700c tyres, width advice

[tigerssteve]

Firstly, you are dealing with a dummy here. OK? I have just started cycling again and have 700c x 45 tyres. I'm doing distance charity rides and I'm getting conflicting advice. Some say yes, 45 is fine, a good comfortable ride. Others say, you must be crazy cycling with tyres that wide. They say that the drag, especially on hills, will kill me! Who's right please? Wide or narrow, that is the question?
Supplementary question. If the view is go narrow, do I need new wheels or a new bike? Money is definitely an issue here. I'm not in the big, or even large, budget range.
Thanks[/size][/font]

[cny-man]

The dummies are the ones that are giving you that advice.
http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/rolling_resistance

Also, within limits you can try out a narrower tire with the same rim.
http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/rolling_resistance
(scroll down to the table showing rim width vs. tire width)

There is a slight weight penalty with a larger tire and some added wind resistance, but you have to balance that rather small factor against the comfort level you desire. Weight is overrated as a factor when it comes down to grams, or even ounces.

[DaveM]

To expand on what cny-man said:
Different tires WILL have a noticeable impact on how fast/easy to ride your bike is. But width tells you very little about which tires are faster or slower. It used to be conventional wisdom that narrower tires were faster, but that is changing now. In fact, if you ride on typical roads with rough pavement, wider tires may be both faster and more comfortable that skinny racing tires.

The biggest factors in the speed of tires is the construction of the casing (body) of the tire and the design of the tread. Cheap tires and those with protective belts often have much stiffer casings and will be noticeably slower. But you can't just assume that higher price = faster tire unfortunately. Knobby tires made to work well on dirt will also slow you down considerably.

Getting new tires may make your bike faster or easier to ride over distance depending on what you have now. But don't listen to people who tell you to get super skinny racing tires and you definitely don't need new wheels.

Here's a couple good articles about tires:
http://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/bicycle-quarterly-performance-of-tires/
http://janheine.wordpress.com/2014/06/13/how-much-faster-are-supple-tires/

[nfmisso]

If you want to change tires (and you should really want to); I suggest one of these two:

http://www.amazon.com/Schwalbe-Kojak-Folding-Bead-700X35/dp/B004YIBHEM/

http://www.amazon.com/Schwalbe-Marathon-Wire-Bead-Tire/dp/B004T0GCVI/
we have Marathon 38-622 on our tandem. They work well, but do not roll as well as:
http://www.amazon.com/Kenda-700X35-Kwest-K-Shield-Blackskin/dp/B006GEZSKG/
which we had on previously.

The Kendas have very tall soft side walls, and a very hard tread area. Both tires failed within 100 miles of each other - around 2500 total miles on each. The mode was side wall coming apart. One of them had a regular tube and the tube failed almost immediately - before there was any other warning. A close visual inspection would have probably caught it. The other one had a thorn resistant tube, and there was vibration, and visual inspection showed a 3" long failure in the side wall. Careful rode 5 miles home, tube held. Decide to try Schwalbe Marathon tires on the tandem.

The Kenda K193 ride smoother and are faster than the Schwalbe Marathon on our Tandem - your results may be different. I would expect the Schwalbe Kojak to have comparable speed to the K193.

[tigerssteve]

(08-06-2014, 02:52 PM)nfmisso Wrote:  If you want to change tires (and you should really want to); I suggest one of these two:

http://www.amazon.com/Schwalbe-Kojak-Folding-Bead-700X35/dp/B004YIBHEM/

http://www.amazon.com/Schwalbe-Marathon-Wire-Bead-Tire/dp/B004T0GCVI/
we have Marathon 38-622 on our tandem. They work well, but do not roll as well as:
http://www.amazon.com/Kenda-700X35-Kwest-K-Shield-Blackskin/dp/B006GEZSKG/
which we had on previously.

The Kendas have very tall soft side walls, and a very hard tread area. Both tires failed within 100 miles of each other - around 2500 total miles on each. The mode was side wall coming apart. One of them had a regular tube and the tube failed almost immediately - before there was any other warning. A close visual inspection would have probably caught it. The other one had a thorn resistant tube, and there was vibration, and visual inspection showed a 3" long failure in the side wall. Careful rode 5 miles home, tube held. Decide to try Schwalbe Marathon tires on the tandem.

The Kenda K193 ride smoother and are faster than the Schwalbe Marathon on our Tandem - your results may be different. I would expect the Schwalbe Kojak to have comparable speed to the K193.

Many thanks to all of you. Useful advice and links. Lots to look at. Looking at cycling to New York next year so may bump into you!

[cny-man]

(08-07-2014, 04:05 AM)tigerssteve Wrote:  Many thanks to all of you. Useful advice and links. Lots to look at. Looking at cycling to New York next year so may bump into you!

If you will be going through Syracuse or need some suggestions about routes or things to see in the area send me a PM. New York state is greatly underappreciated as a place to tour - most people don't get that it's a huge state, with hills, mountains, lakes, streams, waterfalls, a very long history, and that NYC is only a tiny speck geographically.