Tyres

Kaipaith

As a new commuter, I'm making do with my existing bike - a GT Avalanche 2.0. As you can see, it's just an entry level bike, and not really designed for the road either.

I would like to replace the knobbly tyres, but still keep a fair amount of grip should I continue cycling over winter. What do people suggest?

Also, what other upgrades can folk recommend?

alfablue

If you are intending to use it only on the road I recommend Specialized All Conditions Pro (slicks) or Armadillo's. Slick tyres are fine on the road in all weathers, just added punture protection is worth having for the winter. If you want something with mild rough path capability, then a Schwalbe Marathon will do a good job.

domtyler

Slick tyres offer MORE grip on tarmac than knobblies, not less. Knobblies grip soft and uneven road surfaces better.
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alfablue

domtyler wrote:

Slick tyres offer MORE grip on tarmac than knobblies, not less. Knobblies grip soft and uneven road surfaces better.

I think that was what I meant to say.

Raikkenon

whats it like riding slicks in the wet? from my karting experience its fun on 4 wheels, whats it like on 2?

redddraggon

Raikkenon wrote:

whats it like riding slicks in the wet? from my karting experience its fun on 4 wheels, whats it like on 2?

Wheels on a bike are narrower and under higher pressure, so no problem, slicks are better than treaded even in the wet due to the higher contact surface area.

alfablue

Thin, slick bike tyres cannot aquaplane, Sheldon Brown writes:

Bicycle tyres for on-road use have no need of any sort of tread features; in fact, the best road tyres are perfectly smooth, with no tread at all!
Unfortunately, most people assume that a smooth tyre will be slippery, so this type of tyre is difficult to sell to unsophisticated cyclists. Most tyre makers cater to this by putting a very fine pattern on their tyres, mainly for cosmetic and marketing reasons. If you examine a section of asphalt or concrete, you'll see that the texture of the road itself is much "knobbier" than the tread features of a good quality road tyre. Since the tyre is flexible, even a slick tyre deforms as it comes into contact with the pavement, acquiring the shape of the pavement texture, only while incontact with the road.

People ask, "But don't slick tyres get slippery on wet roads, or worse yet, wet metal features such as expansion joints, paint stripes, or railroad tracks?" The answer is, yes, they do. So do tyres with tread. All tyres are slippery in these conditions. Tread features make no improvement in this.

He goes on to show that a bike with a slick tyre pumped to 120psi would need to attain a speed of 113mph before it could aquaplane.

Knobbly or treaded tyres will always give worse grip on tarmac.

Kaipaith

alfablue wrote:

domtyler wrote:

Slick tyres offer MORE grip on tarmac than knobblies, not less. Knobblies grip soft and uneven road surfaces better.

I think that was what I meant to say.

What about when it's icy? I realise that if it's particularly icy nothing is going to be great, but are slicks best for, say, snowy conditions?

redddraggon

Kaipaith wrote:

alfablue wrote:

domtyler wrote:

Slick tyres offer MORE grip on tarmac than knobblies, not less. Knobblies grip soft and uneven road surfaces better.

I think that was what I meant to say.

What about when it's icy? I realise that if it's particularly icy nothing is going to be great, but are slicks best for, say, snowy conditions?

Tyres are of little use on ice, whether slick or treaded. In Snow treaded will be better.

domtyler

Why do you want to cycle on ice?

If you live in a very cold country then you should think about buying something like Nokian studded tyres.
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baudman

NOTHING grips on ice. OK... maybe tyres with metal studs..., but still not much.

John Stevenson

domtyler wrote:

Why do you want to cycle on ice?

Sometimes it sneaks up on you, but there's definitely nothing you can use for tyres that will help when it does, unless you want to run round on studded tyres all winter.

My wife, Lel, and I were once commuting home on our tandem when we hit a patch of black ice at the bottom of the lane behind our village. (Back routes are good, except when they don't get salted in winter...) To this day I have no idea how I managed to unclip and get both feet down but I somehow managed to slide us to a surprisingly graceful stop like an over-sized pond-skimmer.

It was a good job we both had SPD shoes on; the steel cleats were the only thing that would grip the road so we could walk off the ice.

sbullett

You could try Continental Sport Contacts - 1.3" or 1.6" widths, with reflective sides and an anti-puncture band built in. I've had a pair on my MTB for the last 12 months (1,500 miles - before I got my new roadie ) and had no grip problems at all - including all foul weathers, including sub-zero (albeit gritted) roads.

In terms of puncture protection they are excellen. I've had a couple but when I've inspected the tyres there are loads of sharp items embedded which haven't gone through the kevlar....and Conti do a 12 month guarantee which means you get a new tyre and tube if you get a puncture

You'll notive a big difference switching to slicks, have fun 8)

alfablue

sbullett wrote:

You could try Continental Sport Contacts - 1.3" or 1.6" widths, with reflective sides and an anti-puncture band built in. I've had a pair on my MTB for the last 12 months (1,500 miles - before I got my new roadie ) and had no grip problems at all - including all foul weathers, including sub-zero (albeit gritted) roads.

In terms of puncture protection they are excellen. I've had a couple but when I've inspected the tyres there are loads of sharp items embedded which haven't gone through the kevlar....and Conti do a 12 month guarantee which means you get a new tyre and tube if you get a puncture

You'll notive a big difference switching to slicks, have fun 8)

I tried Conti Sport Contacts in between my two sets of All Condition Pro's. I found the rubber to be soft, it picks up sharp stuff (asyou found sbullet, don't get this with the Spesh's), and in about 4 months I had noticeably worn them so that the tread profile had started to go square. They punctured about 3 times (I could see daylight through the tyre), and as I bought them online, claiming on the guarantee was too much hassle (probably wouldn't have bothered if it was LBS either, as my experiment was over). I'm glad you have had a better experience, but I won't bother with Conti's again.

I have a feeling that their rubber compound is too soft (and many previous threads report poor puncture resistance of other conti's, such as the Gatorskins) - maybe it is a compromise to improve grip, but it increases puncture proneness as the particles stay put in the tyre waiting to creep through. I think their guarantee should be backed up with better performance, I thought they would be puncture proof as they offer the guarantee, but not so.

DavidBelcher

alfablue wrote:

Thin, slick bike tyres cannot aquaplane....a bike with a slick tyre pumped to 120psi would need to attain a speed of 113mph before it could aquaplane.{/quote]

Or even higher - Michelin's R&D guys at Clermont-Ferrand did some work on this, and I forget if it was from a practical study or a computer simulation, but they found that an Axial Pro would need 200-odd mph before aquaplaning set in!

David

mikeitup

I got some road tyres for my mtb commute to work. They have made alot of difference.
I have scwalbe road cruisers 26x1.75 with puncture protection and they have been fine. £17 for a pair, too!

www.fredstreads.com