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Yesterday I rode my frankenbike (1 x 9 Inbred with Pompetamine forks, Mary bars and 700c wheels) up to some local forest to pootle round the fireroad and a little bit of dry singletrack - it was lovely TBH and I can see myself doing it quite a bit more.
The thing is the Alexrims ATD470 wheels I bought came with 28c Vittoria Zaffiro tyres. Given that the bike is probably going to be doing 85% road and 15% (max probably) gravel/fireroad/dry tracks is this too narrow a tyre?
It felt fine yesterday but it was my first time "off-road" with 700c wheels and narrow tyres and I was a bit concerned about damaging either the wheels or tyres.
So... am I going to die using a 28c tyre for this purpose or could I do with a bit more width/volume to give a bit more protection?
(I'm def trying to keep the bike weight down if I can if this makes a difference)
Gratuitous bike pic
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You'll be grand.
If you get flats all the time maybe get bigger rubber.
You'll be fine.
Mrs_oab has Giant own brand near slick 32's which come up real small - we've been all over tracks and grass on it.
Keep pressure up to avoid pinch flats.
You won't get mtb level of grip.
Enjoy.
My 2014 Charge Plug was marketed as an all road bike and came with 28c tyres. Stock rims were Alex ATD 490.
They were fine on cycle paths, forest roads etc if a tad uncomfortable.
I can also fit 35c in my frame. Honestly the 35c Gravel Kings are much nicer off road as they're more comfortable and provide more grip, but if you're only spending 15% of your time off road I'd not worry too much, maybe size up when you've worn out what's fitted.
Yup, as they said, if you're finding the rims bottoming out through the tyres on rocks, put more air in until you don't.
If you then don't get the grip or comfort you want, look at bigger tyres.
I did a fair bit of gravel shortcut on 25c .. have just fitted 28mm and I'm going to add a bit more - seems spot on. Keep the pressure up as Matt said .. you'll get bounced a bit but it'll save a flat. If you want to enjoy them, go wider, but it's right for your mix.
Yesterday I popped out for a quick ride that ended up here
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Without putting much thought into it I decided to go down the main path which turned out to be quite loose - not normally a problem on my other bike (with 2.1" SB8) but part way down I realised I need to pay more attention, than I usually do, to keeping the wheels underneath me and came down quite gingerly .... but the right way up!
Lesson learnt - a 28c tyre deserves a bit more respect off road!
Still great fun though.
So… am I going to die using a 28c tyre for this purpose or could I do with a bit more width/volume to give a bit more protection?
I dinged my back rim a few weeks ago when using 28c Bontrager AW2 tubeless tyres. They were pumped up hard but I hit a buried rock. Bit of air came out too.
If going in a straight line then 28c road type tyres are fine but they are noticeably sketchier on corners and just generally give less confidence on tricker downhill stuff.
I find a 31c tyres with some knobs, especially on the side, makes a massive difference. (31c is max I can fit in frame)
I'm going to keep an open mind and may go slightly bigger - we'll see!
Thanks for all the info as well BTW.