1y ago

How important is the tires weight?

Hello, community! I saw in one video that tires and wheel weight are critical for the fast cycling. But how important is it for the tourism? For example, I'm using "hard" slick tires from Kenda (on the photo) that are great for asphalt roads and are very strong against small stones, plant spines and glasa pieces. The problem is weight about 600g (700x32c). I also have 700x32c soft and lightweight gravel tires with only 300g weight. But how important is it for cycling if I have about 10 additional kilograms of bags on top of my bike when I go into a long trip? Does it make sense to lose the durability and dril resistance of Kenda Kwest 700x32c for decreasing the weight of tires twice? Thanks in advance!

7 comments

You’re almost certainly overthinking this. Especially when you’re comparing differences of 300 grams to 10 additional kilos of bags. Use durable tires suited to the surface you’ll be riding on. If you’d like to save an additional minor amount of time, you’d be better served to focus on your sleep and diet. Your conditioning and health will be better for it.

Only really matters when racing competition.

The only obnoxious thing about touring-specific tires is the fact that they’re so obnoxious to put on or take off your rim. It’s certainly a hand workout. I used some Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on a 4,000+ mile tour and only had to replace tubes once (due to truck tire beading getting stuck in the sidewalk of the tire).

any weight comparison in this community that does not imply like 10% of your weight is silly

No amount of saved tyre weight can compensate for durability.
Actually, sincere i bought proper durable tires i saved weight by not having to carry a pump and puncture kit with me on every trip.

I found it did make a difference. Like I could feel how much more effort it took. All the same the added effort just means more exercise whereas the effort around dealing with a flat is mental aggravation.

Rolling resistance has way more of an effect than weight. But that said, I would never trade off durability for weight especially for a commuter/bike touring bike. Punctures are a drag any time but especially when you are carrying a load.

7 comments