winter tyre sizes?

[mogse]

hi
i'm looking to change my tyres on my road bike to some with some grip for use in the wet, i currently use 700x23 continental gp4000 which are slicks.
i have looked at some winter tyres with some tred which i think they class as city tyres on the follwing site. but the only sizes they seem to do are 700x32c will these fit my road bike wheels or do i need to get new wheels?
i have been looking here
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/c/Cycle/7/Tyres_-_Road_City/

thanks for the advice

 

[alfeng]

I'm looking to change my tyres on my road bike to some with some grip for use in the wet, i currently use 700x23 continental gp4000 which are slicks.
i have looked at some winter tyres with some tred which i think they class as city tyres on the follwing site. but the only sizes they seem to do are 700x32c will these fit my road bike wheels or do i need to get new wheels?

Many ROAD bikes have a problem fitting 700x28 tyres, now; so, it is definitely problematic whether your bike will even handle 700x32 tyres.

An arbitrary rule-of-thumb would be this -- if your frame does not have fender eyelets near the dropouts & if it was made in the last half-dozen years, you may be hard pressed to fit 700x28 tyres ... if your frame & fork have fender eyelets, then you can probably fit 700x32 tyres.

Now, whether or not you need new rims is probably a matter of some dispute. I know someone who chose to put 700x32 tyres on his MAVIC MA40 rims (622-15) ...

CX racers generally use wheels with 622-15 rims ... sometimes, 622-13 (e.g., MAVIC Ksyrium SSC SL/SL2/etc. clinchers which have tubular "sister" options) are used with CX tyres.

If your bike frame can handle 700x32 tyres, the biggest problem you may find will be fitting the tyre past the brake caliper when installing/removing the wheel -- this may-or-may-not be a nuisance where you would install the wheel with the tyre only partially inflated and then inflate the tyre to riding pressure after the wheel is mounted in the frame.

If it is a nuisance, then getting/using wider rims (e.g, 622-17 or 622-19, with the actual brake surface being about 5.5mm more than the "bead" dimension) will result in having the brake pads set wider which will make fitting the wheel easier ... of course, that will mean that you'll need to adjust the pads, again, each time you switch back to your normal tyres and/or wheels.

Don't forget to buy different (i.e., larger) tubes for the fatter tyres.

 

[alfeng]

BTW. How well a tyre handles in wet (or, cold) weather is often dependent on the tread compound and the PSI you use ...

Continental used to make a wet-weather tyre, so I presume it (or, something similar) is still available.

Also, lower your tyre pressure by 5-to-10 PSI to improve traction AND don't lean into to turns as aggresively as you might in dry weather conditions.

 

[PeterF]

I run 26mm Panaracers for winter. The extra few mm's absorb the uneven road surfaces a bit better, and the feel a little more stable. I hit a few patches of ice today, but just took it in stride and stayed upright. 26's also still fit in the rather racy c-dale frame with enough clearance. 28's may be the max size I can use, but for now the 26's are doing the trick. Most of my friends are still on their 23's so I can't use my cross bike with the 30's and have any chance of hanging on for more than a few miles.

 

[dhk2]

My guess is that a treaded city or cyclocross tire will not have as much grip on wet roads as the better road tires. I just found a "wet grip" tire comparison test in Tour magazine which can be viewed via the Continental webpage. It features a cornering tests on wet asphalt done by an actual rider, up to and including the crashes. If the results can be believed, the new GP4000S tire may be as good as you can get for wet grip.

 

[PeterF]

My guess is that a treaded city or cyclocross tire will not have as much grip on wet roads as the better road tires. I just found a "wet grip" tire comparison test in Tour magazine which can be viewed via the Continental webpage. It features a cornering tests on wet asphalt done by an actual rider, up to and including the crashes. If the results can be believed, the new GP4000S tire may be as good as you can get for wet grip.

I agree. Treads don't do much good when you hit ice or sand.

 

[buckybux]

In the summer, I use GP4000's, in the winter I switch to
Gatorskins. I continue to use 23mm both in winter and summer, I have tried 25mm, but they are really close to the bottom bracket. I do back off the air pressure in winter too, and run it at 100 lbs.