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26" vs 27" Wheels

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Compass junkie here - Barlow and Stampede Pass ELs on all my bikes (except my Moser, on Vittoria Open Pave hand-glued tires).
Compass are the best vulcanized tires ever made, and you can only tell them from good tubulars before they warm up.
They also offer 700c, 650b and 26" (ISO 559) in a wide range of widths, and fast knobbies, as well.
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If you're looking for good 590s - Brit 650A, you can get them from Japan - all these tires are made by Panaracer (Compass included), but with proprietary casings and compounds
https://cyclesgrandbois.com/SHOP/279817/935974/list.html

If you need 27" (ISO 630) Panaracer Pasela is really the only good choice, available from 1" to 1-1/4" - these don't have the fancy casings and compounds of the tires above, but are the best out there in this rim size.
 
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in a nutshell, no. a taller tire will make no noticeable difference with everything else being equal.

lighter hoops, better bearings, and high pressure tires are what makes a bike faster with the same rider. the we get into 20 bladed spokes on deep rims with 130 PSI slicks if you want to be really fast
 
High pressure skinnies vs lower pressure wider tires is like stiff suspension vs more compliant or, to a lesser extent, lower vs higher profile tires on a sports car. The formers are better for ultimate times under perfect conditions, the latters are faster in the real world of bumps and debris where the last tenth can't be used, not least of which because the rider/driver gets beat up less. I personally prefer wheels on the larger side (700c/29) with wider tires and appropriate gearing. When I went from 700 x 23 @ 100 psi (tried 120, but kept getting flats and I almost never get flats) to 700 x 28 @ 85 on my road bike (have to deflate and QR the brakes to remove the wheels), it made the bike much more comfortable and it seems to conform to the road surface in turns rather than skipping along. Lost some sharpness to the handling, but I'm not a racer, anyway.
 
What you gain with fine casings even in clinchers is, like a high-grade tubular, the carcass spreads the road shock farther through the casing, and less through the frame and fork.
On cold mornings you can tell the difference between the U of a clincher and the perfect doughnut of a tubular.
All my friends have come around and are ex-teeth-chatterers, now also riding on clouds.
The smallest tires I ride are 27mm, and those are the hand-glued with 320 tpi linen-polyester casings.
It's always wise to mount the widest tires that give good clearance on your bike.
Especially if you believe Jan's logic, most "racer wisdom" is myth, though the aero factor is a worthwhile argument.
Racers need every edge they can get, because they often win or lose by seconds - the rest of us go plenty fast and still out pace most people on their skinny hard tires.
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as far as pressure goes, a tire that conforms to the road surface is faster, though many people believe their senses that ragged-edge road chatter is faster.
In reality, the tire loses momentum every time it leaves the road, and has to catch up when it recontacts, so high-pressure-induced road chatter is self-limiting on speed.

An important point about Berto chart for tire load and pressure, optimizing the contact patch can quadruple the life of your tire tread. This is somewhat important if you're buying high-dollar tires. Too high pressure, you're not riding as fast/efficient, and your tires wear out in one-fourth of the miles.
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Sven asked me: So would you go down 700 x 23(0.905 inch) size tires? That is a thin tire

Depends- but yes- both my 67 Peugeot PX10- my "daily driver" since '87, and a Schwinn World Sport I ride through the hoods have 23mm tires- and roll very well.
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But If I carry a lot in baskets or have a motor I obviously need some more tire support I rarely go over 28 or 32 mm now, even with a 66cc China Girl two stroke, and considering I'm quite a bit heavier than what I weighed racing between 1971 and 1984. I set that up at first with 27x 1 1/4, figuring that was enough rubber and profile- and not a tire has ever really equaled the 27 x 1/1/4 or 1 1/8 RAISED CENTER tire that was THE STANDARD clincher of my youth
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by 1971 I was on fragile sew-ups until 700 clinchers came along in the mid -80's- the raised center clincher sets it even more apart from it's size, and it seems you can only find it on better 700c tires, or until it matters little at 25 or 23 mm. The China Girl Micargi evolved from 26 beach tires to 1 3/4 tires- very familiar from my middle weight young days- to one 27 wheel chopper look on the front until finally two on both wheels-
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same bike- new paint

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Each time the roll got better and the speed and lower stress on the tiny motor, or the peddling through the parking lots or to get it going to pop the clutch, or coasting a half of a mile after killing the motor with the kill switch-
The 27 wheels did not work out only because I was breaking spokes on the back- a greater pain dealing with a larger motor chain- I eventually went to 700c wheels- breakage solved- and usually rode a 50 cc, but now mostly silent running electric.
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A 35 mm rear 700 c tire proved to have too much profile that wanted to collapse in turns, so I went back to 32mm Kenda Kevlar there. I haven't so much put a dent in a rim in flat temperate Florida, Although I did that once on an alloy rim and 25 tires years back now, on a pedal bike.

