Touring wheel size

[Si]

Lots of possibilities: Conti Ultragatorskins at 1.125 inches, Sport Contacts at 1.3 inches, or if you want something with a beefier tread, there are Schwalbe Marathons at 1.5 inches. All seem to me to be pretty reasonable and sensible choices, depending on what sort of touring you're doing.

Yes, I have to agree. The number of 700c touring tyres seems to give the impression that it has reduced a little over the year (depending upon whether or not you count winter tyres/audax tyres/commuting tyres/etc as touring tyres). There's still a good number around the 28mm mark but for those of us that want something a little wider the possibilities decrease a little.

Whereas the 26" 'touring' tyres seem to be increasing. OK, these might not be designed predominently as touring tyres, but they are by default wider than the average 700c jobbie ('cos they have to fit people's pre-existing MTB rims in place of knobblies) and have all the comfort and toughness associated with touring tyres (IMHO).

Are there as many viable 26" touring tyres as there are >28mm 700c touring tyres? I don't know but if there aren't then the gap is reducing.

For my part I used 26" IRC Metros for my LEJOG in the early '90s - very limitted choice back then. I found that they rolled extremely well - at least as well as the touring contis on my 700c bike, plus they were more p*nct*re resistent. Furthermore, one of them is still going strong on my commuter! These days I have Marathon Plus on the 26" tourer - used on road, for audax, for club runes, on track and BWs. I'm perfectly happy with them. Not as fast as my GP3000s but if I wanna go fast I switch bikes.

[reohn2]

Glueman
i've been looking for a 26in Michelin road tyre on the web but can't find any, could you reccomend one?

I have these on at the moment.

Thanks for that,I didn't know Michelin did that model in a 26in.

On reflection I've probably not looked far enough and concede that there are more 26in touring tyres than I thought.
I suppose its that when looking at 26in touring tyres I'm coming from a tandem perspective so tend to discount the slicks or indeed the very 'chunky' tyres.

[Lawrie9]

I would definately go for a 2inch mountain bike tyre because you will have a more cushioned ride, they will take the pothole and lumps you find in most roads and you are less likely to get rim damage and punctures.

[glueman]

It's down to perception in the end. If you normally ride 700 x 23mm tyres, sticking some 28mm's on (if they'll fit) will seem like plenty of air and I've seen people on the continent with that set up and a pair of panniers lots of times.
If you are coming from a 2.2 shod mountain bike and try some 1.3's it might feel like riding on a knife edge, at least for a while. I think we can all agree that it doesn't matter which size wheel you go for so long as the frame and the rims will accept a sufficiently large tyre should you want to tour with a heavy load, often.

[AndyB]

That's a good point glueman. I'm used to 27x1 1/4 and 700x25c - so a 35-37mm tyre should feel comfy for me. I should also add that I'm more than happy with the 32's, I just feel that my son on the back is getting rather more of the bumps than is fair!