Road Bicycle Tire Sizes

Bicycle rolling resistance special articles.

Road bicycle tire sizes. Bicycle tires come in a variety of sizes and with time the international organization for standardization iso has developed a universal system to better understand and regulate tire and rim sizing. Tubeless vs latex vs butyl tubes. There are five tire diameter sizes that are in common use on modern standard adult bicycles. Road bike tires generally come in three widths.

The current trend for road tyre width is 25mm because it s often more comfortable and faster than. When shopping for road tires you ll look for 700c x your preferred width 23mm being the slimmest option and going up to 36mm. Almost all road bike tyres will be 700c but you can choose the width based on your preferences. 700 x 32c indicates a tire that has an outer diameter of 700mm and a width of 32mm.

Tubolito inner tube tests. As the width decreases there is less rolling resistance or friction and therefore is faster. Gp 5000 endurance test. Common road bike widths in millimeters come in sizes ranging from 18 to 23 with a typical road bike tire at 700 x 23.

If your rim tire combination isn t listed measure your wheel and use the bikecalc rim tire combination that will result in the nearest circumference or email me your rim tire sizes and i ll add them to bikecalc. As the width increases the tire will have more contact surface with the road making it more stable and comfortable. The second smaller number is the tire s width. Size used on some high performance road and triathlon bikes especially those designed for smaller riders.

26 iso size 559 is the most commonly used size for modern mountain bikes and is also used by many hybrid bikes. A standard road tire is 700c x 23mm indicating a tire diameter of approximately 700mm and a width of 23mm. The table below lists all the wheel sizes in bikecalc. 27 iso size 630 is an older size that was used for road bikes but since so many bikes were built with this size it is still readily available.

Typical road bike tire. Because of the high pressure and desired low rolling resistance road tires come in narrow widths. The best road bike tires. 23c 25c and 28c their width in mm.

Note that the c does not stand for centimeters. Some older road bikes still have the 27 inch size. Marathon 32 37 40 47 comparison. Georgena terry explains what those numbers molded into the sidewall of your bicycle tire mean.

Gp 5000 23 25 28 32 comparison. It s a holdover from an old french system that designated tire sizes using the letters a b and c. Gcn s guide to road bike inner tubes.