coloured vs black rubber

sancho_panza

read on schwalbe website that black tyre rubber doesn't perform as well as coloured (yet they have a swanky range of colours for the new Ultremos...)

About to replace some black Ultremos (which are the best tyres I have ever used) and don't fancy losing any traction on hairpins (still sore after a crash in September).

Anyone here aware of a discernible difference between the black and more exotic looking stuff?

Cheers

Steve B

cougie

If thats the case- why do the pros ride black tyres ? And for that matter motor racers ?

Personally black is good for me. Coloured tyres just get grubby anyway.

nferrar

I think you mean performs better? But yeah black compound grips a bit better although these days I'd suspect it's pretty negligible, personally though I only use black tyres...

maddog 2

From what I've read it's the other way round - black is gripper.

Personally I couldn't verify this as I never run coloured tyres, as I think they look awful

Ultremos are indeed good, grippy tyres but they've had some bad press in terms of quality control recently.

lochindaal

My understanding was the grip isn't compromised but the wear/lifetime is worse on the coloured area of the tyre as it uses a different manufacturing technique.

Going a long time back it was discussed somewhere on here about sidewall blow outs on Michelin Pro 3's

yaya

Coloured tyres can potentially increase visibility especially if they use bright colours

balthazar

Carbon Black in tyre rubber greatly improves both wet grip and wear, compared to rubber without. However, it forces a black tyre tread, which appalls many. Coloured tyre rubber is compounded with silica, instead, which is supposed to have a similar effect as carbon black but is colourless, allowing manufacturers to dye the rubber any other colours.

At least initially, silica-compounded tyres were profoundly worse for wet grip and wear, in testing. I've heard and read that things may have improved, but I've always chosen carbon black tyres, because I'm suspicious of such claims. Note that road cars, motorbikes, racing cars, aeroplanes, and just about any other tyred vehicle you can imagine, use carbon-black rubber tyres.

Watch out, also: some black tyres from a coloured range are simply dyed black, rather than composed with carbon.

fredmac

balthazar wrote:

Carbon Black in tyre rubber greatly improves both wet grip and wear, compared to rubber without. However, it forces a black tyre tread, which appalls many. Coloured tyre rubber is compounded with silica, instead, which is supposed to have a similar effect as carbon black but is colourless, allowing manufacturers to dye the rubber any other colours.

At least initially, silica-compounded tyres were profoundly worse for wet grip and wear, in testing. I've heard and read that things may have improved, but I've always chosen carbon black tyres, because I'm suspicious of such claims. Note that road cars, motorbikes, racing cars, aeroplanes, and just about any other tyred vehicle you can imagine, use carbon-black rubber tyres.

Watch out, also: some black tyres from a coloured range are simply dyed black, rather than composed with carbon.

Source for this or is it opinion?

balthazar

fredmac wrote:

Source for this or is it opinion?

Source for what?! My comment includes a few points, some of which are claims which deserve substantiation, others are clear opinions. I'm happy to discuss any specific matters if you can manage the effort to query them.

fredmac

Well what about your first sentence? That seems to be a statement of fact

sungod

fredmac wrote:

Well what about your first sentence? That seems to be a statement of fact

that's because it is a fact

on-yer-bike

Coloured tyres look awful on a road bike and coloured bar tape isn't too nice either. Maybe OK on some whacky fixie.

racingcondor

Balthazar is right from what I've heard, black has better traction because it is based on carbon rather than silica. I have no idea if it's actually noticeable though (I've always wondered if that means that silica based tyres roll marginally better?). Interesting that Sheldon falls on the fence - http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tyres.html

A good example of this is that Conti only produce their top of the range tyres in black (because Black Chilli is an ultra fine carbon based compound, hence GP4000S being black and colours being available on the GP4000).

themightyw

Sancho Panza wrote:

anyone here aware of a discernible difference between the black and more exotic looking stuff?

Cheers

Steve B

Mr B! How the devil are you? I can assure you that after ten miles cycling around St Andrews in muddy winter time there was no longer any discernable difference between my funky white ultremos and my grubby black gp4000s

sancho_panza

how'd you know it was me you old Daaaaaaaaawg! Gotta go. Chat soon. Ha! Sancho bleedin' Panza!

Velonutter

I was on the Schwalbe Stand this year at the NEC chatting to their technicians and they confirmed that Black generally had Carbon in them which made them wear and grip better.

I do use coloured tyres, but will rethink when I have run out of all the spares I have in stock.

bianchimoon

Stanley222 wrote:

on-yer-bike wrote:

Coloured tyres look awful on a road bike and coloured bar tape isn't too nice either. Maybe OK on some whacky fixie.

+1 - looks naff!

+2 black all the way, and agree the ultremo is a superb tyre, had some on since last may and not one puncture!! that is impressive from a performance tyre

sancho_panza

yep, Ultremos superb. Interestingly, I had a red Conti4000 on the rear when I slipped out of a corner in September - can't go blaming anyone else but myself... but it's got me thinking

We have amazing roads here (western Switzerland) so you can tank it through the corners, and tyre wear is way less than thanI used to get in Scotland!

bianchimoon

ahh you're a lucky man, beautiful place - enjoy