I had a quick look at previous topics and didn’t find anything, but then if you asked my wife, that wouldn’t be unusual.
But I did read (somewhere or other) that the English team were running on different widths.
My simple experience is that I recently bought slightly wider tires for an everyday road bike and beside the instant comfort difference noticed a new PB on a strava section (I just discovered that it does this on my Garmin watch…I am a bit slow in so many ways). And these were cheap tires to boot. Like running in army boots.
So before going back to racing, (if I live that long) next year and buying new fast tires I thought it would be fun to experiment with different widths or at least ask about others experience. If there is already a conversation on this I’m sure someone will point it out.
So thinking 28’s on the back and 23 on the front???
Weight distribution is usually to the rear, although I understand for some it 50/50.
Puncture resistance? Although most of my flats and tire failures have been on the rear.
If your frameset shields the rear wheel to a larger extent, you can get away with “more” tire on the wheel with less aero penalty. The less shielded it is, the more important it is to match the rear tire size to your rim for the aero sweetspot.
I judge my Trinity to be pretty well shielded so run a 25 on a rear disc where a 23 would be the optimal aero choice.
Front? It’s usually what pairs best with your rim aero wise within reason. If roads are terrible or you weigh a lot, maybe worth a small aero penalty there. If roads are good and you weigh less, I’d match the tire size on front to the rim profile.
This could yield many combos of results. The most common though is having a larger tire in the back than the front. Folks with narrow chainstays on older bikes might not be able to do that so run a smaller tire in back than front. As the front somehow fits a modern width rim and tire combo but the rear would rub the chain stays.
My TT bike is an older one from when 23 mm was more the norm. I was able to get 28s front and rear with the stock wheels using GP5000s, but when I upgraded to carbon wheels 25 is now the biggest for the rear. I don’t see a reason to match them so I kept 28 in the front and roll with 25 in the rear.
Note that if you carry a spare tire on the bike it needs to be the size that will fit front and rear (if you’re maxed on one).
Weight distribution is usually to the rear, although I understand for some it 50/50.
Puncture resistance? Although most of my flats and tire failures have been on the rear.
Or are you just “funnin” me?
23mm is the largest tire that will fit in the rear.
This was HED’s recommendation for their JET wheels when I bought mine. And, I think it still is. Originally they recommended the Continental GP Attack & Force set, which is 23/25mm. Then, they changed to the GP 5000 23mm / 25mm. I suspect HED is not alone.
Go for whatever fits the til width on the front, on the rear, go as wide as possible (wouldnt personally go above 28mm). Aero matters a lot more on the front wheel/tire. Wider tire at the back is better comfort and probably Rolling resistance
This was HED’s recommendation for their JET wheels when I bought mine. And, I think it still is. Originally they recommended the Continental GP Attack & Force set, which is 23/25mm. Then, they changed to the GP 5000 23mm / 25mm. I suspect HED is not alone.
I am running 23/25 GP5K.
Ive seen both 23/25 and 25/25 recommend. I am running 25s GP 5000 on my HED Jets+.
23 in the front for aero; 25 in the rear for comfort/durability.
Conti used to make a tire set (the attack/force) that had different front and rear tires (22mmF/24mmR IIRC). Given the uneven weight distribution and that one wheel gets torque while the other provides steering, the optimal tire for each wheel is going to be different.
For the previous generation of zipp rims, they recommended 23 front and 25 rear. Reason being the 23 aeroness offset the gains in rolling resistance at the front, but not at the back.
My race bike is a slightly old bike, but probably still pretty aero, a Cervelo. P3c (2009). Yeah yeah, talk to the wife about men and boys and toys.
The past few years I had run HED3 (rim brake obviously) front and back.
The HEDs are pretty old (tough to date…anyone?) and were probably originally run with 19mm on the front and lord knows on the rear. Haven’t tried the wider tired wheels on them yet. I do like them, but I have a feeling it’s more because they still look cool.
I fancy that I will buy GP 5000’s in 28mm and then mess around mixing and matching with some 23mm GP 4000’s that have a couple of years of races on them. Switching them, testing with hill rolling and see which ends up with the greatest velocity and then the greatest distance (that might not be the same).
I’m really hoping it’s the comfortable tires that win.
Weight distribution is usually to the rear, although I understand for some it 50/50.
Puncture resistance? Although most of my flats and tire failures have been on the rear.
Or are you just “funnin” me?
23mm is the largest tire that will fit in the rear.
Why would you put your original response without a logical reason? You try to come across knowledgeable on this forum… Maybe help the OP with an informed decision?
I’ve run 28 front 23 rear, and 28 rear, 23 front, and everything in between, usually out of not wanting to swap tires and having some mash-up of our wheels to optimize whatever Michelle was using at some race.
All feels fine handling wise. I can’t really perceive any difference in power for speed. Bike feel characteristics are as you would expect for the average of the tire widths. Nothing magical. Seems safe to proceed however you like, if that was a concern.
The one thing about running different tire widths front and rear is that, when the rear tire wears out, you can’t rotate the front to the rear without disrupting the scheme. If you’re not someone who does this, then this isn’t something that you’ll need to think about at all.
If your concern is that there might be weird unexpected consequences with rolling or handling dynamics, then you have nothing to worry about. Nothing crazy happens.
This was HED’s recommendation for their JET wheels when I bought mine. And, I think it still is. Originally they recommended the Continental GP Attack & Force set, which is 23/25mm. Then, they changed to the GP 5000 23mm / 25mm. I suspect HED is not alone.
I am running 23/25 GP5K.
Ive seen both 23/25 and 25/25 recommend. I am running 25s GP 5000 on my HED Jets+.
Speaking of Hed Jets, the official recommendation is 23 front 25 rear. Those rims are 21mm internal, 25mm external. I measured a 25c GP5k at 26.5mm. I forget what my 23mm front measures at, but it is probably about 24.5. So, that’s probably just barely rule of 105 compliant in the front.
It’s interesting that with all the care and thought that goes into “cockpits”, water bottle placement, trip seams, helmets, socks etc etc etc. I have never seen a discussion about the relative performance of mixed tire sizes, mixed tire brands, or mixed tire pressures. Did I miss something. Where and how the rubber meets the road would seem to be of some importance.
Weight distribution is usually to the rear, although I understand for some it 50/50.
Puncture resistance? Although most of my flats and tire failures have been on the rear.
Or are you just “funnin” me?
23mm is the largest tire that will fit in the rear.
Why would you put your original response without a logical reason? You try to come across knowledgeable on this forum… Maybe help the OP with an informed decision?
The original question was:
“Anyone run different tire widths front and back?”.