Can my bike run 28mm tires?



amazinmets73

New Member
Aug 11, 2010
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I'm interested in running '28mm tires on a Lemond Tourmalet road bike. I've included pictures of seat stays and fork.
 

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Probably "YES" for the frame ...

Probably "NO" for the particular fork ...

You will need to borrow-or-buy a 28mm tire-and-tube to determine if you'll need to pony up for a new fork, too ...

SOME (but, not many) carbon fiber forks can accomodate a 28mm tire ...

If it were a STEEL fork then I would have guessed that it might be able to handle a 28mm tire.​
 
from the looks of the missing paint on the insides of your chainstays...no. Try a 25 MM rear and see if it fits before trying to cram a 28 MM in there.

You can safely use a 28 MM rear with a 25 MM front 'if' they fit.
 
I think the missing paint is from the chain recently gouging away at the paint since there isn't any paint missing on the opposite side; and where the missing paint is, on the top of the chainstay then angling down as it goes toward the rear was definitely caused by the chain.

I would try a 28 and see what happens, but only if the store will allow you to return the tire once it's been installed on a rim if it doesn't work...usually they won't. If you know someone who runs 28's on their bike you could borrow the rims. The tire not only has to clear the rim but it also has to clear the brake calipers.

If you have the tools you can check by measuring with a pair of calipers your current tires width by following these instructions; https://janheine.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/how-wide-a-tire-can-i-run/
 
A good tip I learned: look at your existing tire in the frame and figure out where the point of tightest clearance will be. On the front wheel that's obviously up by the brake and the fork. On the rear, it is probably down by the bottom bracket on the seat stays.

Then, take your allen wrenches and progrssively slide them between that point on the tire and that point of the frame. Start small and work your way up in size, eg: 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, etc. If you can fit 6mm, for instance, on both sides, you have an additional 12mm of clearance. So if you are running a 25, and you can fit an additional 12mm total, you should be able to fit a 28mm tire or even larger.

I aim to have at least 3-4mm of clearance on either side of my tires - to account for a bit of wheel flex and occasional mud.

I also own a set of digital calipers, pretty cheap on amazon, to get an accurate tire size to base my initial measurement on. The printed tire width is often not what the tires actually inflate to, particularly on wider rims (18mm internal width +).
 
Why not ask at a bike shop? Most front road wheels are more or less interchangeable unless they have a disc brake or a bolt on front axle. They could easily take a spare and clip it in. Of course, you'd then have to buy the shop's 28mm tire.