Timeline for What is the purpose of a tread pattern on city/road tyres?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
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| Jun 20, 2022 at 9:13 | history | edited | Andy P | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added some supporting links
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| Jun 19, 2022 at 17:20 | comment | added | Andy P | @Michael That tyre is designed to be ridden on snow (and hence shares design features you see on a car snow tyre). To quote the Conti website: "Hundreds of biting edges across all tread lugs help interlock with snowy terrain" | |
| Jun 19, 2022 at 16:36 | comment | added | Michael | @AndrewHenle: From my understanding of physics I agree that tread indeed shouldn’t really help on wet roads. But then why do special winter tyres have this tread with tiny channels? bike-components.de/en/Continental/… | |
| Jun 19, 2022 at 14:48 | comment | added | Andrew Henle | In my experience the bigger issue with extremely worn tyres... And a much higher propensity for flats. | |
| Jun 19, 2022 at 14:47 | comment | added | Andrew Henle | @DanielRHicks Tread still doesn't help on asphalt. If it did, racing motorcycles would use treaded tires. In fact, tread is likely to hurt traction in turns, as any significant thread can lead to the tire squirming under side load and breaking free sooner than a slick would. | |
| Jun 19, 2022 at 14:21 | comment | added | Daniel R Hicks | @AndrewHenle - It's not about hydroplaning, it's about getting a grip on the asphalt. | |
| Jun 19, 2022 at 14:13 | comment | added | Andrew Henle | @DanielRHicks That had nothing to do with tread - wet causes loss of traction for all tires, and thread won't help on a bicycle because you simply can not go fast enough on a bicycle to hydroplane. If you were strong enough to get a bicycle to hydroplane, you could win the Tour de France just using one leg. Hydroplaning is extremely well understood - the speeds needed to get a bicycle tire to hydroplane generally have three digits, even for slicks. IIRC it's related to the tire pressure - higher pressure needs higher speeds. If you could go that fast, yeah tread would help... | |
| Jun 19, 2022 at 13:09 | comment | added | Daniel R Hicks | @MaplePanda - I once neglected to change out a worn rear tire -- one with virtually no tread left in the center. Then we went through a rainy spell, and I had the tire slide out from under me several times while making turns on slick asphalt pavement. | |
| Jun 19, 2022 at 7:10 | comment | added | MaplePanda | @DanielRHicks That is definitely true for car tires. As the answer points out though, significant tread is not needed on a bicycle tire. | |
| Jun 19, 2022 at 6:27 | comment | added | Andy P | schwalbe.com/en/profil - not according to the people that actually make tyres and are well known to do various research projects | |
| Jun 18, 2022 at 23:52 | comment | added | Daniel R Hicks | The tread on a tire is an important factor in maintaining traction on wet and/or oily roads. This is even more important on paved roads than on gravel. | |
| Jun 18, 2022 at 20:10 | history | answered | Andy P | CC BY-SA 4.0 |