How wide of a tire can you fit on a Decathlon Triban bike? We try 700x35, 700x38 and 700x40 tires!

One of the most common questions we receive is “what’s the widest tire that fits the Decathlon Triban RC 520?”. While some versions of Decathlon’s websites list the maximum tire clearance to be 700×36, several people on a couple of bike forums have claimed to go higher. Wider tires not only have better grip but also offer a smoother ride in part to the lower pressures they require and taller side walls. This additional cushioning means that wider tires can soak up potholes if you’re commuting on rough city roads or provide more grip off road. Thanks to some help from Hutchinson, we’re excited to test out some wider tires to see whether they cleared the frame and how it affected the ride. Decathlon ships the RC 520 with their own Triban branded 700×28 tires so we decided to test 700×35, 700×38 as well as a 700×40 tire on our RC 520 (note the frame is the same as the RC 500).
We chose the Hutchinson Override tires in the 700×35 and 700×38 variations as they offer an excellent blend of on-road compatibility by incorporating a dual tire tread. The center is semi-slick for less rolling resistance while the sides are knobby for improved grip. Hutchinson offers the Override tires in both standard tube and tubeless ready variations as well as a tan walled option. For the larger 700×40 tire, we chose Hutchinson’s new Touareg tires which is one of their most versatile tires and excellent for everything from bikepacking, commuting, to gravel racing. Using the same 127 TPI construction and a small-block knob design, the Touareg tires offer a great blend of puncture resistance, grip and speed.
Before we get too far, we wanted to take a second to talk about the stock Triban PROTECTLIGHT 700×28 tires that the RC 520 ships with. The tires have a semi-slick design with L shaped groves to improve mixed weather riding. Decathlon has designed the tires with economics in mind, so they are quite heavy at 365g each and stiff. This becomes very obvious once you remove the tires from the rim (a very difficult task as they appear to be glued from the factory!) and feel how rigid they are. Compared to the 127 TPI construction of the Hutchinson tires which easily deform to pressure, the Triban tires are very rigid. Whether you want to go wider or not, we definitely recommend upgrading the tires as we discussed in our review of the 700×28 Hutchinson Sector 28 - as high quality tires really improved the speed and feel of our RC 520...
... Read the full review @ thesweetcyclists.com/widest-t...
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00:00 Intro
00:11 Unboxing + Specs
02:41 Tire Swapping
05:07 On The Road
06:51 The Final Score
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