Tread..............needed?

[alfablue]

With anything covering the road, like leaves or sand, the contact patch is compromised and it will be slippy. I can see knobblies working better in sand (as the blocks will cut throiugh it), but with leaves the tyre loses contact with the road and it may not make much difference what you use.

 

[Panter]

Cool link, Alfablue, thanks

 

[DustBowlRefugee]

Panter,

This is one of the most useful threads I've read on here, not least because I was just about to invest in a set of "winter tyres" for my road bike. Having read the various links involved I won't bother now.

Having once been a motorcycle racer I'd like to know if anyone could comment on different compounds used on the tread. Can I pay a bit more for a "comp" type tread which forgoes longevity? On my RG500 I didn't care about tyre life - only grip hence A1 Demons were the order of the day. Can I buy a bicycle tyre which does the same? I seem to cycle a lot faster (especially downhiill) when I am convinced that the Japlops won't spit me off.

Seems you're not too far from me - Where do you get out to?

Cheers
Mark

 

[Panter]

Just locally at the moment, very much a newb you see.


Mmmmmmmm, RG500, I always wanted one of those
My last bike was an R1 but I'm "between bikes" can't afford to run one at the moment


Hope someone can help with your question, I take it you reas the Shwalbe link ,some good info on compounds there

 

[mickle]

Lots of tyres are available with dual compound trad; hard on the centre line for durability and soft on the edges for grip.

Extra soft racing tyres are available for off road racing, I used a pair of Tioga SL dirt tyres for a while, they were so sticky that seemed to pick up every bit of grit that they contacted and throw it at the down tube. You could almost watch them wearing out as you rode along but they were awesome in corners, especially on the road funnily enough.

 

[BentMikey]

I was going to go out on my road bike (with slick tyres) this morning but seeing all the wet fallen leaves I took the MTB instead (with knobbly tyres). Would I have been better off on the roadie?

Thanks
Mark

On the other hand, the MTB tyres may lose grip more predictably than the roadie, so you might have less overall grip, but be more easily able to control the bike.

 

[John the Monkey]

So, would this be any good then?

 

[Tim Bennet.]

Our display bike, shown above, tips the scales at 37 pounds.

OMG!

But, if you want to ride on a surface where you need to float (sand or snow) then it's going to be better than sinking idown up to your hubs.

But in this country, we frequently have mud that is too thin to float on, so the perceived wisdom is to use a narrow tyre that cuts down to a solid base and gives more clearance to cope with all the encrusted crud on the tyre. So mtb 'mud' tyres tend to be only 1.5 inches wide with very widely spaced pronounced knobbles.

However I have a real problem with riding trails in these conditions as it does 'cut them up' badly (like horses do). I know some people live in areas where this is their only option, but luckily up here we can restrict our riding to rocky trails when it's really wet.

 

[andy_wrx]

So, would this be any good then?

I think it comes from the country which brought us the HummVee...