Tire size for 180 lb rider

In article <[email hidden]>,

David Kerber ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net said:

I'm 180 lbs (82kg). On good blacktop (tarmac) roads, is
there any lower limit on tire size below which I should
generally avoid going? My gut feeling is that I probably
shouldn't go below about 21mm, but is there any truth to
that feeling? Or does it depend on the rim or another
factor I'm not considering? I know I need an appropriately
sized rim for whatever tire I use.

Disregard any ride comfort issues; for the purposes of this
question, I'm only concerned with tire and rim safety.

I suggest a 700x23 as the lower limit, and 25 probably a
better choice, but this does depend both on the amount of
care you exercise while riding and the conditions where you
ride. Larger tires could make sense for some conditions.

When it comes to rim safety, more air is pretty much always
better so you still have to make a personal decision about
how much weight you are willing to carry in exchange for
longer rim life.

In article <[email hidden]>, cnhyf-
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

David Kerber ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net said:

I'm 180 lbs (82kg). On good blacktop (tarmac) roads, is
there any lower limit on tire size below which I should
generally avoid going? My gut feeling is that I probably
shouldn't go below about 21mm, but is there any truth to
that feeling? Or does it depend on the rim or another
factor I'm not considering? I know I need an
appropriately sized rim for whatever tire I use.

Disregard any ride comfort issues; for the purposes of
this question, I'm only concerned with tire and rim
safety.

I suggest a 700x23 as the lower limit, and 25 probably a
better choice, but this does depend both on the amount of
care you exercise while riding and the conditions where
you ride. Larger tires could make sense for some
conditions.

When it comes to rim safety, more air is pretty much
always better so you still have to make a personal
decision about how much weight you are willing to carry in
exchange for longer rim life.

Thanks for the comments. I'm looking at some new wheels and
tires for fast training rides and racing, while keeping a
separate set of "everyday" wheels for club rides, commuting,
etc. So tire and rim life just from normal wear and tear
aren't a major issue, but possible catastrophic failure at
speed is. This set would be for *good roads only*.

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"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
cnhyf- [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

David Kerber ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net said:

I'm 180 lbs (82kg). On good blacktop (tarmac) roads, is
there any

lower

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

limit on tire size below which I should generally avoid
going? My gut feeling is that I probably shouldn't go
below about 21mm, but is there any truth to that
feeling? Or does it depend on the rim or another factor
I'm not considering? I know I need an appropriately
sized rim for whatever tire I use.

Disregard any ride comfort issues; for the purposes of
this question, I'm only concerned with tire and rim
safety.

I suggest a 700x23 as the lower limit, and 25 probably a
better choice, but this does depend both on the amount
of care you exercise while riding and the conditions
where you ride. Larger tires could make sense for some
conditions.

When it comes to rim safety, more air is pretty much
always better so you still have to make a personal
decision about how much weight you are willing to carry
in exchange for longer rim life.

Thanks for the comments. I'm looking at some new wheels
and tires for fast training rides and racing, while
keeping a separate set of "everyday" wheels for club
rides, commuting, etc. So tire and rim life just from
normal wear and tear aren't a major issue, but possible
catastrophic failure at speed is. This set would be for
*good roads only*.

Well, if you are only going to ride these on good roads
and have another set, then 21 is a good choice IMHO. I
have had a 20 and a 19 on a bicycle and was ok with them
and I weighed 200 at the time. I did get flats now and
again, but the roads around here are terrible and I had 20
pounds on you.

I think 21's would be fine for the use you are talking
about. Curt

In article <[email hidden]>,

David Kerber ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net said:

Thanks for the comments. I'm looking at some new wheels
and tires for fast training rides and racing, while
keeping a separate set of "everyday" wheels for club
rides, commuting, etc. So tire and rim life just from
normal wear and tear aren't a major issue, but possible
catastrophic failure at speed is. This set would be for
*good roads only*.

Well if you care about going fast then the 700x23 is still
good, apparently the very small tire sizes actually have
more rolling resistance.

I have been pretty happy with Michelin and it's easy to
find them at deep discounts. I use the Axial Carbon as a
training tire and have the Pro Race on a set of light
wheels I use occasionally. Michelin casings seem tough and
stiff to me compared to most other high end tires which is
both good and bad.

