Tyre

[ady b]

Hi all another bit if advice needed sorry for all the questions, which tyres are best all round at the mo iv got slicks but want a little more grip

 

[Kestevan]

Errrr....... best for what?

What sort of riding, and on what type of bike? Genreral road riding, racing, commuting, off-road, downhill or pootling about on gravel roads all have different requirements just for a starter.

 

[ady b]

General road use tyre size is 23x700

 

[black'n'yellow]

General road use tyre size is 23x700

slicks will give you the best grip for road use.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

If you aren't happy with the grip you could try a wider slick; 700x25 or 700x28 are available. (examples here)

Do check you have enough clearance for a wider tyre though as some bikes are tight for space.

 

[Kestevan]

Yep - stick with slicks, mechanical tread will not improve road grip - even in the wet.

Having said that, some tyre compounds are better than others. I've got a pair of Zaffiro slicks that are nothing short of bloody dangerous in damp conditions; and I've never been too impressed with Gatorskins either (although to be fair, others disagree on this).

It's worth spending a little more on a decent set of rubber, rathe rthan using the absolute basic models that tend to come with new bikes.

Personally I like the Michelin Lithion tyres as a decent all-round road tyre at a sensible price - they're what I commute on most days. The Schwalbe Ultremo and Continental 4000GP are also excellent, but are considerably more expensive.

 

[Herzog]

Slicks for the road; knobblies for off road; spikes for snow/ice...

 

[e-rider]

General road use tyre size is 23x700

slicks will grip best - what you need to look at is the rubber compound used.

People often wrongly think that 'tread' gives more grip which is obviously wrong on a smooth road - dry or wet! A wider tyre such as a 700x25 might help

 

[I like Skol]

Here we go again!!!

Being a bit of an anorak, reading a lot and actually thinking about things, I'm afraid I have to disagree with the 'slick is best' camp.

Here is a quite long post I gave in answer to the same question a while ago....

Well, quite a lot of conflicting advice for the OP here and IMO a lot of it is baseless nonsensical myth rather than scientifically proven fact.
First of all lets look at the one about the slick tyre having more grip than a treaded tyre. This may indeed be true for a tyre running on a smooth surface in dry conditions where grip is purely a function of friction and contact area but, in all other conditions (damp, dusty, gravel, oily, etc) the smooth tyre on a smooth surface is likely to be less than optimal. Once a lubricant is added to the equation (and water is quite a good lubricant in the case of rubber) then you need to look for other ways to maintain grip. Looking at car tyres, and grip in general, the introduction of a tread pattern takes two forms. The first is a large tread pattern designed to remove water and allow the tyre to make contact with the road surface without 'floating' on a film of lubricant (eg, water). The second form of tread is a finer pattern that provides a mechanical grip somewhere between lubricant dispersal and microscopic friction. This is the world of sipes (go on, google it. You know you want to!) and this really comes into its own on wet surfaces with a less than perfect finish. Here the mechanical grip gained by adding a fine tread pattern far outweighs the friction lost by reducing the contact area with the removal of rubber. I think a fairly good analogy for this is to imagine you are slowly sliding down a steep rockface towards certain doom. Sure, you can try to flatten yourself against the rock to maximise contact area and friction, hopefully slowing or stopping your descent, but in reality nothing really comes close to the effectiveness of jamming your fingers and toes into any available nook, cranny or crack! This is what sipes, and fine tread patterns, do. They are not about removing water. The lumps, bumps, edges and corners they present to the road surface provide opportunities for mechanical grip where water has reduced the ability of microscopic friction to be the sole provider of grip. In essense friction and this fine mechanical grip are much the same but on a different scale. Water or lubricant can easily foil the pure friction while it has a lesser effect on the traction provided by tread pattern and sipes.
The compromise is that a treaded tyre will most likely have slightly less grip and higher rolling resistance when on a warm, dry road but given the downside that riding on wet/damp roads brings then having a treaded tyre on a mixed use, multi weather bike is a good idea.
The second issue mentioned in this thread is the relationship between tyre pressure/footprint/puncture occurances. This is purely my hypothosis and opinion but other than running a tyre underinflated to the point where pinch punctures occur then I think the relationship can be largely ignored as any differences are negligable. A tyre run at a lower pressure may indeed deform around a sharp object rather than pressing itself onto the point so as to be pierced, but when this is balanced against the fact that a tyre at a higher pressure has a smaller contact area on the road so is statistically less likely to encounter a sharp object I think it is likely to be a draw and neither high nor low tyre pressure will suffer a significantly higher number of punctures.