Yes- in fact those are the same blue tires now on the Hercules above.

Anyway 700 c tires come in sizes for every weight and use and I'm a big fan.
 
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@Sven
Biggest problem with skinny high pressure is throw in one loose rock on a turn, and you could be down - even a 27mm at Berto chart pressure keeps me upright.
A bigger fast soft tire makes an amazing difference on a wet surface.

What I always noticed with Panaracer Pasela in 27" is they didn't handle well or even ride particularly well far below rated pressure, i.e., Berto chart and x1-1/4" - but they're still the best tire available in 27"
So I would say if you're going to run Pasela in 27", pick the x1-1/8" and ride them about 85-90 psi. They do make a x1" tire you could run at a little higher pressure.

If you have a 27-inch bike, coverting it to 700c rims - lowering the brake pads by 4mm - opens up a world of wonderful tires that they just don't make in 27-inch.
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The Challenge "open tubular" (hand-glued clinchers) just above ride incredibly soft and fast, but I gave up on them because the bead would stretch out before the tread wore out.
They also offer really fast knobby cross tires in 30 and 33mm sizes.
If you're lighter (I'm 6'3", 210) and can run these at lower Berto chart pressures, they don''t suffer this problem - my friend's daughter is still riding a set of 25mm donated from my daughter's bike (replaced with Veloflex). Challenge also have a lower profile than any tire, and will fit a wider size in a low-brake-clearance bike. Her '85 Shogun had 19mm tires, and we were able to fit the 25mm Strada just fine.
The Vittorias don't have this bead problem, and they are taller profile, but the Challenge bead problem finally led me to Compass vulcanized tires in my larger sizes, and my addiction.

But I really like Challenge in tubulars - long life, tough as nails, soft, fast ride.
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Regarding 26 vs 27 or 28's. A 26"(559) rim with a 2.3" or 2.4" tire is about the same diameter as a 700cc with a midsized tire. The difference is slightly less than 1/4 ". I have no idea what this translates to performance-wise. I have not much experience with 27's or 28's but run my 26 x 2.125's at 47lbs in front and 53lbs in back in a road tread and find them to be plently supple and fast on my 26-er wheels. I can lean my bike waaaay over at speed and still feel connected. I don't feel that connection on road bike tires....Fatter tires in any wheel size seems to be trending, and the casings and materials are always improving to the betterment of riders. There is of course a breaking point I am sure......
The links above speaking to tire widths and pressures and the effects on speed is worth reading, and there is also information on weights as well that is a bit surprising. I really notice the tire weights when changing tires out to lighter or heavier on my 26-er rides...
 
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My experience is based on having ridden bikes with 20" wheels, three different 26" sizes (559, 584, 590), 700c, and 27"; and tires ranging from 1" width to 2" width; and, of course, what I've read on the internet. My conclusions are:

Overall wheel diameter is a very small factor.
Bearing quality is also only a small factor.
The combination of small wheels and bad bearings is going to combine the minor disadvantages of both, and may actually be measurable. I doubt it, though.

Higher pressure tires feel faster (but the advantage is illusory). They don't actually roll faster; they only feel faster.

There definitely are faster tires and slower tires. You can really feel slow tires. I read that this difference is measurable, but I have not measured it. I tend to believe that a high quality tire (like a Compass tire) at fairly low pressure is the best of both worlds. Fatter tires at relatively low pressure are definitely more comfortable, though, and comfort adds to a major advantage on long rides. I have a bike with Compass Rat Trap Pass tires (26 x 2.3) and I rode it successfully on 300 km, 400 km, 360 km, 600 km, and 1200 km brevets last year. No regrets.
 
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