race tires

[tubbylee]

hello all,this is my first season racing a4 i have been running schwalb ulteremo zx tires i have 100% faith in these tires never had a puncture racing or training and they stick to the road like glue my only gripe is the 23c tires are very fat looking more like 25c,i was talking to a club member how has recently purchased a set of continetal attack force tires and he claims he has increased his average speed by 1kph i believe the front tire is 22c and the rear is 24c has anybody any experience of these tires and is it worth replacing the zx tires,i never asked him what tires he ran before so for all i know he could have been running cheap training tires thanks for any advice.

 

[black'n'yellow]

I think your 'club member' is probably talking out of his backside. He may believe it himself, but that doesn't make it true...

 

[Dragonwight]

Im sure someone will correct me but I was fairly sure tyre width makes no difference to road resistance the only factors that do are mass and the coefficent of friction (how rough the material is) excluding air resistance, having said that I use to put a wider tyre on the back years ago cant say I ever noticed any difference. All the reviews I have read on the attack tyres have been good, I was recently looking at getting some but plumped for the GP4000s with Ultra Lite Michelin Airstop tubes and after a week and a half on them everyday they are way quicker than my old Specialized All Terrain they seem to absorb more vibration from the road but there also half the weight. Thats my 10 pence worth anyway.

 

[HLaB]

Unless his tyres is were really shoit before 1kph average increase is rubbish. In the short while I had the base continental Grand Prix's that followed the same principle (22mm front/ 24mm rear) I suffered an unusual amount of p'tures for me (particularly pinch p'tures) I didn't rate it at all.

 

[TheSandwichMonster]

I'm sticking with my ZX's for racing...

 

[ushills]

Im sure someone will correct me but I was fairly sure tyre width makes no difference to road resistance the only factors that do are mass and the coefficent of friction (how rough the material is) excluding air resistance, having said that I use to put a wider tyre on the back years ago cant say I ever noticed any difference. All the reviews I have read on the attack tyres have been good, I was recently looking at getting some but plumped for the GP4000s with Ultra Lite Michelin Airstop tubes and after a week and a half on them everyday they are way quicker than my old Specialized All Terrain they seem to absorb more vibration from the road but there also half the weight. Thats my 10 pence worth anyway.

Have a read of this posted elsewhere by me already today.

http://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/bicycle-quarterly-performance-of-tires/

Wider tyres with supple casings roll faster and need lower pressures, thus faster and more comfortable.

 

[Dragonwight]

Have a read of this posted elsewhere by me already today.

http://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/bicycle-quarterly-performance-of-tires/

Wider tyres with supple casings roll faster and need lower pressures, thus faster and more comfortable.

Thanks for the link made for interesting reading dont agree with their conclusion on the wider tyre though, the supple tyre and pressures I would because thats just changing the coefficent of friction of the tyre. I dont agree with the wider tyre diagnosis for one simple reason they havent quoted any weights and the Michelin Pro 2 which they mention in 700 x 25 can be up to 20% heavier than the 700 x 20 version. I think they were just measuring the increased potential energy of the heavier tyre being rolled down a hill compared to the lighter one.