23, 25, or 28 mm tyres?

Wider tyres: heavier and slower. This has been the assumption for years. But ever since the professionals switched to wider tyres, this prejudice has been put aside.

Pros don’t change something lightly. Especially when every detail counts. Of course sponsors have some influence, but not at the expense of the riders.

Recently, we've seen more and more riders switch to wider tyres. Is this just marketing, or do the few extra millimeters really make a difference?

Comfort

The choice for wide tyres can be explained easily: most bike equipment has become stiffer, which has reduced comfort.

Steel frames, leather saddles, and 32-spoke wheels are long forgotten now. They weren’t fast, but they absorbed vibrations and road irregularities, instead of the rider.

Cyclists do everything to train well, eat healthy, and stay out of the wind to be as fresh as possible in the finale of a ride.

A tired body because of vibrations and irregularities will not be able to perform as well as a fit body. The solution is more comfort, which comes in the shape of a wider tyre.

A wider tyre isn’t only bigger in width, but also in height. This way there is more room for air, and more room for air to spread out which benefits comfort, and it's a noticeable difference between 23 and 25mm tyres.

Tread

Wider tyres are comfortable, more than thinner tyres anyways. That’s the first benefit, and to debunk a prejudice: the rolling resistance is better instead of worse.

The contact area of a wider tyre is not bigger, but first and foremost it has a different shape. Therefore it is important to look at the width of your rims.

At the moment there are several manufacturers that offer wider rims. These rims are better when you have 25 and 28 millimeter tyres, and will do justice to your wider rims.

Please note that 28 mm tyres often don't fit through the narrow front forks used on older bikes.

A narrow tyre has a long and narrow contact area. The wider a tyre gets, the shorter and wider the contact area becomes.

The amount of rubber on the road doesn’t increase then, but it is distributed more evenly.

If you have the same tyre pressure, the rolling resistance will even decrease if you use 25 mm instead of 23 mm tyres.

A wider tyre at maximum pressure isn’t optimal. The perfect pressure for a tyre is hard to determine.

This largely depends on the width, conditions (weather and road), and the weight of the rider.

If you want the same rolling resistance, you can reduce pressure by 0.5 -1 Bar. You’re just as quick, only more comfortable!

Tip: As an indication of the tyre pressure, you can take 10% of your bodyweight (in kg). So if you weigh 80kg, then 8 Bar would be fine. If you have 25mm tyres you can subtract 1 Bar, so 7 Bar is fine.

27 and 28mm can even handle lower tyre pressures.

Tip: Front tyres usually run at a lower tyre pressure, because most of the weight is situated on the rear. So you can subtract 0.5 Bar for more grip and comfort.

Tip:Check your tyres regularly to see if there are any tears or embedded stones or pieces of glass. Deflate the tyres entirely so you can see better whether there is stuff in the tyres.

Downside

Of course it’s not entirely sunshine and roses. A wider tyre would have more drag, and is a few grams heavier, theoretically.

We used the Vittoria Open Corsa Evo SC to compare, and our scales indicated a difference of 10-20 gram between a 23 and 25 mm tyre.

Supply

Many tyres on our webshop are available in 23, 25, and 28 mm editions.
If you’re looking for more comfort or tyres to discover trails and gravel roads with, then have a look at Vittoria, Continental, Schwalbe orMichelin tyres; they all have 28 mm versions.

With disc brakes gaining popularity, it is expected that supply in these tyres will only increase.

This because disc brakes don’t need a brake surface on the rim, so there’s more room for the tyre (frame and front fork).

Difference between 23 and 25 mm tyres!

We have used 23 mm tyres for years, with pleasure. Very few riders who have experienced the additional comfort and ride quality provided by 25 mm tyres want to switch back however.

If you’ve already switched to wider tyres, tell us if you feel the difference! If you still need persuasion, then ask all you want in the comments below!