What road bikes can fit a 700x32 or 35?

[John Driz]

Does anyone know or have any experience fitting 700x35's or 32's on a Cannondale R series or Trek 1000 to 1400?  Or really any road bike for that matter?  I'm looking for the best of both worlds a lightweight road bike under 20lbs for long rides up to 130 miles with an ability to swap out tires for the gravel trails.  I've tried googling this and haven't had much luck.

[aggie]

It really depends on the bike/manufacturer.  Many road bike are really designed for speed so they expect the riders to be using "skinny" tires.  I would say that most will take upto a 25mm tire and a few may go to 28mm.  However you may need to actually see the bike to tell if it will take a 32 or 35.  I'd say few road bikes would handle that size.  A cross bike which is a type of road bike should handle the size you want.

[John Driz]

I would consider a cross bike like a Jamis Nova or Kona Jake but they are out of my price range.  If I could combine the lightweight benefits of a road frame and skinny tires when I need them for a nice long 60 or 100 mile ride I'd be in heaven.  Unfortunately my beer budget keeps me from having both.  I wish there was a resource out there which specified maximum widths but so far all my googling hasn't turned up a thing.  Bummer...

[whittierider]

Rivendell road (touring) bikes allow the wide tires, but they won't be under 20 pounds.  If you want the low weight though, it's to make it easier to go the distance, right?  and the rolling resistance difference between tires will be more significant, with the worst ones doing the equivalent of tipping the road up about a 0.5% in grade compared to the best.  IOW, it's like making a flat road into a 0.5% uphill grade, a 3% grade into a 3.5%, etc..  Unfortunately none of the high-performance tires are made in anything over 25 or 26mm; but for a given tire model, the 25 will actually have lower rolling resistance than the 23, and especially if the road surface is not ideal.  The differences are so small however that you might as well get what you want and don't even pay much attention to bike weight.  The fastest-ever Paris-Roubaix race was in 1964, when all frames were steel, all wheels still had 36 spokes, and the bikes only had 5 cogs, not 9 or 10 or 11.  There are quite a few old records like this still standing.

[indyfabz]

Are you considering the ability of the wheel set to accept such tires?  Assuming my IF road frame could accomodate fat tires, I doubt my rims would.

[John Driz]

I would definitely plan on having separate rims for the 32's or 35's.  I don't think 25 or 27's would fit on the same rim would they?  From all of the googling around I've done it looks like it is much cheaper to buy a road bike with the components I want rather than buying the components and frame I want separately.  It I could stuff some 32's or 35's on to a bike such as a Cannondale R400 or similar I would be able to kill two birds with one stone.  Plus I would get the benefit of a lighter frame. I wish I could afford an IF bike... maybe after grad school.

[whittierider]

They would fit, but might not be the best for stability.  Our tandem came with 25's and would do fine with 23's, but I have 32's on it now and they didn't even look out of place.  35 would probably be fine too, but 37 might be pushing it.  I don't like the feel of the 32's though and won't ever go that big on it again.  The best I could describe the feel is that there's some side-to-side wandering and the control doesn't feel as precise.  There's no problem, but I don't like the feel.  This description is totally subjective.  The 32 might be fine on the back but I would go down at least one size on the front.  I haven't ever tried these widths on a different pair of wheels.

[hem]

Does anyone know or have any experience fitting 700x35's or 32's on a Cannondale R series or Trek 1000 to 1400?  Or really any road bike for that matter?  I'm looking for the best of both worlds a lightweight road bike under 20lbs for long rides up to 130 miles with an ability to swap out tires for the gravel trails.  I've tried googling this and haven't had much luck.

For a road bike using dual pivot caliper brakes 32c and even 28c tires can be a bit tight getting wheels off and on. Check out SOMA Smoothie ES or Stanyan. Both take 32c with fenders using long reach caliper brakes. Don't know what the build weight would be though.

[paddleboy17]

Does anyone know or have any experience fitting 700x35's or 32's on a Cannondale R series or Trek 1000 to 1400?  Or really any road bike for that matter?  I'm looking for the best of both worlds a lightweight road bike under 20lbs for long rides up to 130 miles with an ability to swap out tires for the gravel trails.  I've tried googling this and haven't had much luck.

I think these are critereum bikes.  The fork crowns may not have clearance for a bigger tire.  There may also be interference problems with the back tire too.

I am a firm believer that one can never have too many bikes.  And it sounds like what you really want is cyclocross bike.  Why not look for a used one?  Try your local Craig's list.  Sponsored racers have to turn over a new bike each season and typically sell of last years bike.  Look for a club/team that has a cyclocross squad.  Maybe there is a good match for your budget.

[John Driz]

I was parking my steed yesterday outside the coffee shop I work at, and next to me was a Surly LHT, what a nice looking ride.  I got a few glances from strangers as I was checking her out.  And again as I was locking up at the same rack was locking up my 1991 Bianchi Ibex with failing brake springs, next to me was an older Trek 420 with maybe 35's on her.  Although it looked a bit old and chipped up she looked comfortable and smooth riding.  I do believe a cyclocross bike is what I truly want but my beer budget I can only afford one classic pony for now, unless someone out there would like to trade some web or graphic design work for something similar?

Thanks Paddle for the history on touring bikes once serving as cyclocross bikes, this may be an option for now.

[gregg]

If you don't mind spending some money the Rivendell http://www.rivbike.com Rodeo seems to fit your criteria. It is under 20 pounds and fits tires up to 35 mm. It is lugged steel too, including the fork so it should be fine on gravel roads (easier to touch up chipped paint as opposed to chipped carbon).

[whittierider]

(easier to touch up chipped paint as opposed to chipped carbon).

I haven't heard of chipped carbon, but a friend who crashed badly 8 months ago and got a five-inch-long bunch of carbon fibers hanging out of his seat stay (the side of the bike hit the curb at 40mph) is still riding it that way, saying he just hasn't had time to fix it (even though he has had time to ride it about 4,000 miles in that amount of time, mostly pounding the local hills!)  His son works at a place that makes carbon fiber helicopter blades for the military, and he says they have to be able to take 100 hits from a .50-calibler machine gun without failure.  The bike owner has some epoxy for repair that the blade manufacturer had to dispose of because it was too old to meet military standards, but is still plenty good, he says.  Most carbon frames are painted anyway though, if you're thinking about chips.

[aptech]

The 700x35 Schwa-be supreme is actually a 622x37 and I am not sure I can fit anything bigger than a 35. Hate to spend that much and then find out they will not fit.

[Jason]

John,

This is a question I came to, as well.  I'm using an old steel road bike frame from the 80's centurion to be exact.  I mention this because the rear-end is especially narrow (120mm hub spacing).  28mm were fine, forks and frame, with plenty of clearance on both, enough to fit at least a 32.  For what it's worth, I ended up doing the southern tier on 28's - Schwable's with no problems - i.e. no flats, bent rim, etc.

My plan, here in the next few days, is to head to REI and see if one of the shop guys will let me try out a set of 32's.

j

[John Driz]

Thank you movershaker!  That's just what I needed to hear.  I still have made my purchase and have been hunting Ebay for a deal.  Right now there is a Redline R740 which I couldn't find much info on but comes with Sora components, aluminum frame, and carbon fork.  I'm getting close to the wire, but with the whether still pretty snowy I'm only commuting five or six miles a day and training indoors at the Y.  The turmoil of what to by for my first road bike is just brutal.