Anyone using wider road wheels and tyres on their 'fast' bike?

I have a couple of sets of traditional width road wheels. For ages the mantra seems to have been narrow tyres and high pressures to make you go quicker. Im looking to replace an older set of wheels, Mavic Ksyrium SSC which are light and rewarding clinchers. The current vogue seems to be to go 25mm wide and run lower pressures, possibly tubeless too. Ot seems counter intuative that a wider and lower pressure tyre can give me more speed and comfort. Can anyone who has used them pass any comment? Im looking at the Hunt wheels that are 25mm wide and £400.

Thanks

I have a set of the Mavic Kysrium All road Pro’s on my Giant Defy. I have run them the 28c’s they came with and also 25c’s. Happy with both sets. You should note that I’m not all about speed, I just enjoy going out and riding, tend to average 15-17mph. I’m all about comfort and generally in no rush to get anywhere 🙂

I’ve got 23mm rims and 25mm tyres on my summer bike, they’re good. I’m not blown away with the epic grip levels afforded I the wider set up though…

I’ve just switched from 23 to 25mm tyres and they do feel more comfortable, with no noticeable penalties.

Have for some years. Currently 30 mm Challenges on Pacenti CL 25 s. I don’t go to silly low pressures unless its wet or icy as, although a wide tyre allows lower pressure for the same resistance, a wide tyre hard rolls better than the same tyre soft. Its still more comfy than a narrow tyre as well. 80 psi most definitely rolls better than 60 for me. 100 is better still but 80 is my compromise. Even 100 is a nicer ride than a 25 at the same pressure.

30mm Challenges here, as well.

Even 100 is a nicer ride than a 25 at the same pressure.

Agreed.

Unless you’re racing, why use race kit?

28mm Michelin here, amazing grip leaning them over on corners & much more comfortable than the old 25s

Isn’t everyone on 25mm or wider these days? They surveyed all the bikes in the Tour, and those riders are pretty quick, and only Yates’s bike was still on 23mm.

Like for like, same pressure, the fatter rubber will roll quicker as the contact patch isn’t as elongated. But most run them at lower pressure and trade off a bit of rolling resistance for comfort.

Still find narrower tyres on TT bikes where aero trumps everything else!

This all sounds just what i was hoping. I dont race but do like to ride as hard and fast as i can from time to time. I have a steel tourer with 32s for gentler days. Thanks for the input

a wide tyre hard rolls better than the same tyre soft

Nah. Are you fat? 80pis in 30c is too much.

I’m super fast and super pro, on 26mm with 80psi.

I have 25mm wide Reynolds with 25s. It’s as big as I can get in the frame.
Ride has improved over my old 21mm with 23s, but not massively so.

Isn’t everyone on 25mm or wider these days? They surveyed all the bikes in the Tour, and those riders are pretty quick, and only Yates’s bike was still on 23mm.

They were saying the other day that Froome is on 21mm wide tyres 😯

I’ve just upgraded my wheels from some crappy old thin wheels to Fulcrum Quattro’s with the same 25c tyres and they look a lot wider now.

My average speed on the same route went up by 3mph 🙂

Just gone from 25mm to 23mm and haven’t noticed any difference except slightly quicker times, might be down to latex tubes though? Don’t really care.

They were saying the other day that Froome is on 21mm wide tyres

For the ITT, perhaps. Otherwise, he’s on 25mm, IIRC.

For the ITT, perhaps. Otherwise, he’s on 25mm, IIRC.

Possibly, although I don’t think it was during the TT they were talking about it.

Edit: This suggests he’s using 25mm as standard:

http://road.cc/content/tech-news/195578-tour-tech-2016-chris-froomes-pinarello-dogma-f8-tour-de-france-winning-bike

I’ve raced 25c Schwalbe Ones and now Corsa G+ on wider region rims. Handling on poor surfaces is excellent. Cornering on technical courses likewise. I’ve raced thinner, but do like the wider tyres. These two tyres are wider than the traditional 25c on standard 19mm rims such as Mavics, which I also have. More like an old fashioned 28c on a narrow rim with a better profile.

I’m running 28s tubeless on my newer road bike. I used to run 23s on my steel racer. I seem to be getting more KOMs now than I did before but I don’t really care to be honest

I’ve gone from 23c tubulars to 25s and I’m loving it. Also got 28s on the winter wheels. Certainly no slower, but more comfortable!

Unless you’re racing, why use race kit?

Go on then..

25mm clinchers on the training wheels. Really wide aero rims with similar (24 or 26 – I can’t remember) tubs on the race wheels. Both feel noticeably better than the 23mms I used to run. Wouldn’t upgrade my wheels specifically for it, but certainly would take it into account if buying new wheels anyway.