2 ms·
28mm is not the optimum. It's all I can fit on my bike. I'm not sure what the state of the art is -- the podcast mentions testing 50mm and wider tires, and runn
by rconti 6y ago
28mm is not the optimum. It's all I can fit on my bike. I'm not sure what the state of the art is -- the podcast mentions testing 50mm and wider tires, and running less than half the pressure of what people used to use. They're talking about, basically, the widest possible tire you can fit, and the lowest pressure you can go (including going tubeless) without the tire coming off the rim in corners or cracking a wheel in an impact.
It's truly a remarkable change in strategy and thinking. As you go wider it's unquestionable that the weight and aerodynamic properties get worse, which means for wider tires to be more efficient, the rolling resistance decrease has to be huge to overcome the aero loss.
- stubish 6y agoThere will be an optimum point, where the benefit of the wider tire is balanced out by the extra weight of the rim and extra air resistance. Maybe the rim and tire merge, with spokes or struts connecting directly to a wide rubber rim/tire.
- rconti 6y agoAbsolutely true; the only problem is that, quite literally, every road surface is different, so that perfect point changes from second to second, sometimes very subtly, and sometimes in much larger ways.