I rode many of the Continental tires and find the tread
lasts well for me, harder tread to cut than the Michelins.

I went through Vredestein Fortezza Tri-Comps very quickly as
they cut easily and developed longitudinal cracks between
the different sections of tread... duh! The casing is also
wimpy compared to Michelin, rides nice for 500 miles.

I like Avocets but they are virtually impossible to find at
bike shops.

I recently tried the Trek Bontrager Race Lite tires and
found they also cut easily and did not get many miles
from them.

I took a Kenda Koncept on a century ride because I had a
piece of wire embedded in my regular tire that I was having
trouble extracting. The Kenda was a one-ride tire, blew a 2"
gash right down the middle of the tread. Never saw what was
stuck in it. They are surprisingly light and cheap.

What is the deal...ride 15,000 a year? Less? Conti GP 3000
23's seem the best from my perspective.

"maxo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Paul Southworth said:

Well if you care about going fast then the 700x23 is
still good,

apparently

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

the very small tire sizes actually have more rolling
resistance.

Yep, there's quite a bit of info on this, have a google,
it's rather interesting.

I'm assuming you want the skinniest tire you can run
safely because of a desire for speed and low resistance?
Wouldn't you want to ride something a little fatter IF it
didn't slow you down? I would, and do. I'm the same weight
as you and usually ride 25s--I'm not saying that's what
you should ride--but personally, they feel just as fast as
20s, but I have a little more comfort and pinch flat
insurance.

You should look into researching what the actual
resistance is on different makes of tires-- once you're in
the sub 28mm category, width is not the biggest factor,
design is. From what I've garnered, what causes resistance
is tread "squirm" and sidewall stiffness. So with that
logic, a very supple tire with a high thread count and
smoothish tread would be good. That's why tubulars kicked
clincher's butts for many years--suppleness=fast.

As far as brand, don't ask me, I'm a cheapskate and ride
10-dollar Nashbar Kevlar belt trainers. 🙂 Not bad at
all for the buck, and when you cut one, you toss it
without tears.

Happy exploring!

What is the deal...ride 15,000 a year? Less? Conti GP 3000
23's seem the best from my perspective.

"maxo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Paul Southworth said:

Well if you care about going fast then the 700x23 is
still good,

apparently

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

the very small tire sizes actually have more rolling
resistance.

Yep, there's quite a bit of info on this, have a google,
it's rather interesting.

I'm assuming you want the skinniest tire you can run
safely because of a desire for speed and low resistance?
Wouldn't you want to ride something a little fatter IF it
didn't slow you down? I would, and do. I'm the same weight
as you and usually ride 25s--I'm not saying that's what
you should ride--but personally, they feel just as fast as
20s, but I have a little more comfort and pinch flat
insurance.

You should look into researching what the actual
resistance is on different makes of tires-- once you're in
the sub 28mm category, width is not the biggest factor,
design is. From what I've garnered, what causes resistance
is tread "squirm" and sidewall stiffness. So with that
logic, a very supple tire with a high thread count and
smoothish tread would be good. That's why tubulars kicked
clincher's butts for many years--suppleness=fast.

As far as brand, don't ask me, I'm a cheapskate and ride
10-dollar Nashbar Kevlar belt trainers. 🙂 Not bad at
all for the buck, and when you cut one, you toss it
without tears.

Happy exploring!

Bartow W. Riggs said:

Conti GP 3000 23's seem the best from my perspective.

Why?

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Paul Southworth said:

Well if you care about going fast then the 700x23 is
still good, apparently the very small tire sizes
actually have more rolling resistance.

Yep, there's quite a bit of info on this, have a google,
it's rather interesting.

I'm assuming you want the skinniest tire you can run
safely because of a desire for speed and low resistance?
Wouldn't you want to ride something a little fatter IF it
didn't slow you down? I would, and do. I'm the same

Absolutely; I want the one which will help me go the
fastest. I was assuming that a smaller tire at a higher
pressure would have lower resistance than the 25's I'm
running right now, which I set up to 120 psi for races
(lower for every day).

I am aware that a smaller tire at the same pressure will
hurt the rolling resistance, not help it.

Quoted message said:

weight as you and usually ride 25s--I'm not saying that's
what you should ride--but personally, they feel just as
fast as 20s, but I have a little more comfort and pinch
flat insurance.

