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Technical Tire Question
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Bobbee from St. Louis on 4/13/2011 6:20:53 PM:
Sorry if this is an old topic, went through ~100 subjects without seeing any similar topic. Couple of us will make the Clinton to St. Charles ride the first week in May, taking 5 days, ~ 50 miles/day. I'm no stranger to long rides, have done RAGBRAI and other long rides but always on pavement. First time on the KATY surface although I've done several 35 mile training rides. My local bike shop has two opinions on tires, both riders/advisors have done the entire cross state ride multiple times. One says keep my 35MM knobby tires, the other says change out to 28mm slick tires and the ride will be far less effort. Any advice out there? Lets assume decent weather with only one wet day. Thanks in advance
 
Trek on 4/13/2011 8:19:36 PM:
Knobbies aren't necessary on the Katy. I've ridden slicks for several years on my hybrid and they work fine. The tandem has 28's on it and they work well...as always, watch for the track and stay in it. I'd go for the 28 slicks over knobbies anyday.
 
Darrell from Jefferson City, Mo. on 4/13/2011 9:15:17 PM:
Full knobbies not needed as Trek says, they would be slow rollers for sure. Have Hutchinson Acrobats 700x37 on the Hybrid, they work well. Have Vittoria Adventure Touring 700x32 on the touring bike, they work even better. Neither of these tires are slicks but are fairly low resistance tires. I furnished the names of the tires for reference to see what they look like, other brands have similar tires.

The Katy is for the most part hard packed, but softer in the center and to the outer edges.
 
Bobbee from St. Louis on 4/14/2011 8:46:10 AM:
Great feedback, thanks Trek and Darrell. Bobbee
 
Gary from Near Tebbetts on 4/15/2011 12:25:12 PM:
Time Saver Tip of the Day:

If you are looking for a specific topic - go to the Katy Trail Home page, click on the Search the web site link, type in your topic in the google search box, click the BikeKatyTrail.com button and then click the search button.

It's a lot quicker than paging through all the comments looking for what you want.
 
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