Is the adoption of wider road tyres being driven by the cycling industry, or is it the riders? We spoke to Dave Taylor of Schwalbe UK for enlightenment.
“At the end of 2013 we were almost caught out by the swift change to 25mm road tyres,” said Taylor. “Model year 2014 bikes pretty much all came fitted with the wider rubbers and the after-market availability of wider, top-end tyres was tight for a short while. This was certainly the case with our more popular tyres, like the Schwalbe One.”
And with Schwalbe tyres kitting out WorldTour teams like Ag2r La Mondiale, FDJ.fr and Trek Factory Racing, we asked Taylor if he knew what the main benefit of the wider tyres for the pros might be.
“Comfort,” he said. “The feedback from the teams is they want comfort and speed. But it’s not been an easy transition. The world of professional road cycling is notoriously slow to change. Team riders, managers and coaches have always preferred the status quo. Change can affect riders psychologically.”
But like many other bike tyre manufacturers, Schwalbe have been quick to extend their range of road tyres to suit the ever-widening market.
With the likes of their popular performance-focused Schwalbe One tyre, used in tubular format by those three WorldTour teams we mentioned, now available in clincher widths of 23mm, 25mm and 28mm, club, sportive and recreational riders can all choose which tyre size best suits their riding style and discipline (frame clearances notwithstanding, of course).
We also got in touch with Lars Teutenberg who acts as technical consultant to Orica-GreenEDGE and IAM Cycling on behalf of Scott Racing, who supply both WorldTour teams with bikes. We wanted to start by confirming that pro teams were willingly using 25mm tyres, just like the rest of us, to further their riding comfort and handling.
This was clearly the case in direct rider feedback from both the Orica-GreenEDGE and IAM teams, with Teutenberg at pains to emphasise that 25mm is now the width of choice on both squads’ Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheelsets.
Pressed further as to whether the move to wider tyres had been industry or rider led, Teutenberg clarified that the move was from both sides of the fence and riders were working hard to give feedback to manufactures wherever possible.
Reassuringly for us mortals, it was interesting to hear two key issues, comfort and a decreased chance of punctures, were at the forefront of riders’ minds when it came to tyre selection. It seems pro riders might be human after all. One final reflection from the pro end of the cycling rainbow was that wider tyres also improved overall handling of the bike. For the reasons as to why this might be, read on.
Getting down to the nitty-gritty, we researched the wider benefits of using larger tyres, starting with rolling resistance.
