The Chainlink

Wider Tires Roll Faster

I'm wondering what opinionated Chainlinkers make of this study:

http://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/bicycle-quarterly-performa...

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Permalink Reply by Casey Carnes on June 14, 2012 at 12:34pm

More interesting data up on Jan Heine's site today about tire size and impact on speed.  I think one of the more interesting points is that tire pressure, above an acceptable level, has little impact on speed.  I started following this chart and get a much more comfortable ride with little to no impact on performance.

http://janheine.wordpress.com/ 

Permalink Reply by Chris C on June 14, 2012 at 12:40pm

Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on June 14, 2012 at 1:18pm

Casey, do you have access to a larger version of that chart so it isn't all fuzzy when you blow it up?  I can barely read it after ning resized it. I'd love to print it out for my shop.

Permalink Reply by Casey Carnes on June 14, 2012 at 1:20pm
Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on June 14, 2012 at 1:53pm

Thanks Casey!

Casey Carnes said:

Permalink Reply by Duppie 13.5185km on June 14, 2012 at 2:02pm

Here is an article that explains why professionals use narrow tires, despite being less efficient. The way I read it, there is more to be gained form lowering your wind resistance than there is from widening your tire. That, and a narrower tire weighs less, therefore is easier to accelerate

http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/rolling_resistance



Michael A said:

All this aside, the Giro (second largest bike race in the world) came down to the time trial and was won by a mere 30 seconds, every single rider in the top 20 used 19-21 mm wide tires. These are the men who race and ride at the top limits of human power, not some dude in a wind tunnel or in front of a computer.

Permalink Reply by S on June 14, 2012 at 2:30pm

Well aero wheels have been moving towards having wider rims so that the tire to rim interface is as smooth as possible.  The rotating mass/acceleration stuff is true but the difference is minuscule compared to the mass of the cyclist+ride.  Same deal with the drag from a 25mm vs 19mm tire.  However, the time difference when you crash because your skinny tires couldn't grip the corner enough is a lot larger.  I think pros just ride skinny tires because they can't easily find tubulars in the right sizes and it's been the way things are done.  


Duppie said:

Here is an article that explains why professionals use narrow tires, despite being less efficient. The way I read it, there is more to be gained form lowering your wind resistance than there is from widening your tire. That, and a narrower tire weighs less, therefore is easier to accelerate

http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/rolling_resistance



Michael A said:

All this aside, the Giro (second largest bike race in the world) came down to the time trial and was won by a mere 30 seconds, every single rider in the top 20 used 19-21 mm wide tires. These are the men who race and ride at the top limits of human power, not some dude in a wind tunnel or in front of a computer.

Permalink Reply by ilter on June 14, 2012 at 2:35pm

An earlier blog post from the same source.. mentions racers adopting wider tires lately. Answers my own question about type of tire racers used these days.

http://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/if-it-so-good-why-dont-the...

Permalink Reply by william on June 16, 2012 at 3:46pm

regarding the Heine/Berto psi 15% drop thing, here's a calculator for the mathematically-challenged (like myself): http://www.biketinker.com/tire-pressure-calculator/

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