I was curious as to opinions on a good set of tires for the wheels that come on the Cervelo One.
You may have a good idea, Tom Demerly, since you sell a lot of these bikes and do a lot of rides in southeast Michigan. I do my riding around in Trenton and Grosse Ile, which doesn’t have the best road conditions. I plan on doing the local races such as Grosse Ile Duathlon, Ann Arbor Tri, Reeds Lake, Chicago, etc. I am only familiar with the roads on Grosse Ile, I don’t really know how rough the others are.
I have a quality set of tires right now, the Vrendstein Fortezza Tricomp’s. Are these the best ones to have, or would a thinner tire be better? How much of a difference does it make to have a 650x20, rather than a 650x23 tire?
Hello there! Happy Holidays to you. I like the Ritchey wheelset, we’ve sold a lot of them (on and off Cervelos)and had generally good results. I think the Vredesteins you’ve got on their are super good. I believe Thomas Hellriegel won Hawaii on Vredestein clinchers, but not positive. Anyway, they have good flat resistance, excellent, excellent ride quality seem as durable as anything. I never ride a clincher tire narrower than 23mm but remember different manufacturers do measure differently. Anyway, I regard narrow tires as not a very good idea due to poor ride quality (too rough) and an increase in the incidence of pinch flats. Another nice tire is the new Michelin Pro Light popularized in the Tour de France this year. I have them on my Colnago Dream and they are pretty nice. These are the only clinchers I have ever raced a triathlon on (Alcatraz '02) since I first got tubulars back in 1985. I always race on tubulars with the exception of that one race.
I like continental GP3000s but they aren’t my favorite. For a 700c clincher I love these Michelins and I like your Vredesteins too. My preference is 23c width though, but never ever narrower than 20c.