Tyre Width

in message <[email hidden]>, Rob Wood

(') said:

I have been using 23mm wide tyres on my road bike winter & summer.
However I have slid & come off twice recently. Will changing to wider
tyres help prevent this during the winter or should I just take the
corners more carefully?

For a given tyre pressure the contact patch will be the same area
irrespective of tyre width. The only benefit of wider tyres is you can
run them at lower pressure, but that will result in more drag = harder
work.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

... a mild, inoffensive sadist...

Rob Wood said:

I have been using 23mm wide tyres on my road bike winter & summer.
However I have slid & come off twice recently. Will changing to wider
tyres help prevent this during the winter or should I just take the
corners more carefully?

I'm also considering wider tyres for the same reason. They will grip
better if all else is equal except pressure, which should be lower then.
Rolling resistance of a good-quality 25mm will still be low so they
shouldn't be hard work--might even be faster on average and rough roads.

Trouble is, my road bike frame has limited clearance so I'll probably have
to stick with a 23 rear; might use a 25 front if I can find a nice light
one. (Already have wide tyres on my tourer).

Meantime or alternatively, just keep the air pressure sensible and take
the corners much more carefully. I used to have the pressure as high I as
I thought I could get away with; when I return to cycling after accident
(caused by loss of grip), I will have the opposite attitude: have the
tyres as soft as I can tolerate (while still hopefully being hard enough
to resist pinch-flats). And don't forget the front should be softer than
rear because it takes less weight.

~PB

Rob Wood said:

I have been using 23mm wide tyres on my road bike winter & summer. However I
have slid & come off twice recently. Will changing to wider tyres help
prevent this during the winter or should I just take the corners more
carefully?

Many thanks

just be more careful. I have fallen off three times in the last 3 months
(20 years actually) each time on the widest tyres I have ever used, 28mm.

Try Panaracer Stradius Pro 700c 26mm an absolutly brilliant tyre, wiggle do
them, not cheap but the best tyres I have ever ridden! I would still be
using them now but mine wore out and I cannot justify the expense, I am
using up some old contis that were my sons but in all the time I had the
Panaracers on I never had a puncture, 26mm may seem a bit wide but they are
a narrow 26 if that makes sense, and really grippy in the wet. As soon as I
use up the tyres I have in the garage I will be back on Panaracers.

The guy who recommended them to me said "fit em and forget em".