On 8/11/2011 2:57 PM, Geoff Lock wrote:
On 06/11/11 13:46, Travis wrote:
On Nov 6, 9:12 am, wrote:


For me the narrow tyre would be best.

If as you say the 23's are available why not give them a go?

The immediate answer to "why not give them a go?" is because if it's a
bad idea I'd prefer to be warned in advance by people who may have
tried it instead of finding out the hard way by having an accident far
from home when the tyre slips off the rim or something while I
corner.

Heheheh!! 95kgs coming off a bike is an ugly sight, indeed But as me
mate Gazza would say, "Skin grows back". Funny he never had nuffin to
say about me chipped tooth when I went face first into the pavement but
that is another story.

Look, Travis, if I was you, I'd whack on the 700x23 tyres, then take it
real slow until you know what they do. You did say the rims were only a
couple of mms wider, right? It's a quick dirty way of finding out -
PROVIDED YOU TAKE IT EASY FOR THE FIRST FEW RIDES. Note that the
inflation of the inner tube would cause the 700x23 tyre to fill out and
the tyre will most likely clinch quite well on the 700x20something rim
you have on the MTB.

Another way is to shift the 700x23 rims over to the MTB but this could
be a bit of a hassle cos you'll need to redo the spokes and the hub -
hubs on roadies are shorter/narrower than hubs on MTBs. Also you'll have
both the roadie AND the MTB not rolling at the same time.

Yet another way is to beg, borrow or steal a set of 700x23 roadie rims
and a set of MTB rims and do the roadie2MTB spoke+hub swap leisurely
while you test out the 700x23 tyres on a 700x20something rims on the MTB.

Alternatively, just stay with the 700x38 and all is sweet - with the
exception of having 2 different sets of tyres+tubes to contend with -
which was what I decided to do when I had this exact same predicament
sometime ago. Laziness usually wins these kinds of debates

But if wanna have a go, mate, you got nothing to lose and if you take it
real gentle with your experiments, you could save a bit of money whilst
building those two bikes up to be real weapons

Good luck

On the other hand, how much is that skin worth?

You can buy two wider "city" tyres which are designed for the wider rim
width and will give you better ride and wear (and slightly higher
rolling resistance) for about $30 a pair. If $30 is a lot to you then
experiment as Geoff says :-) If not then you may decide that it is worth
it to purchase the wider tyres.