mjr wrote:Meanwhile, I'll see what difference tyre width makes in use... I've just put a new 28mm on the front, while I've got a 37mm on the back - both Schwalbe, both inflated to 80psi (sidewall marking says 85 but I figure I'm lighter than many and the bike is average). I'll see which loses more pressure in a week.
They've only done about 50 miles if that and I didn't spend time measuring on Tuesday, then I wimped out riding in the last few days of bad weather because I didn't have to, but this morning, I hooked up the pump, gave it a tap to get a more accurate reading and the 28 DC on the front had deflated to the low 60s.
Then I hooked it up to the 37 M+ on the back and... low 60s, too. Both tyres have Continental Tour 28 all tubes in them.
So what do you make of that? Personally, I'm surprised they've deflated by the same pressure because I thought the DC was flexing more and I expected that to lead to faster deflation... and I thought there might be something in the idea that narrower tyre means less air to lose... but it also means the tube will be less stretched so maybe less porous. Anyway, the DC feels faster than the Armadillo it replaced and I feel fresher after rides. GPS suggests I'm recording about 2km/h faster for similar journeys, even though it's getting colder and that usually slows me down. I'm quite prepared for this to be a tyre structure difference rather than a width difference, though.
