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January 5, 2019 at 9:21 pm #29255
Recarobob
I’m doing a 2 week bikepacking trip through France in the Summer. I’ll be staying in B&B’s, hotels etc so the only kit I’ll be carrying will be spare clothes, spare gear etc. Don’t know whether to stick with my current 28mm tyres or go for 32mm for extra comfort with the downside of increased rolling resistance. Any thoughts?
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Griff500 wrote:
Griff500 wrote:
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.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,
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
tomisitt
28mm tyres will be fine. I’ve
28mm tyres will be fine. I’ve done 7 weeks bikepacking in France and Italy on my road bike, with 7.5kg of luggage, on 25mm Conti 4-Seasons and only had 2 punctures in 2500 miles (including 50 miles of gravel tracks).
Griff500
BehindTheBikesheds 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.
Dnnnnnn
the downside of increased
“the downside of increased rolling resistance”
I think there’s more to that than just a few mm extra width. As widely reported in recent years, air pressure and materials tend to be more important.
Have a look at http://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com.
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.
Jack Osbourne snr
cyclesteffer wrote:
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.
Stef Marazzi
I’d go 32mm Marathon Supremes
I’d go 32mm Marathon Supremes. Super fast rolling and extremely puncture resistant. Not heavy like Marathon Pluses tho.I did a solo End to End
I did a solo End to End earlier this year.
I stayed in B&B’s and had a double pannier, rackpack and barbag setup – the rackpack and barbag being for quick access rather than carrying capacity as while Ortlieb Back Rollers are great, they are a faff to get stuff out of at the side of the road.
I had all sorts of clobber as I went in May and didn’t have a crystal ball for the weather – you won’t need that amount of gear in France.
I used a tyre I’ve been using for commuting for years – 32mm Vittoria Voyager Hyper. I did however use brand new ones for the trip.
These, and a relatively freshly broken-in Brooks B17 had me in glorious comfort for the whole 1100 miles.
Generally, I find the roads in France to be much smoother than here as the tarmac tends to be a finer grade than that used in the UK. I find 23mm is all I need to be very comfortable over 80+ miles (on an unloaded bike) on French roads
You can see where I’m going with this… But I’m going to throw the evidence above out of the window…
I’m roughly the same height and weight as you, and while you will probably be absolutely fine on 28’s, I’d always go up if possible when carrying a load. There are lots of fast rolling 32mm tyres
Thanks for all the feedback.
Thanks for all the feedback. In answer to some of the questions. About 14st, 6ft riding an altered Cannondale CaadX so wheel strength isn’t a problem. No off-road adventures planned unless I go over the edge coming down Ventoux.
I’ll be fitting new tyres whatever size I go for and will probably use Conti 4 season for some level of puncture protection.
I’ve done numerous credit
I’ve done numerous credit card tours lasting several weeks in France on 25mm as well as 28mm tyres. They don’t make any difference in terms of comfort. The comfort comes from the geometry and fit of the bike. I’ve done shorter trips on fatter tyres with badly-fitting bikes and always felt at the end as though somebody had kicked the shit out of me with steel toe-capped boots.
I did a 7 day trip in France
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.
rjfrussell
It’s a state of mind thing,
It’s a state of mind thing, first of all. If you get the 32’s will you run them at lower pressure, or will you pump them up just as hard, because your’re worried about losing speed? If the latter, stick with 28’s. If you actually want comfort, and are prepared to lose a wee bit of speed (a tiny wee bit of speed) to get that, go for the 32’s. But if you run on 32’s at lower pressure and you’re always going to have a mindworm saying they are sticky and slow, stick to the 28’s. Having tried the various combo’s I do think it is all in the mindset.
Joe Totale
If you’re sticking to roads
If you’re sticking to roads and your current tyres are in good nick then I feel it’s an unnecessary extra expense to buy new tyres.
CXR94Di2
HawkinsPeter wrote:Welsh boy wrote:CXR94Di2 wrote:Larger tyres are better against puncturesReally? 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
hawkinspeter
Welsh boy wrote:CXR94Di2 wrote:Larger tyres are better against puncturesReally? 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).
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