Tyre / Tire width

Is this a deja vu?

My vote is for Ultremo ZX's (23's) love how they feel. Although i too run gatorskins (23) for commuting... Had one blow a side wall last night though :(

Going to be getting GP 4000 S's when these gators die.

I hear good things about GP4000s, how are they for puncture protection, compared to Gators?

Is this a deja vu?

All over again.

I like the feel of the new rubber tyres in medium. It's what Andy Wilkins and the rest of the Blue Sky team are using in the 2013 Tour of France.

I like the feel of the new rubber tyres in medium.

Yes, yes, but what colour? Don't share your thoughts and ignore the important shit.

The onyx and jet ones are nice, but I think the raven ones go best with my frame.

Re:- slippery-ability-ness.
Gatorskins give excellent life, and I suppose that the compromise may be lower grip. The lanes I commute on are either muddy, leafy, greasy or all three and so I probably expect all tyres to slip around a little. I did fall off (twice!) one morning last month, but that was more to do with the fact that the road had turned into an uncharted ice field rather than slippery tyres.

Yeah, its definitely a tradeoff between durable and slippy or grippy and short lived.

Conti make great tubs (pros for road, podium tt for the bleeding obvious), but horrid slippery tyres, damned if I know why.... ZX are superb and don't die young, I have a pair that have done 2k plus and are still good. Veloflex Master/Pave are excellent, the nearest thing to tubs, but don't live long. All 'training' and winter tyres are nasty by comparison, I have a pair of Schwalbe Blizzards that only do straight lines. So, either enjoy top rubber and accept the costs or save a shedload and ride heavy tyres which puncture less and last longer, the choice is yours. And for the ancient amongst us, Clement Criterium Seta, silk casings, never bettered!!!

The Schwalbe Gatorskin are awesome, but I like the Vittoria Re-Fuse more, plus the Conti Pave is better for puncture.

Best tyres probably the Clement Marathon ZX, puncture too easily but amazing grip for CX and crit racing.

The Schwalbe Gatorskin are.

Say what?

He meant Randonneur.

Ah yes, the Schwalbe Randonneur, how could I forget blowing them up with earth, fire and water at every attempt to install them on the wheel?

p.s. get the 26" 2.2 version, they're great to skid on.

I had a pair of Hutchinson Success Kevlar 21c until recently. Way too skinny to be a sensible everyday tyre but had them on my fixed for over a year(not many skids) with no punctures, plenty of grip, almost certainly a purely psychological side effect but they felt faster for being skinny and having 'success' on them. Gumwalls, come up regularly nos on ebay for £15/pr.
Now have equally inappropriate Michelin Hilites on the road bike. 23c, feel lovely but no tread and v soft compound will no doubt die on me soon.
Tourer has £5 28c from lbs, absolutely loads of miles with no problems and feel fine. Shite logos.
Buy cheap - hope for the best.

The AlexRims on my Tricross SS are 22mm external width. I'm planning to stick some 38mm tyres on there. Sheldon's little chart indicates I'm pushing m luck... Anyone offer any insight on this? Paging Tester....

^ Sheldon is against wide tyres on narrow rims because the handling gets funny at low and medium pressures. If you run higher pressures it's ok.

I researched you same question a while ago and found many anecdotes saying "you'll be fine". E.g. big (35mm+) cyclocross tyres on 20mm Ksyrium Elites with no issues.

Cheers Ndeipi - I figured this would be the response but I wanted the forum's back up before I pulled the trigger. Can't wait to get some tractor tyres on my 'Pragmatobike'.

Ndeipi's correct, the only drawback is merely comfort, which is usually the point of having larger tyres.

I guess it's a question of getting the balance right. I'm not a big lad so I might get away with not going nuts on the PSI

The Pragomatobike sounds fun. Is there a project thread?

No project thread. It's just a Specialized Tricross SSCX. One of those ugly fuckers with the thick green aluminium and the ludicrous chubby forks. It actually looks like it's made of rubber in places. I've got some big old SKS guards on it and a bracket for Ortleib saddle bags of varying girth. I'm going to stick these on it

Might eventually get the whole thing powder coated in carbon dark grey. Proper ugly stealth tank bike.

Can someone tell me why a 1965 claude butler I refurbished with all original parts,the rims are 27x1 1/4 and the tyres are n.o.s Michelin 27x1/4 rub on the back forks both sides ,Is it me or am I putting on weight?

The wheel may be too far forward in the dropouts. If there's room, try moving it back

and here's the 'o' you dropped