Replacement Tyres 23 or 25?

Inquitus

I need to replace my Road Tyres, the bike came with 25's and perusing the web I have read some opinions 25's are both more comfortable and offer lower rolling resistance when the roads are of a less than ideal quality. I would rate the roads of NCD in that category.

What do the good people of boards have to say on the matter please?

I weigh about 78kg for the record.

Coronal

I was on 23 mm tyres for about a year, then changed to 25s for a tour: it felt like riding on cushions of air I don't think there's much benefit from the 23s, certainly if you're not racing.

thebouldwhacker

Never used 28 but I have 23 on my road bike and 28 on my touring bike and there is no similarity in ride. The 28's are very comfy but holy jebus they are slow!
The comfort difference is amazing though so perhaps 25 would be a good compromise???

pprendeville

fairly ignorant when it comes to tyres so can ye explain difference between 23, 25 and 28. think 622 is circumference in cm? looking at tyre beside me though and looks well over a metre if it was rolled out. could google it i suppose but would like a simple explanation.

Coronal

622 is the wheel diamter (rim to rim) in mm. 23,25,28 refers to the width/diameter of the tyre cross section, also in mm.

aquanaut

Something I remember from Sheldon Brown - and something else for you to think about is mixing 25's and 23's. Not sure if many people do it but apparantly putting 25 on the back and 23 on the front for weight reduction or vice versa for comfort.

Holyboy

Well according to Schwalbe if you can use the same pressure in a wider tyre there is less rolling resistance, for example, if you run 120psi in your 23c tyres at the moment,then if you use 25c or even 28c tyres that will take 120psi you will actually roll faster, now you may ask why road riders use mainly 23c tryres and nothing wider, this seems to be down to aero dynamics and of course they don't usually use clinchers, back in the old days they used to run 18 and 19c tyres but science proved that they just didn't roll any faster!

If you could find a 35c tyre that takes 120psi you'd be like a motorbike:D!!!!

Oh and of course the complete opposite goes for MTB, the less pressure you run gives you less rolling resistance, I know why it's the case but it's along explanation and I won't bore you with it:)

munsterleinster

aquanaut wrote: »

mixing 25's and 23's. .

Exactly what I have.
Got a Gatorskin 25 for the rear and don't really notice much difference from the Liteon 23 that cam with the bike.

Handles just a well, grips well in the wet. And not sooo concerned about pinch punctures.

Had 28's on a previous bike and they are noticably slower.

TinyExplosions

aquanaut wrote: »

mixing 25's and 23's.

Look for Continental Attack/Force tyre set -22mm front, 24 rear, all in one nice package

markcroninbsc

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Look for Continental Attack/Force tyre set -22mm front, 24 rear, all in one nice package

I had them, worst tyres i ever put on the bike. very slippy in the wet.

Lumen

Holyboy wrote: »

Oh and of course the complete opposite goes for MTB, the less pressure you run gives you less rolling resistance, I know why it's the case but it's along explanation and I won't bore you with it:)

Rolling resistance has two components: sucking the road and lifting the bike.

A hard tyre lifts more and sucks less.
A soft tyre lifts less and sucks more.
On a bumpier road, lifting wastes more energy than sucking.

^^ That's probably nonsense but it makes sense to me.

ashleey

Get continental grand prix 24mm and split the difference. They are fine.

Holyboy

http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/rolling_resistance

I find this kind of stuff terribly exciting to read, but I am a bit weird;)

easygoing39

Holyboy,thanks for that link,Ive read it 3 times and still cant get my head around the wider tyre having less rolling resistance! In my head a 23c at 125psi should have less RR than a 28c at 125psi,but not according to that article,my brain hurts!! LOL

Inquitus

easygoing39 wrote: »

Holyboy,thanks for that link,Ive read it 3 times and still cant get my head around the wider tyre having less rolling resistance! In my head a 23c at 125psi should have less RR than a 28c at 125psi,but not according to that article,my brain hurts!! LOL

Less deformation of the circle, the issue here being the inability to inflate wider tyres as much as narrower ones.

Holyboy

easygoing39 wrote: »

Holyboy,thanks for that link,Ive read it 3 times and still cant get my head around the wider tyre having less rolling resistance! In my head a 23c at 125psi should have less RR than a 28c at 125psi,but not according to that article,my brain hurts!! LOL

Ha ha, it's much more straight forward than some of the other bike articles I read!!