Finally, it doesn't matter what tyre you run, one day you will encounter that smooth, shiny, greasy piece of tarmac when you enter a turn just a bit too fast and BANG! You WILL go down, period.

And finally finally. Going back to the world of the motor car, lets take a look at what the F1 racing teams have traditionally done for tyres. If it is dry then a slick, tread free tyre is the choice. When it is damp or slightly wet then intermediates with a mild tread pattern are selected. Once it is lashing down with rain and there is lots of standing surface water then monsoon tyres with deep, water displcing tread is chosen. A treaded tyre can be run on a dry road with very little loss of performance and loss of grip is gradual and more predictable than a slick tyre which suddenly gives up gripping when pushed beyond it's limits in the wet, often catastrophic consequences. Getting back to the OP's question. I recommend getting tyres with some tread for wet weather use (or another bike with treaded tyres and guards )

 

[black'n'yellow]

Here we go again!!!

Being a bit of an anorak, reading a lot and actually thinking about things, I'm afraid I have to disagree with the 'slick is best' camp.

Here is a quite long post I gave in answer to the same question a while ago....

all that demonstrates is that you don't know what you are talking about when it comes to bike tyres.

 

[Herzog]

Here we go again!!!

Being a bit of an anorak, reading a lot and actually thinking about things, I'm afraid I have to disagree with the 'slick is best' camp.

Here is a quite long post I gave in answer to the same question a while ago....

An interesting post. However, and I'm by no means an expert, I'm not sure the analogies relating to car tyres are appropriate. This is owing to the curved profile a bike tyre has, rather than the square profile a car tyre has. Water displacement is not an issue with bike tyres, and it's pretty much impossible to aquaplane (http://sheldonbrown.com/tires.html).

I'm willing to be corrected.

 

[FreeFlow Bikes]

I use the Continental GatorHardShell tyres and haven't had a problem with them, though as Kestevan says some people don't like them and other love them, just like marmite!

I used to run the Schwalbe Ultremo ZX Tyres. They were a fast, low rolling resistance tyre but cut up badly and very quickly so after going through two sets of these I moved to the GatorHardShell's. The Schwalbe Ultremo Tyre were more of a racing tyre to be fair.

 

[I like Skol]

I'll take the bait......

slicks will give you the best grip for road use.

That's a well reasoned reply to the OP?

all that demonstrates is that you don't know what you are talking about when it comes to bike tyres.

Whereas you clearly do! The problem is that this is one of those topics like "cycling is dangerous" or "wearing a helmet WILL save your life". It gets repeated over and over again until eventually a large proportion of people believe it without ever questioning the validity of the statement.
I am no expert and haven't claimed to be but I have put forward my opinion and my reasons for coming to that opinion. My own personal experience backs up my opinion, Ive had a few falls and slips on 23c slicks but not had similar troubles on a 35c tyre with tread (Not a like for like comparison I know but both run damn hard so near enough for me).
My sources are not directly related to cycle tyres but even a hard 23c tyre will deform enough to form a contact patch rather than a contact point, so like a car tyre or even a shoe, there will be a flat contact area between tyre and road. Until someone comes up with valid research that proves, in a scientific manner, that slicks are best I am going to continue putting my faith in my cobbled together pseudo-science.
I haven't suggested that the tread is required to prevent aquaplaning as this isn't an issue for cyclists at even the fastest speed likely to be encountered.

 

[black'n'yellow]

That's a well reasoned reply to the OP?

yes, because it's true.

Whereas you clearly do! The problem is that this is one of those topics like "cycling is dangerous" or "wearing a helmet WILL save your life".

It isn't. Topics like those are largely based on emotion. The issue on cycle tyres is based on established science and fact, as opposed to your own anecdotal evidence. Kestevan's post above has all the info you need.

 

[HLaB]

Hi all another bit if advice needed sorry for all the questions, which tyres are best all round at the mo iv got slicks but want a little more grip

As said above slick will give you most grip on road, different compounds of tyres may offer more grip though or lowering your tyre pressure slightly so there more rubber in contact with an uneven surface (typical UK road). Knobblies on road raise your tyre of the ground by a few mm so only the small section of tread/nobbly is in contact with the road. The other myth to disregard is aquaplaning, bike tyres are too narrow to aquaplane unless you are capable of cycling 100mph +, Cav can't even do that