Square knobs on tyres- all you need?

neil_sheehan2000

Just finished reading a rather interesting book on bike design by Mike Burroughs (used to work for Giant; made the 'Lotus' bike; now makes a lot of recumbants) and there are a few things in there that he says that make me think 'that just can't be true'.

One of which is his assertion that the only tread pattern you need for mountain bike tyres is a series of square knobs, as that's what they use on MX bikes. All the rest is marketing guff. That can't be true. Can it?

u05harrisb

well kinda true, it will do the job on any mountain bike, just been addapted to make people faster and to suit special terrain so yeh in a sense it is true. i.e. what would happen to you if you put said tyres on all your bikes, one would hope little bar possibly making you slower

cooldad

neil_sheehan2000 wrote:

now makes a lot of recumbants

Spotted the problem.

Anonymous

u05harrisb wrote:

well kinda true, it will do the job on any mountain bike, just been addapted to make people faster and to suit special terrain so yeh in a sense it is true. i.e. what would happen to you if you put said tyres on all your bikes, one would hope little bar possibly making you slower

^^Totally.
"All we need" does not neccesarily mean "the best there is".
MX tyres come in various tread patterns too

cooldad

Having a chunk of hp under your right fist helps as well. Ultimate grip is more important than ability to roll.