Tip of the Week : Wider Tyres · Roadman Cycling Collective

Tip of the Week : Wider Tyres

This is worth looking into if you are not up to date with road tyres in 2026.

So to some people this may not be anything of interest or anything new to them. But wider tyres are a game changer. I’ll go through few reasons why and what to watch out for.

Rolling resistance is better = Faster

Wider is more comfortable = Energy Saved

Grip is better = Confidence & Safety

Puncture protection is improved = Ideal

My recommendations are 32mm. If you are going very fast then a 30mm front tyre and 32 rear, however the wider tyre is only marginally slower at that. See Nero Show’s most recent wind tunnel episode for a more in depth breakdown if you are interested.

First you need to check that your bike can fit wider tyres - try them out before buying please! Swap your friend’s wheels into your bike or something to see if they fit. Or look at your bike models maximum tyre clearance online.

Aerodynamics do not matter when it comes to the rear wheel. So apart from a small weight penalty of the wider tyre it just makes sense to go wide on the back. No need to evaluate further.

To some people the next paragraphs will lose you so don’t worry about it - we can try break it down in the next call if you are interested.

The front wheel and tyre is more tricky. If the width of your wheel is too narrow and you have a wider tyre than the rim you will have the tyre ballooning over the side. This is not aero and you will be penalised for this if you are racing or in an event - but for training it’s not an issue of course!

In my opinion in order for your 32mm tyre to sit flush with the rim, your wheels need to have an internal rim width of up to 26mm and an external rim width of 32-35mm. The roval wheels have a very narrow internal rim width for example so this will not allow the tyre to sit as wide as most other brands but the new generation of wide wheels of 23-26 internal rim width will be perfect.

Note that this discussion is only for road tyres. Gravel and mtb are going wider too but the reasons for it are slightly different and the rim width discussions are less important.

I’m a diehard Continental fan so GP5000s all the way. Vitoria and Pirelli are fine too but a lot of people have a tyre brand that they swear by so it’s a personal thing too. Don’t want to hear anything from Anthony about how his GoodYear tyres were made for his Zipps 🤮

I’ve not used ChatGPT for this so if I’ve forgotten any basic benefit of wider tyres then feel free to add below 😆 I reckon there is something very obvious that I’ve missed.

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