Rolling resistance

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Old timer

Über Member
Location
Norfolk, UK
What do you reckon the difference is between a nobbly MTB tyre vs a Marathon Plus (26") as far as rolling resistance is concerned

Not much
A bit
or Lots

Dave
 

gavintc

Guru
Location
Southsea
I have no evidence, but from my experience - lots and lots. A road tyre just rolls so beautifully over tarmac, a knobbly is like pushing through treacle.

I would be interested whether any of the more scientifically minded forumers have any real evidence.
 

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
No experience of nobbly tyres but I find the M+ roll quite well,not massively different to other slick tyres I have used.
 

al78

Guru
Location
Horsham
marzjennings said:
Lots if you consider an additional 1 or 2 miles per hour for free a huge benefit.

You can throw some numbers in this online calc and try different tyre types to see their effect on speed.

http://www.noping.net/english/

Wow, 2 mph increase between riding on the drops as opposed to the top. Guess I'll have to practice riding on the drops.
 

gavintc

Guru
Location
Southsea
I think the tops/drops benefit is more based upon the position of your back than your hands. Personally, I prefer to get low but with my hands on the STI. But, I must do some more riding on the drops and see if it makes me any faster.
 

RedBike

New Member
Location
Beside the road
It obviously depends upon which knobbly tyre. My fast freds are probably quicker than cheaper slicks but most downhill tyres have an horrific rolling resistance
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
And the difference between a Marathon + and a 'fast' tyre.....even bigger.............
 

PpPete

Legendary Member
Location
Chandler's Ford
No surprise there.
I've never used a knobbly tyre, but the difference between a 25 mm lightweight slick tyre and even a regular Marathon 28 seems pretty big to me.
 

battered

Guru
My direct experience - I used to have a perfectly flat commute and my "normal" speed for knobblies was 14mph. This was borne out by the global average of 1500 miles in just over 100 hours. I fitted 26x1.5 slicks from the supermarket and it added 2 to 3 mph for the same effort.
 
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