You should look into researching what the actual
resistance is on different makes of tires-- once you're in
the sub 28mm category, width is not the biggest factor,
design is. From what I've garnered, what causes resistance
is tread "squirm" and sidewall stiffness. So with that
logic, a very supple tire with a high thread count and
smoothish tread would be good. That's why tubulars kicked
clincher's butts for many years--suppleness=fast.

As far as brand, don't ask me, I'm a cheapskate and ride
10-dollar Nashbar Kevlar belt trainers. 🙂 Not bad at
all for the buck, and when you cut one, you toss it
without tears.

Happy exploring!

--
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address before replying!

REAL programmers write self-modifying code.

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

What is the deal...ride 15,000 a year? Less? Conti GP 3000
23's seem the best from my perspective.

Less, approx 3k/yr. I've seen an awful lot of people
recommend those tires, but I haven't tried them yet.

....

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address before replying!

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Fairly light, good tread wear and not extraodinarily expensive. For me
Continental GP 3000's have been very durable. (And as an aside, my touring
bike has conti top touring 2000's and I have had exactly one flat in 7000
miles.)
"maxo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bartow W. Riggs said:

Conti GP 3000 23's seem the best from my perspective.

Why?

Bartow W. Riggs said:

Fairly light, good tread wear and not extraodinarily
expensive. For me Continental GP 3000's have been very
durable. (And as an aside, my touring bike has conti top
touring 2000's and I have had exactly one flat in 7000
miles.) "maxo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Fri, 14 May 2004 15:49:51 -0700, Bartow W. Riggs

Quoted message said:

Conti GP 3000 23's seem the best from my perspective.

Why?

Hmmm, I may have to have a look. I'm curious about the
sidewalls, sometimes sturdiness can compromise the ride,
perhaps Conti's found a good balance. I definitely would use
Top Tours on a sturdier ride, but as for the skinnier models--
I had a really bad experience with Contis when I worked as a
courier. They were a mid-priced ~20 model. I got something
like ten times more flats with those guys. Horrible! They
were the Thai made ones, so perhaps it was a bum batch from
a bad factory? I quickly switched back to cheap Panaracers
and Michelens.

On an amusing note, the most durable tires I've ever ridden
have been Chen Shins. Now before everyone starts laughing,
which is pretty understandable, once must understand that
this company is the largest bike tire maker in the world--so
their quality spans the spectrum! I had a set of 38c city
tires by them that I put ~10k miles on w/o a flat, and they
were barely worn when I replaced them. The flipside to that
was the compound was so hard that cornering was a faith
based activity 😉 For cheap fun I ride the Nashbar Chen Shin
Prima Plus 2s, which average about a flat per 2k, and are
very lively. I've gotten to the point where I seek out good
Chen Shins (marketed under MANY names) just because...I love
to answer the gearheads on the road when they ask, "Dude,
what kind of rubber are you rockin?"-- "Yeah, man, they're
CHEN SHINS and they kick ass!" He he!

I also ride a quite silly 1978 Visount for the giggles as
well...They're not just steel tubes...they're AEROSPACE
quality! Oh yeah! 😉

Obviously not a racer...

I weight in the 180 range and have never had any problems with tire size.
I've ridden 700x20 clinched up to super light 700x22 Veloflex Pave. I'm
riding the Pave not and have not had any issues what so ever. I pump the
rear tire to 110 and the front to 105. I think it is better to ride a high
quality tire and not worry about the size.
"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm 180 lbs (82kg). On good blacktop (tarmac) roads, is
there any lower limit on tire size below which I should
generally avoid going? My gut feeling is that I probably
shouldn't go below about 21mm, but is there any truth to
that feeling? Or does it depend on the rim or another
factor I'm not considering? I know I need an appropriately
sized rim for whatever tire I use.

Disregard any ride comfort issues; for the purposes
of this question, I'm only concerned with tire and
rim safety.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts
in the newsgroups if possible).

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Paul Southworth

I recently tried the Trek Bontrager Race Lite tires and
found they also cut easily and did not get many miles
from them.

I just dumped my Bontrager Race X-Lites (came with my bike) for Michelin Pro Race. The Bontrager's (700x23) had 2 flats (rear) in 225 miles, and I noticed small splits in the rear tread after 300 mi. (Continental is making these tires for Bontrager, and they are very similar in their design and composition to Conti's GP3000).

