takes some time to rebound, so the tire is effectively always rolling ov…
This isn't right. The difference in weight of a tire in the same class is insignificant (~400g) compared to the bike (~7kg) and the rider. Indeed based on your explanation the stiffness of the tread is going to be as much of a cause as anything.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
28 mm tires used to be huge tires. Pros didn't ride anything wider than 23 mm in the 90s. 25 mm would be for special occasions. 21 mm on tracks, sometimes even 19 mm. I think than Valverde used a 28 mm in a Roubaix and at the end of the race said that it was too much and not worth of the extra weight and front section. Every pro is riding on 30 or 32 mm now. Of course the rims are totally different and wrap those tir…
Unfortunately you cannot discount the “sponsor effect” here. Wheel manufacturers have been pushing wider rims because it helps them sell another set of wheels to everyone. In the days of rim brakes a wheel had a finite life (the length of time it took to wear down the braking surface). Then shimano and the frame builders pushed everyone to disc brakes, so the wheels now last for ever. What do you know, 2 years later…
I am 100% sure that in this age of "marginal gains", the pro tour teams would not go for anything that doesn't give them it unless severely hamstrung by sponsorship deals. And I doubt that the wheel sponsors don't have multiple sizes available.
And I think you're severely overestimating wheel life span for modern models, at least due to the fact that carbon is more brittle than more pedestrian materials. Just look for Pogacar's fall earlier last week in the Giro to see how a simple flat tire makes the whole wheel a risk.
Unless you're on the ProTour, choose riding comfort over rolling resistance. Also see https://www.renehersecycles.com/12-myths-in-cycling-1-wider-... for a related myth-debunking of the impact of tire width (which contributes to rolling resistance) on speed.
>Unless you're on the ProTour You don't have to be on the Pro Tour to benefit from aero gains with narrower tires. Even moderately fit people usually can sustain 15 mph on flat, at which point aero gains start to matter. Even more for hilly terrain where you can easily pick up over 20 mph on descents. The wider tires roll more efficient at lower psi (when you have to air down for comfort). But roughness of pavement r…
All that aero is probably not working so well for you. Even on my mountain bike with grippy and wide tires I get over 40 mph. On my gravel I can hit over 50 mph, and thats with 45mm tires.
Unless you're on the ProTour, choose riding comfort over rolling resistance. Also see https://www.renehersecycles.com/12-myths-in-cycling-1-wider-... for a related myth-debunking of the impact of tire width (which contributes to rolling resistance) on speed.
Happily, this is also more comfortable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Unless you're on the ProTour You don't have to be on the Pro Tour to benefit from aero gains with narrower tires. Even moderately fit people usually can sustain 15 mph on flat, at which point aero gains start to matter. Even more for hilly terrain where you can easily pick up over 20 mph on descents. The wider tires roll more efficient at lower psi (when you have to air down for comfort). But roughness of pavement r…
>Speeds over 30 mph on some descents All that aero is probably not working so well for you. Even on my mountain bike with grippy and wide tires I get over 40 mph. On my gravel I can hit over 50 mph, and thats with 45mm tires.
I think it's interesting to have observed the changes over the years. Before it was about having as thin tires as possible, pumped as hard as possible. Then one realized that only gives a low rolling resistance on perfectly even surface, something softer can absorb more of the little bumps (and also perhaps not fatigue the rider as much from a bumpy ride). Then bytul vs latex vs tpu tubes. Or go entirely tubeless is…
> something softer can absorb more of the little bumps (and also perhaps not fatigue the rider as much from a bumpy ride). Not quite. You can air down narrower road tires for this. The difference is that a wider tire (i.e a tire with more volume) is going to be more efficient at lower psi, because of a wider contact patch that ends up spreading the load out more and deflecting the tread less. This effect definitely i…
Testing has shown this to not be true. Width is less important than overall shape of the tyre/wheel/bicycle interface when it comes to aerodynamics.