Riding a bicycle can be pleasurable or painful, largely depending on the quality of your saddle. But what most riders would term a comfortable ride refers to the overall experience of easy handling, absence of bumps, and perhaps a certain lightness of the bike itself.
Where You Ride
Tires are only one of the features in a bike that ensure a smooth ride, at least if you use your bicycle appropriately. A road bike with thin tires is meant to be ridden only on smooth surfaces like asphalt. If you ride a road bike on a patch of grass, you will have a rocky ride. A mountain bike or comfort bike with wider tires is appropriate for all terrains, but will be less smooth on the road than a road bike.
Tubular vs. Clincher
The two types of bicycle tires are tubular and clincher. You are probably more familiar with the clincher tire which has an inner tube and a tire with a bead on the outer edge of it. Those beads hold the tire in place. Advantages of the clincher tire seem to be mainly related to maintenance. The Ride-Strong website notes these: easier to repair or exchange, easier to carry as a spare, and less expensive to replace if repair proves impossible. On the other hand, besides being heavier, the ride is not quite as comfortable because a clincher tire cannot be inflated as completely as a tubular tire.
Your Definition of Comfort
Ask yourself what your definition of a comfortable ride is, and how much you are willing to sacrifice for it. For instance, if you choose tubular tires, you will be spending considerably more money. In addition, if your tire breaks while you are on the road, you will most likely not be able to repair it right then and there. According to Ride-Strong, most people will discard a tubular tire because it is too much trouble to fix it. And if you do repair it and the tire ends up improperly glued to the rim, it can come off the rim and cause you to crash.
Perhaps a New Generation of Tires
The Tufo Tubular Clincher Tire is designed to combine the best of clincher and tubular tires. According to the company's website, this tire is pressed toward the rim, like a tubular tire, but the bottom band plays the active role of biting into the rim's shoulders.
More Factors to Consider
A bike can have suspension in the front or the back, or both, or none. Opinions vary on whether you really need a dual suspension if you do not ride in rough terrain. In addition, not all suspensions are created equal. A cheap dual suspension, according to BikeZone, will give you a bumpier ride than a steel-frame bike with no suspension at all. Steel frames are returning to the market, offering a smoother ride than the light weight aluminum frames popular today, because steel is better at absorbing road vibrations. This benefit is further augmented if you also have a steel fork.
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