I think you're looking at it from the wrong direction
{ask your resident engineer :? }
Ok...sometimes he over-explains things and I end up wishing I hadn't asked the question.
Schultze is now wearing 215/45R17 Fuzion HRi wrapped around S-lites.
Jury is definitely still out on whether it's a smoother ride. We'll see how it goes after I return from my little jaunt to Breezewood, PA tomorrow afternoon.
I guess I should have phrased my original question differently:
If I want to run __" non-RFs, what would be the "ideal" profile that would result in a smoother ride than what I currently get with the 195/45R16 RFs?
If I'm understanding both you & my husband correctly, a smaller rim allows for higher sidewall height, correct?
yep - you got it
just going away from RF will soften things up - a run flat is just a tire with extremely thick sidewalls. Add low profile + thick side walls and you get hard tires.
So step 1 is loose the rf's ... step 2, a smaller diameter wheel allows a larger sidewall without changing the overall diameter of the combination - the added side wall is the part that flexes and absorbs bumps,,,
the various tire calculators will let you play with wheel/tire size combos to see if you are changing the overall size ... which you can do to but remember this ... ever riden an old 'sting-ray' style bike very far? with those smaller diameter wheels. Even riden the same distance on a regular 26 or 27 inch wheeled bike? It's geometry.... the larger the circumference of the circle the fewer times it rotates to roll a distance... On the other hand everyone who's ridden a 10 speed knows starting in a tall gear takes more effort - a smaller diameter wheel is easier to get going....but eventully needs to turn faster then a larger one....
of course one then gets into width .... weight .... wheel offset .....
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