Which Tyre?

trinib

Hi,
Just a tyre question from a complete beginner. Bought a cyclocross bike to do an Adventure Duathlon in few weeks it has the knobbly off road tyres size 700x35c once duathlon is done going to use it as a road bike and just wondering about what size tyres can I change to. Can I just put 700x35c slicks on it or could I go thinner eg 700X28c or could I even go 700x23c? Also are tubes sized to the tyre or are they just a standard 700 tube? Thanks.

Lumen

Most people would use wider tubes for 35mm tyres, which won't work well with narrower tyres.

Tubes aside, you can use whatever width tyre you like. The faster tyres tend not to be available in sizes above 25mm.

Wider tyres are heavier and feel a bit less lively but can be run at lower pressure which gives a slightly smoother ride.

If you're heavier maybe go wider so that you don't have to run crazy pressures, although plenty of 100kg+ riders use 23mm tyres.

Avoid tread.

lukester

23mm FTW. Faster == more fun.

trinib

Thanks for replies, Im around 70kg so hopefully weight wont be a problem. Will prob go for around 25mm so.

funkyjebus

I go with 23's myself.

trinib

So 23 's would be ok on the rims even tho there are 35 's on them?

Lumen

Yes

trinib

Great, thanks.

route66

Strictly speaking, a particular rim width will work with a range of tyre sizes. Have a look at this table from the Schwalbe web site or here in The Sheldon Brown web site .

trinib

Just had a look at the rim n it has 13x622c written on it.

route66

trinib wrote: »

Just had a look at the rim n it has 13x622c written on it.

If the 13 means rim width (and I think it does), then according to both links above, the tyre widths that are ok to use are18, 20, 23 & 25. But you say you currently use 35s? I would have thought that highly inflated 35s on a narrow 13mm rim would put undue pressure on the rim walls.

Putting that aside, if your questions is how narrow can you go, then the answer is as narrow as you want. Some of this might actually come down to aesthetics - 23mm tyres will look weedy if you're used to 35s. But weedy is subjective; the extra speed you will have with 23s is not!

trinib

Ya 35's came on it when I bought it. I got it second hand. Perhaps they are not the original tyres. This maybe could explain why its nearly impossible to get 80psi which is the max pressure written on the tyre into them.