Ive been running wide tyres at low pressures since 2015 or so
Was commuting on 32c slicks then 40c slicks, so comfy, less punctures with the low pressures i was running too (35psi on 32s, and 30psi on 40s). Still commuting at 30kph+ whilst carrying a laptop, lunch and full change of clothes, so cant really say it made it heaps slower
When i started wanting to go fast i went to 28mms at about 60psi, no issues, now im on 25mm at 65psi, but they are on 24mm internal wheels, and measure more like 28mm
I can see that happen, e. g. if people want to train on wider tires (perhaps in the off season) and ride narrower tires for races. Many aero road bikes will take surprisingly wide tires, a trend started with the 3T Strada (up to 30 mm) and continued with e. g. the Venge (33 mm, I believe is the max). I wouldn’t be surprised if road bikes by default allowed you to put in 35 mm tires in a few years.
I am/was/sorta running the rene herse bon jon’s 35mm on bonty aeolus 3V rims (pretty wide). I replaced the front wheel with a cont 5000 TL and I think it is a fair bit more aero…it matches the rim width pretty nicely. But I also put in vittoria tire liners front and rear.
So last week I was bombing down a semi-rough gravel road and got a sidewall puncture in my rear tire (the rene herse one). It went mostly flat before the sealant did it’s thing…but I was able to ride home without any rim strikes because of the tire insert. It had maybe 5psi in it when I got back. It felt really soft and wobbly in the (slow) corners but it wasn’t “terrible”…in fact, compared to swapping in a tube it was pretty awesome!I wasn’t at home (for tire replacement) so the next day I pumped it up a few times, sloshed the sealant around, got it to hold air, then rode for an hour w/o problems. It was totally flat later though.
Between the seeping of sealant thru the sidewalls (supposedly corrected now) and the fagility of the extra light bon jons I think I’m going conti 5000 TL on both ends for the future…but for now I’ll try to use up my one remaining bon jon tire.
The insert works though…I’m going to carry a plug, a CO2, and skip the tube going forwards.
The high-end Tarmac SL7 comes with Roval Rapide CLX which are wide rims:
35mm front / 51mm deep
30mm rear / 60mm deep
and come with 28x622 tires. My lower-spec SL7 has a 32x622 Conti 5000 TL tire on the rear wheel, measures out to ~34mm, and there is about 5-6mm clearance to the chainstays (well within 4mm European safety spec). Not that I’m interested in going with even bigger tires, just saying its possible.
On the road its really hard to tell the difference between my 32mm wide Aeolus Pro 3Vs wheels and 29mm front / 28mm rear Enve 5.6 disc (except in strong winds). Someday, probably in Feb/Mar, I’m going to try staggered wheels/brands with a wider/shallower Aeolus on front and narrower/deeper Enve on rear.
Finally got around to swapping out tires…I have a bonty R3 hardcase lite that came on the bike in decent shape so decided to throw that on.
Man, I didn’t realize how difficult getting the tire off is with those tire inserts! I mean…super tough! I needed to bust out the gas pliers for a little gentle persuasion (I’m sure the vittoria tool would have worked better). I couldn’t push the bead off of the shelf (I think) due to the tightness, the insert, and a little sticky sealant in there. Putting the bonty tire on was about the same as the 5000TL and a bit harder than the bon jon FWIW.
But if you are going tire inserts on your wider tire setup…I’m not sure putting in a tube is possible in the field, I’m thinking you either ride it home flat (which you can definitely do) or call for a ride. I’m pulling my spare tube out, keeping the tire plug and Co2 in the kit so I have one shot at fixing a big puncture.
Did you remove 32x622 5000 TL tires on your Aeolus 3V wheels?
Thats what I’m currently running with Vittoria inserts. It wasn’t that bad putting them on, much easier than putting 25x622 TLs on Enve 5.6 disc (without an insert).
Glad to hear about some real-world experience with this!
I’ve been considering it for mountain biking. Would simplify my setup, and would allow for either a “quick on-trail fix” or “limping home”… especially good for marathon MTB…
What’s the logic of a wider front tire and narrower rear? Always assumed the other way around would make more sense - narrower at the front where aero is more important, wider at the back where aero is less important and where more of your weight sits so you could use some extra volume for comfort and grip. With those external rim widths I guess the Rivals are optimised for something like a 32mm front and 28m rear tire?
I dunno, never looked into aerodynamics… But the LBS manager is studying aerospace engineering, and his analogy was to think of my rear wheel like a TT disk wheel. I don’t have access to a wind tunnel, and to be honest am pretty darn happy running 32c Conti 5000 TLs on the Bonti Aeolus 3Vs.
Going back to the Rapide and its wider front, narrower rear wheel you can read the marketing blurb here:
which under Hunt’s test conditions (Pro One 28 tires), puts the Rapide CLX on par with my Enve 5.6 disc.
I’m guessing the Enve might be faster with 25c or 26c, but with our rough roads and at 90+kg I really don’t like running narrower tires. Thinking of selling my Enve, they simply aren’t being used although I’m still thinking of swapping them on for Wed worlds in the Spring.
Bmxers and mtbers sometimes have bigger tires on the front wheel for better handling. They have the back tire a little smaller for less drag/ surface area to go faster. Don’t know any aero studies or any studies at all making this claim true. It’s probably just bro-science but that was what I heard/ do and seems to work for trails.
I had WTB Horizons and while they are comfortable compared to typical narrow road tires, they are actually quite rough and slow. I switched from them to Rene Herse tires in similar sizes. Even the knobby, endurance casing (puncture protection) rolls much much faster and has superb comfort.
The Gravel King slicks are probably noticeably better than the Horizons too. Horizons just aren’t a great tire IMO.
I’m looking for recommendations on a “fast” 700x35mm “all-road” tire. For reference, I have a pure road bike with 700x28mm GP5000TLs and a gravel bike that I have two wheelsets for (one for gravel, one for road). The road wheelset currently doesn’t have any tires mounted on it, and I’d like to find something comparable to the GP5000TLs that are on my road bike in terms of speed.
I really love the GP5000TLs, especially set up tubeless. I had the GP4ks in 700x25mm before (ballooned up to 28mm on my rims) and those were great, but these GP5k TLs are really something else. They are really fast, nice ride (with the pressures I’m running at), and durable for me (knock on wood).
If I can even get my hands on them the GP5k TR in 700x32mm is the obvious answer, but I’m looking for something in the 35mm size. Looking around, the Challenge Strada Bianca HTLR (700x36mm), Rene Herse Bon Jon Pass (700x35mm), Gravelking Slicks (700x35mm), and Schwalbe Pro One TLE (700x34mm) seem to be the top choices. I’ve had Gravelking Slicks in 700x35mm on another bike and didn’t really feel they were anything special, albeit they were not set up tubeless.
I put bon jons on my canyon grizl and like them. They sit at 37mm on 24 mm internal width rims. It’s obviously not as fast on road as my bmc w gp5000s, but comfy and versatile
