Jerome & Elizabeth Moos wrote:
> This has been discussed here before, but some years ago. When narrow high pressure clinchers were first becoming popular, the market was in its superlight era. So there was a race to claim the lightest weight for tires as well as everything else. Several tire manufacturers, notably the Japanese, who made the Specialized tires, used the trick of overstating the true width of their tires. If a nominal 700 x 25 was actually only 100 x 23, it was obviuosly easier to make it lighter. The Europeans got involved in this game as well, but generally not to the extent the Japanese did.
That's interesting. Not really hijacking this thread, but not answering
the original question either, has anybody been following Jan's writings
in Bicycle Quarterly about wider tires being faster and requiring less
power? Clearly, his numbers aren't lying, but I still find it hard to
believe. Back in my youth I went from riding a gaspipe Hercules with 26"
x 1-3/8" tires to a Claud Butler with 27" x 1-1/4" high pressure tires
and it definitely went faster. Granted, the Claud was almost 10 pounds
lighter, but would it have been faster still with 26" x 1-3/8" roadster
tires? Has anyone else experienced fat tires being faster than skinny ones?
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John Betmanis Woodstock, Ontario Canada