How skinny is too skinny.....

[Mike H]

Hi, my next big trip is Europe so to make my Nomad a little more sprightly on good roads I'm planning to leave my Pasela TG 1.75's at home and go with something skinnier (I'll still be carrying a camping load), I have a pair of 26x1.3" Panaracer Urban Max tyres, wondered about people's opinions of whether they're too skinny or not. This'll be the first tour I've done on half-decent roads, the last few have been mostly on dirt/broken surfaces so I don't have much experience to draw on. Grateful for your thoughts!
M

[jcabuckley]

hi mike, i do my local commute with schwalbe marathon plus 1.35's with around 100psi in them! very quick but the frame is very harsh set up like this, especially on roads in west lothian! you feel every little bump, however if the roads are good and your carrying just lower the psi a few bars and i'm sure they'll be fine. i'm touring scotland this summer and i'm going to run a 1.35 on the front and 1.6 on the rear.

[rogerzilla]

I use Conti Ultra Gatorskins on 26" rims (DT XR 4.1).  They're only 28mm (26 x 1.125").  I don't think they'll be suitable for the wide rims fitted to Thorns as standard, but you can measure the rim's internal width and check the tyre compatibility chart on www.sheldonbrown.com.  Narrow tyres on a wide rim give a hard ride, poor cornering due to the loss of the proper round profile, and can sometimes pop off [:0]  Wide tyres on a narrow rim are generally OK provided the pressure isn't excessive; look at some of those MTB knobblies.