On Sat, 15 May 2004 15:36:23 GMT, "Jeff & Jane" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

I weight in the 180 range and have never had any problems
with tire size. I've ridden 700x20 clinched up to super
light 700x22 Veloflex Pave. I'm riding the Pave not and
have not had any issues what so ever. I pump the rear tire
to 110 and the front to 105. I think it is better to ride a
high quality tire and not worry about the size.

Agreed completely!! I'm in the 240 range and ride the
skinniest ones I can find. Right now it's Continental
sprinter tubulars, and the clinchers are Torelli 20, and
conti 3000 23's. All my flats seem to come from glass and
metal shards as opposed to other road hazards. Buy good ones
that are a safe fit for your rims and don't look back

TomB

Quoted message said:

"David Kerber" <ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I'm 180 lbs (82kg). On good blacktop (tarmac) roads, is
there any lower limit on tire size below which I should
generally avoid going? My gut feeling is that I probably
shouldn't go below about 21mm, but is there any truth to
that feeling? Or does it depend on the rim or another
factor I'm not considering? I know I need an
appropriately sized rim for whatever tire I use.

Disregard any ride comfort issues; for the purposes of
this question, I'm only concerned with tire and rim
safety.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts
in the newsgroups if possible).

On Fri, 14 May 2004 20:32:44 -0400, David Kerber

ns_dkerber@ns_ids.net said:

Absolutely; I want the one which will help me go the
fastest. I was assuming that a smaller tire at a higher
pressure would have lower resistance than the 25's I'm
running right now, which I set up to 120 psi for races
(lower for every day).

I am aware that a smaller tire at the same pressure will
hurt the rolling resistance, not help it.

It will be more aerodynamic, though. Anyway, it's somewhat
difficult to find nice tires that go past 120 psi, even in
a 19 or 20 mm, unless you're not afraid to ignore the
printed maximum.
--
Rick Onanian

maxo said:

On an amusing note, the most durable tires I've ever ridden
have been Chen Shins. Now before everyone starts laughing,
which is pretty understandable, once must understand that
this company is the largest bike tire maker in the world--
so their quality spans the spectrum!

Anybody who laughs at the statement that Cheng Shin
(isn't there a 'g' in there?) tires last forever has
never used them. Every one I've ridden refuses to show
any wear whatsoever no matter how much riding nor how
much abusing is done.

The only reason to change them is if you want tires that
ride/feel different. They're slightly tougher than cast
iron, and slightly lighter. I've never gotten a flat through
one, nor worn one visibly.
--
Rick Onanian

Quoted message said:

Paul Southworth said:

I recently tried the Trek Bontrager Race Lite tires and
found they also cut easily and did not get many miles
from them.

I just dumped my Bontrager Race X-Lites (came with my bike)
for Michelin Pro Race. The Bontrager's (700x23) had 2 flats
(rear) in 225 miles, and I noticed small splits in the rear
tread after 300 mi. (Continental is making these tires for
Bontrager, and they are very similar in their design and
composition to Conti's GP3000).

My experience with the Race X-Lites is not consistant with
yours. I believe I had one flat on the rear before wearing
it out after 1000 miles or so. Good handling, relatively
light, good wear and damage resistance in my book. Downside:
Traction is suspect in wet conditions.

I like them so much I'm running them on my tandem, where I
place a premium on damage resistance.

YMMV,

Chris Neary [email hidden]

"Science, freedom, beauty, adventure: what more could you
ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I loved" -
Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh

Quoted message said:

"Yeah, man, they're CHEN SHINS and they kick ass!"

Actually they're Cheng Shins and they do kick ass, it was UV
exposure and not mileage that killed mine.

After 8000 miles they still had tread but the sidewalls were
badly cracked.

--

_______________________ALL AMIGA IN MY
MIND_______________________ ------------------"Buddy Holly,
the Texas Elvis"------------------ __________306.350.357.38-

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

[email hidden]__________

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

"Yeah, man, they're CHEN SHINS and they kick ass!"

Actually they're Cheng Shins and they do kick ass, it was
UV exposure and not mileage that killed mine.

After 8000 miles they still had tread but the sidewalls
were badly cracked.

Ozone exposure will do that, too. Did they sit next to heavy
electrical equipment?

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