[B] BIG difference changing tires[B/]

As far as any "cushion" goes, I think the knobby vs. unknobby makes more difference- I'm probably mostly always going to be "on-road" as opposed to "off-road"-

But there IS a difference then in total diameter- I've lost some with the smaller tires, which might take away some from any gearing- but the 36 then obviously more than makes up for it.

The build I'm contemplating would have 27" or else 700c tires- and I think a real mechanical advantage with a larger wheel size. I used to race bicycles, so the narrow tires don't bother me at least on smooth roads. (In fact I'm the real guy behind the semi-truck in the movie "Breaking Away")

This bike, a Micargi cruiser, will be my errand bike, for groceries- but I'd like to make a lightweight "broomstick" with a Schwinn World Traveler I bought recently and a lightweight 48 motor with the lightest components I can get-

I don't think I'd ever go as low as 23mm width 700c tires, but maybe 28s (1 1/8 inch) or 32s ( 1 1/4 inch). I was just talking to a track racer this weekend who seemed to think that you could go up to 32 mm's on aero rims on a built up tack "fixie" flip-flop wheelset, but not 38 mm. He said he'd rolled some that size of the narrow aero rims. To go 38 or above, you'd have to gave a more standard 700 rim.

I think 700's may even fit on a lot of cruisers, if anyone was interested- You'd probably have to change the brakes, bvut could go to some low-profile low weight campy brakes or similar.

I don't know- I'm not going to spend the money on this cruiser- i'll probably fit her with some saddlebag baskets which are a little heavy, and I just today took delivery on a BMX suspension fork for the front end- I'll post a picture of it here BEFORE the tire change, and take some more to post later-

The Schwinn Traveler pix are on my "Dude, where's my locking freewheel? "thread if your interested, but I probably won't do a motor build on it until this winter. I'm still digging out after the 100 year-flood and seven feet of water that hit my hgouse last summer.

As far as this being like Illinois- I'm in Brown County in Southern Indiana, so think more like Carbondale area than that pictured. I really have to to try trhe 36 on hills, cause we have some HUGE ones in the home area of The Hilly Hundred.

Re: BIG difference changing tires

Here's the bike last week-- just before the re-tire.

Anybody close to Bloomington need some white wall cruiser tires? They've only got maybe ten miles on them.