Riding slicks throughout winter...

fudgey

While out on a ride today i suffered a bit of stone, or flint in my front tyre causing a good sized hole. Upon checking the tyre i found another deep cut so used an energy gel packet to line the inside of the tyre under the cuts so we could carry on.

Now i need a new pair of tyres and was going to buy a pair of continental gp 4 seasons, but after speaking to a few fellow cyclists they say they just use the slicks all year round just taking it easy in the wet. And thinking about it the contact patch is so small that any tread isnt going to do a whole lot anyway but the gp4's have the bonus of being a bit tougher and resistant to punctures.

This is my first puncture on the bike in 950 miles, the rear tyre has squared off too so ill replace the pair.

What is the general consensus, just get the gp4's and be done with it?

slowbike

Gp4seasons are a good tyre - until you get the sidewall slice, but that can happen with most tyres ...
Gp4000s are good too.

I have to admit though, when the going gets tough I put on either the cheapest 25mm tyres I'm trying to wear out before chucking or the 32mm flack jackets that ride horribly but never puncture

fudgey

I guess i could just keep them on for now until they are either ruined or replace them next spring.
Ill see how the front goes, if it punctures again ill replace it.

The bike is a colnago ac-r, there doenst seem a whole lot of room for a wider tyre, certainly not on the rear anyway.

redvee

Did last winter on 25c Gatorskins but this winter will be on 25c or 28c 4Seasons depending on which bike I ride. Disc brakes and gears, 28c, or SS with V brakes, 25c.

fudgey

madasahattersley wrote:

Tread on road tyres is marketing speaking. In fact it's often admitted by manufacturers that they only include any tread at all to appeal to people who think it will give them extra grip.

The fact is you need to be going 90mph on a road bike to be at risk of hydroplaning. Any tread is just reducing your contact patch and if it's doing anything it's reducing grip in the wet.

To be clear though - tread patterns do give you more grip if you're leaving an impression on the terrain, i.e. gravel, dirt, sand etc.

I've found Conti's (almost slick) tyres to be brilliant all winter long, though the price is increasing towards extortionate.

I agree with that, as i said first off the contact patch is so small any tread is not going to do a lot.
Ill see what more durable slicks are out there if i have any more problems.
As ever you have to ride to the conditions and i wont use the road bike if its likely to be icy. I had 2 of painfull offs a couple of years ago on one commute to work due to black ice! (On the mtb)

jameses

Technically, road tyres have siping not tread. It's supposed to provide small channels for standing water to travel down, leaving better contact between tarmac and tyre. How well this actually works in the real world is another matter.

ravenvrider

I use conti 23c gp4000s all year round with daily commute 16miles with no problems

Monty Dog

Water is displaced into the surface of the road by the pressure of the tyre - siping/tread makes no difference. Getting tyre pressure right has far greater impact on grip i.e. rock hard = rubbish grip.

cal_stewart

Paves, job jobbed

smoggysteve

I would just go for wider tyres if your frame can accommodate them. 25mm would be a lot grippier in wet weather than 23mm as the contact patch is bigger and you can run a slightly lower pressure.

For winter weather people look in the wrong areas. brakes and braking surfaces get overlooked. I would rather know I will stop when I need to.

bianchimoon

I ride schwalbe ultremos all year round with no problems whatsoever, as others have said, tend yo lower the pressure when its wet outside to 80ish

fudgey

Cheers chaps. The ultremo's are £22.99 on wiggle at the mo so might give those a shot.

Bar Shaker

bike tyres don't work in the same way as car tyres. Because they are spherical in section, the patch footprint opens out from the centre, effectively squeegy'ing the water out from the contact patch.

By comparison, a car tyre is rectangular in section and it contacts the road as a wide straight line, across the full width of the following contact patch. The tread is there to allow water to escape along its grooves, to escape at the edge of the tyre. Without this tread, even a small film of water will cause full separation, or aqua planing, of the tyre.

To a lesser extent motorbike tyres are the same as our tyres and also have very little or no tread in the centre of the tyre.

jordan_217

Tread on cycle tyres is an extension of branding/logo's IMO.

fudgey

So keeping with slicks and just being careful is fine then i take it!

thanks chaps.

iron-clover

Fudgey wrote:

So keeping with slicks and just being careful is fine then i take it!

thanks chaps.

Yup, absolutely.
As already said, the harder surface grips into the softer surface. On the road, the tarmac grips into the tyre, so adding tread just reduces the amount of rubber in contact with the ground, reducing grip. I find heavily treaded MTB tyres on my Hybrid very sketchy in the wet on the roads- fun when there aren't cars and hazards about though

Off road the rubber is 'harder' than the soil/ gravel and so tread is needed to grip into the ground for traction.

I use Conti Gatorskins all winter with no issues- I'm sure the 4 Seasons are good tyres but they are more expensive than I'd pay for racing rubber!

If you're using MTB size tyres for example, having a tyre with the water displacement grooves is a good idea- my usual hybrid's tyres are wide 26" semi slicks, the only tread pattern being chevron grooves which displace water (only run at 60psi) and provide a little extra traction on packed gravel and dry grass.

thiscocks

All the continental tyres could be made a slick pattern and it wouldnt make a blind bit of difference to the grip. Its just the weight, puncture protection, and compound / rubber properties that matter and would be a factor in you choosing the tyre for the conditions. Whether its a slick or not makes no difference.

fudgey

Morning all, just been on wiggle to order a pair of the Schwalbe ultremo zx v-guards...

but the sizing, i want black ones and they come in either 20 x 0.9 or 650c x23

i need 700c x 23.

i have googled tyre sizes and searched on here to see if the 20 ones will fit but from what i can gather 650c = 571mm and 700c = 622mm, and 20" = 508mm... argh....
so what i am getting at is, does the 20 relate to 20"? as if it is, then there is no chance of them fitting!

am i being stupid or do i have to settle for a coloured bead around the edge of the tyre as they are all listed as 700c x 23.

link to wiggle: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/schwalbe-ultrem ... road-tyre/

thanks in advance.

redvee

CRC have them on black for £2 more.

fudgey

Ah excellent, i should have looked around!
Just been speaking to one of the roadies at work and he uses michalin pro3's all year round.
Again only looked on wiggle so far but they have a pro4 with puncture guard for same price as the schwalbe.
Hmm decisions!
Cheers.

DKay

I personally think that the reason sipes are added to winter road bike tyres is to make the rubber more mobile, which generates more heat to keep the rubber supple in low temps. The edges of the sipes probably also give greater 'bite' in wet and potentially icey conditions. The thinking is the same as that used on winter car tyres.

defride

I rode Ultremo's through last winter, grip's decent but they aren't the most robust, they're no worse than most re punctures but the compound isn't robust and they cut up readily. 1's are better all around and don't cut up to the same extent.

fudgey

Cheers bud, only just seen your reply.

I ordered the Michelin pro4's this morning after reading the reviews, they just pipped the ultrimos.

Will see what happens when i fit them. I almost went for the ones with a red band, but my bike is white with a little red on it so saw sense and stayed with black. Ha