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Perhaps it might be dated, but I lack better guidance (got anything more recent?). Less pressure on the tire buys you a slightly more forgiving ride, which is important to some people including myself (with an old aluminum bike). Going slower because I put slightly less pressure in the front tire? Very marginal effect, at best. Nobody here has stated that if you inflate tires to their maximum, they would be overinflated.
Searching I just found the following blog entry with similar calculations about optimal tire pressure:
Bike Tinker: Optimal Tire Pressure for Bicycles
Using the spreadsheet provided there, for a 170 lbs bike + rider weight and 23s, the rear tire would require 104 PSI and the front 67 PSI. Here's one of the charts in that blog -- in this one you need to check the wheel load against the PSI (they assume about 60% of the rider's weight + bike weight is carried by the rear wheel):
http://www.biketinker.com/wp-content...iongraph_2.jpg
Again, I would take this as guidance only, since tires, roads and even riding styles can be different.
Got new tires today. :) We don't really have a great bike shop here. I bought my bike in New Orleans which is 2 hours away. Hubby and I had decided to take my bike to New Orleans, get the tires and get one of my free tune-ups and just enjoy the day.
My son is in Afghanistan and my DIL asked yesterday if I could drive her for a procedure today (she was going to be under general anesthetic). Hubby took my bike to New Orleans for me while I was doing that.
He ended up getting me Hardcase Continental Gatorskins but he ended up getting 28s. He said he looked at the 25s and didn't think that I would like them because there's not much difference in the 25s and the 23s. I had 23s on my first road bike and had a few wrecks. He thought the 28s were a better trade off to still keep the stability. He said if I didn't like them we could take them off and he'd put them on his bike.
I tested them out late this afternoon on a short ride and there's a noticeable difference. I think these will be just fine. He's a keeper for doing this for me.