28mm or 32mm tyres for credit card bikepacking trip?

cyclesteffer wrote:

I'd go 32mm Marathon Supremes. Super fast rolling and extremely puncture resistant. Not heavy like Marathon Pluses tho.

They are indeed a good tyre, although I've had two develop sidewall tears.

kevvjj wrote:

I did a 7 day trip in France last year on the road bike using 25c tyres and bikepacking saddle bag and top-tube bag - it's all you need, the roads are superb.

Not everywhere, some of the roads in all towns and cities can be dredful, even worse than here. I was staying in Lens last year and the road from my digs was horrendous, there are plenty of roads in/around villages that aren't too clever either.

If one is considerig going to 32 then you might as well get a decent tyre. I've just started using the Jack Brown 'blue' nominally 33mm, it's a pretty decent tyre as it happens but I still think they're overkill for a credit card tour, I also have Panaracer Race Evo A in a 28mm that come up to 31mm on my H+SON TB14s, very nice tyre with a latex tube.

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

kevvjj wrote:

I did a 7 day trip in France last year on the road bike using 25c tyres and bikepacking saddle bag and top-tube bag - it's all you need, the roads are superb.

Not everywhere,

Yeah these generalisations about roads in a country 3x the size of the UK are pretty meaningless. I note the OP mentions Ventoux. The national class roads in the Vaucluse are indeed superb for the most part, but once off onto the quieter mountain roads, which is where you want to be to avoid the endless streams of Belgian camper vans, they can be pretty rough, and finger numbness is not unheard of. (Having said that, after 2 years living here I have only just moved up from 23c to 25c, but then I'm not doing 100 miles 14 days on the trot.)

Oddly, my limited experience of the alpine roads is that they tend to be a bit better, which I assume is due to better construction, or better maintenance, to cope with the harsher weather.

Griff500 wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

kevvjj wrote:

I did a 7 day trip in France last year on the road bike using 25c tyres and bikepacking saddle bag and top-tube bag - it's all you need, the roads are superb.

Not everywhere,

Yeah these generalisations about roads in a country 3x the size of the UK are pretty meaningless. I note the OP mentions Ventoux. The national class roads in the Vaucluse are indeed superb for the most part, but once off onto the quieter mountain roads, which is where you want to be to avoid the endless streams of Belgian camper vans, they can be pretty rough, and finger numbness is not unheard of. (Having said that, after 2 years living here I have only just moved up from 23c to 25c, but then I'm not doing 100 miles 14 days on the trot.) Oddly, my limited experience of the alpine roads is that they tend to be a bit better, which I assume is due to better construction, or better maintenance, to cope with the harsher weather.

Definitely, I supported a group doing RAID alpine in Aug 2017, coming down the passes the roads were for the most part excellent, but as you say, as soon as you come off the main routes road surfaces are massively variable and certainly in some of the more 'industrial' cities I've found the worst to be much worse than the worst in the UK..

I still have fond memories of a faux 'race' with some local club riders whilst on my way to Mont St.Michael after the days miles were done and panniers ditched at the hotel. The smoothest bit of tarmac ever, it was like floating along, the closest in the UK was just after Beds council resurfaced the A505 that went through Luton, was a half decent job that.lol

CXR94Di2 wrote:

Larger tyres are better against punctures

Really?  What evidence do you have for that please?

Welsh boy wrote:

CXR94Di2 wrote:

Larger tyres are better against punctures

 

Really?  What evidence do you have for that please?

If you run them at lower pressure (which you typically do when the size increases) then there will be less force between the tyre, the sharp object and the road and thus reduced chance of punctures (although you'd also have a slightly larger contact area and may encounter more thorns).

HawkinsPeter wrote:

Welsh boy wrote:

CXR94Di2 wrote:

Larger tyres are better against punctures

 

Really?  What evidence do you have for that please?

If you run them at lower pressure (which you typically do when the size increases) then there will be less force between the tyre, the sharp object and the road and thus reduced chance of punctures (although you'd also have a slightly larger contact area and may encounter more thorns).

What he said, less pressure per sq inch.  Big tyre spread loads significantly, think of large vehicles, tractors, commercial lawnmowers etc big wide tyres