Tubes Tires 101

[loquin]

Well...

For a bicycle, they (slicks) gives better traction under all conditions except (possibly,) snow.

a bike tire is rounded, and this tends to squeeze water out fron under the tire. They will not hydroplane - they can't. in order to hydroplane at 30 MPH, you would HAVE to be running a tire pressure of 10 PSI, but at 40 PSI, hydroplaning speed is approximately 60 miles per hour.

If you have tread in the tire surface, there's less surface area in contact with the road, and less gripping ability. Tire rubber deforms to small surface imperfections, which will provide the 'grip' when the friction is reduced by water, ice, or oil/grease

In order to wear at the same rate, tires with tread, which have less surface area, need to have rubber that's little harder than the rubber in a slick design. This reduces the effectiveness of treaded tires to grip the road.

Look at the tires on race cars - there's little (to no) tread on them. And, they have a lot of oil on those racetracks at times... But, they grip well.

 

[Irish John]

Look at the tires on race cars - there's little (to no) tread on them. And, they have a lot of oil on those racetracks at times... But, they grip well.

Until the track gets wet & then the slicks have to come off immediately & be replaced by treaded tyres.

 

[loquin]

again, at the tire pressures and speeds for motorized bikes, it's impossible for them to hydroplane. A race car can and will hydroplane, though, and testing confirms that wide tread channels can help route water from under an auto tire.

There can be reduced traction due to water/slick stuff, but, the only road condition that will be helped by tread on a bike tire is snow. Every other condition is going to suffer reduced traction, with a bike tire, if there's tread present on the tire. Think about it. Traction in slippery conditions is created with rubber-to-road contact, and with imperfections in the road surface deforming the rubber surface of the tire. In non-slippery conditions, the bulk of the traction results from rubber-to-road contact, and the greater the amount of rubber, the greater the amount of traction. Thus, slicks give the most grip in dry conditions. In wet/slippery conditions, surely having tread helps though??? Not. The small imperfection on the road surface, either sticking up, or forming a 'hole,' can 'fall' on rubber, or can fall 'on' a tread channel. When that imperfection causes the rubber of the tire to deform, THEN there's traction. If it falls on a tread channel, though, there's no traction until the tire slides enough for the imperfection to actually make contact with rubber. But, once the slide starts, the traction is further reduced, and it's harder to stop the slide. (ref static coefficient of friction versus kinetic coefficient of friction)

 

[graucho]

loquin didnt steer me wrong on that tire. I took his advise and bought a pair for my stanton friction bike and have put on about 600 miles so far. I liked them so much for the price I bought another pair for the GEBE set up. Like he said, smooth ride, a little extra speed. I haven't had to hit the brakes down to the cords though.

Oops I forgot. Zero trouble in the rain with road traction.

 

[FireBellyCycles]

I like my IRC Metro II's! I have a set of the Bell comfort tires on my 4 stroke w/ Kevlar, they seem ok.