MTB tyre designing - anyone know?

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jethro10

Über Member
I often read about tyre and their design, but have no clue about what reviewers say.

Like ramped treads, or tread shape 60a rubber, 70a.
does anyone know of a site/page/book on tyre design, I've found myself very curious to understand what's what in tyre design.
Why does one tread shape work in some conditions better than others etc.

Googling tyre design, trad design, tyre grip theory bla bla bla brings up next to nought!

thanks Jeff
 
I don't know where you'd find anything on't web but I can give you a quick introduction.


Designers have a lot of variables they can work with to produce tyres for different conditions, disciplines and types of terrain.

The first is casing size. A skinny tyre is lighter and has better penetration, a fatter tyre a larger footprint, more bouyancy in soft terrain and better protection from pinch flats.

Thread count (threads per inch or TPI) determines the flexibility of the tyre, the higher the better for a tyre's ability to conform to the terrain as it rolls over it providing low rolling resistance and better grip. Raising TPI raises costs.

Tyre compound. Affects how well the surface of tyre grips what it comes into contact with. Rather pointless in soft terrain, low durometer, soft, sticky tyres suffer from accelerated wear. Mostly used for racing.

Knob shape, size (length, width and height), knob frequency and how they are arranged is where it really gets complicated. In general a larger more widely spaced set of knobs will work better in soft dirt, a tyre will many smaller knobs will work better on hardpack. Widely spaced knobs provide better terrain penetration and are less likely to clog up but tend to wear out faster.

So it's all about compromise, trading performance against cost and durability.

Front and rear wheels have different jobs to do so it's not unusual to find front and rear specific patterns.

Ramped knobs are intended to lower the rolling resistance of a tyre by providing little ramps for the tyre to roll up.

When I was doing a lot of mountain biking I had five sets of tyres for different conditions.... but then I am a bit of a saddo in these matters.
 
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J

jethro10

Über Member
Thanks folk, yes quite interesting.
I just choose between one of two sets depending on conditions and likely terrain, with front and rear being different on one of the pairs.

J
 
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