If Wider Road Bike Tyres Are Better, Why Not Go SUPER Wide?!

How wide is too wide for road bike tyres? We know that wider tyres are faster, but how wide can you go until this stops being true? Hank and Alex are back with more GCN Does Science to test out three different tyre widths: standard 26mm, chunky 35mm and super-size 50mm. How much does tyre width really affect comfort, confidence, bike handling and speed?

00:00 Intro
00:50 Wider = Better?
02:00 The Experiment
03:52 Cornering - 26mm
04:19 Cornering - 35mm
04:48 Cornering - 50mm
05:30 Cornering - Results
07:39 Descent - 26mm
09:06 Descent - 35mm
09:45 Descent - 50mm
10:51 Descent - Results
12:37 Conclusions

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What width tyres do you use for road cycling? 🧐 Let us know in the comments below! 💬

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[gcn]

What width tyres do you use for road cycling? 🧐

[rhoikyf]

I like how they call the 26mm ‘skinny’ - not so long ago 26 would have been considered very wide 😅

[rickhellard]

it would also be very interesting to do the reverse of this experiment and test the uphill times--ride at same wattage up the hill and compare the times.

[TheMirrorVision]

Having used 48mm slicks on my gravel bike it’ll be hard to go back to a narrow tire. The increased comfort and grip are drastic.

[Frostbiker]

Careful! You start enjoying supple wide tires and you end up wearing jorts and flannel.

[bmartinot]

The Bike industry is 10% science and 90% fashion.

[bingobango]

One thing I’d love to see discussed: tire pressure is one of the biggest question I get at the bike shop especially when people get into gravel and tubeless. I know there’s tire pressure calculators like silica’s where you plug in your weight and tire size etc. but how accurate are those? I’d love to see a day where you ride the pressure you “think” should work well, maybe a plus or minus (over vs under inflated), then run a few calculators, and see how much noticeably different the “right” pressure feels like.

[DaanHoogland]

I think Hanks confidence is more with a decent he's done a couple of times a few minutes ago than with tires of any width

[erkind]

Been on 32mm tubeless for a while now and it seems to be an ideal width for endurance style riding - especially when I hit the less than ideal roads.

[RyanRKJ]

I never thought the 23mm wide tires that were popular for many years made much sense for the average road rider. I tried them, and quickly moved to 26-28mm tires. Now I see the industry finally warming up to 32-35mm sizes for road use as well. I love to see it. Personally, I’m on 35mm gravel tires these days, and interested in going wider. My use is a mix of road and gravel.

[MKRENB]

You should do a second test and add 40/42mm tires to the mix, that size is more common than 50mm and could be a better option in terms of keeping agility and speed up while adding comfort.

[AbiShafi]

I’ve just upgraded (this week) to 30mm Schwalbe One Evo TLE running at 60psi from 28mm old Schwalbe One’s running at 70psi and can confidently say I am impressed with the comfort with no difference in speed (for me) I’m 63 and weigh 72 kg, it also rained quite hard on my way home so was able to test the grip which was confidence inspiring!

[WhatTheFlipOfficial]

I went from 23 to 25 to 28 to 28 tubeless and each upgrade made an enormous difference in comfort and speed. Roads that would vibrate my entire aero race bike ('21 systemsix) now feel like when 23's were on a semi-nicely paved road. The only negative I found was high speed descent turns where it felt like more effort was needed and an earlier input. Other than that, prices are the same, garmin tracked laps shows improvements for the same watts. Plus, the systemsix now feels more comfortable than my slower endurance bikes.

[ianmiller]

I'm not sure this is really about tyres but instead, Hanks confidence and how far he will push it. I'd be more interested to see the rolling resistance on each tyre tested. Ultimately, that's the statistic that affects us most of all.

[Akaterial]

I remember my old 10 speed that I rode back in high school had 1 1/4" (~32mm) tires on them. Over time everyone went with skinnier and skinnier tires until most people were on 23mm tires with many people on 18mm tires. It is interesting to see the trend reversing.

[AleksiJoensuu]

It was so nice going from narrows to 32mm. My sit bones definately thanked me <3 And that's something I would trade any marginal gains for easily, since I'm not competing with anyone. Plus 32mm's give you much more confidence for unpaved roads. Sure, they're no MTB tyres, but even just knowing you can follow a navigation app without thinking about if the route is all paved or part dirt makes it all a lot more relaxed.

[OlliDerham-hinb]

I saw the guys and cameraman whilst they were filming at Cheddar Gorge. Top blokes and genuinely nice people. (Me in the background here trying to not video bomb to badly!) 8:09

Chatted to them about my own GBDuro attempt and how GCN got me started on my own Hankesque mad challenges. The GBDuro route absolutely battered me, but completed it!

Thanks to Hank for shouting out my charity, Victoria’s Promise, as well as the guys using my drone to film me riding!

Big thanks to you all!

P.s I reckon Hank needs to do the Tour Divide next…

[Chris.Robison]

Now I want to see these put to the test on the flat and hills.

[derboesewolff]

Great video as always, thanks for another real life test! There's, however, a flaw in the setup of the first part because it doesn't fully consider the riding physics of a bike:
In a turn, a bike supports itself against the centrifugal and weight force occurring via a force that lies on the line between the center of gravity and the tire contact point. At the same cornering speed and the same cornering radius, the wider the tire, the more a bike must be angled, since the tire contact point moves further and further away from the center of the vehicle toward the inside of the corner.
Consequently, lean angle is *not* a conclusive indicator of cornering speed when comparing tires of *different width*, because at least some part of the greater lean will have resulted from the width itself.

[neilgj]

Progressed from 25, 28., 32mm on the same bike and same 40mm Fulcrum disc wheels. Upgraded my inner tubes to TPU thus saving weight and possibly lighter than tubeless. Being on the heavier side (96kg) and 56years old and still racing at the front of the group I feel more comfortable and relaxed about punctures. Still getting my head around lower pressure but I am now down to 75psi. Not sure I would go much wider than 35mm.