Reassurance needed.

[flogster]

Hi all,
recently took delivery of my new bike, an insurance job as my recently purchased Trek was nicked. I was supplied with a new Felt F85 road bike, all very nice and in fact an upgrade from what I had before.

What I'm unsure about however is the new bike has come with slick tyres - Vittoria Zaffiro in fact. Prior to this bike, I've always had 'tread' tyres, been brought up on them in fact so have never used slicks.

As you may have noticed it's been a bit wet lately and this combined with my unfamiliarity with slicks has me wondering am I safe on them? I'm a regular commuter and ride 30+ miles a day and have never had any saftey concerns based on tyre grip so I'd like any info from the community on Slicks v Treads and whether or no I need to put tread tyres on.

I'm well aware of day to day 'threats' on a commute, wet manhole covers etc and cycle appropriately for the conditions - has to be said that the amount of leaves on the road this time of year is also something to keep an eye on. Are slicks, and this brand as well, okay in these conditions or am i safer changing to tread tyres.

It's bizarre...in all my years of cycling I've never been quite as stumped as I have by slicks.

 

[byegad]

Any mud on the road and they are bad! However a normal road surface, even wet with the odd puddle shouldn't be an issue. In fact as we don't travel fast enough to aquaplane a slick tyre is going to have ore grip. BUT as above wet mud, even a fine layer, will see you lose almost all of the grip.

 

[lulubel]

Slick tyres grip better on smooth road surfaces than tyres with tread. They don't need tread to displace water because our tyres (as opposed to car tyres) aren't wide enough to aquaplane.

 

[ianrauk]

Slick tyres grip better on smooth road surfaces than tyres with tread. They don't need tread to displace water because our tyres (as opposed to car tyres) aren't wide enough to aquaplane.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[doug]

Slick tyres on a bicycle can in fact aquaplane - but you need to be doing >80mph or so

If you are not doing those sort of speeds then slicks are best on the road, tread only helps on loose or muddy surfaces.

There is a nice chart showing at what speed tyres of different pressures start to aquaplane, here:
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ho-z.html#hydroplaning

Cars aquaplane at lower speeds as their tyres are at lower pressure (~30psi).

 

[benb]

Slick tyres on a bicycle can in fact aquaplane - but you need to be doing >80mph or so

Just a normal commute.

 

[flogster]

Thanks everyone for your replies, feel better already for reading the advice.
Cheers.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

As an aside, what is the difference between Hydroplaning & Aquaplaning, it's all Greek to me

Alan...

 

[ianrauk]

As an aside, what is the difference between Hydroplaning & Aquaplaning, it's all Greek to me

Alan...

It's the same thing.

 

[BentMikey]

Slicks = no problem on a road bike, on the road.

 

[daSmirnov]

Tread is pointless on the road, if anything they're worse, in any conditions. You'd have to be doing something like 120mph to aquaplane on 23c tyres at typical sort of pressures.

 

[fossyant]

Most important is the tyre compound, some are gripper than others. Confused now, you will be as many tyres use dual compounds, all vert techy.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Personally, I found Zaffiro tyres to be very skittish in the wet. Even travelling in a straight line the front wheel would sometimes would slip sideways on ironwork (off a contour on the metal, I guess). I found it disconcerting and quickly swapped them over to a different Vittoria tyre, the Rubino Pro - not from any allegiance to Vittoria, it was just I'd already bought a couple in a sale. They're far more sure-footed.

 

[ianrauk]

Personally, I found Zaffiro tyres to be very skittish in the wet. Even travelling in a straight line the front wheel would sometimes would slip sideways on ironwork (off a contour on the metal, I guess). I found it disconcerting and quickly swapped them over to a different Vittoria tyre, the Rubino Pro - not from any allegiance to Vittoria, it was just I'd already bought a couple in a sale. They're far more sure-footed.

I'm another Rubino user.. have many thousands of miles under my belt with them. An excellent tyre, long lasting, good grip, good puncture resistance and great value for money also.

 

[flogster]

deptfordmarmoset / ianrauk, thanks both for the additional comments re Rubino...will look into those later.

Thanks everyone once again.