#111
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Two tires
In article ,
"OughtFour" wrote: "Michael Press" wrote in message ... No need to standardize. Less pattern in the tread is better. When you say 27" you refer to ISO 630 mm? http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/index.html Um. Yes.Wow. What a thread. I don't think I can use any of those fancy tires, though. Of the few 27" tires on the market, I've kind of narrowed things down to the VT and the Pana. Thus the question. Very interesting conversation though, thanks. Serfas also. I run them. They have thin, flexible side walls and smooth tread. http://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=20348 -- Michael Press |
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#113
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Two tires
wrote:
Carl Fogel wrote: Not a reply, just a place to hang this. Here's a six-column sampler of some clincher pavement/city tread patterns from some sites mentioned in this thread: http://i35.tinypic.com/33582mp.jpg *** The left-hand two columns show impressive grooving. Deeply grooved patterns often seem to take longer to repeat than any likely contact patch, suggesting that they are frankly ornamental and intended to catch the eye, an important consideration when selling something that might otherwise be described as round and black. *** The third column (red sidewalls) shows such patterns combined with checkering. The top gray and black example has center checkering, with faint side grooving. The lower red-sidewall example shows a bare center with faint side grooving superimposed on side checkering. The manufacturers apparently disagree about whether the checkering should be in the center or on the sidewalls. This suggests that at least one of them is clueless. *** The fourth column shows blue, yellow, green, and black examples of center checkering with tiny diagonal grooving on the sides. This pattern is probably the most common kind of "tread" on pavement tires. The center checkering wears off quickly on rear tires, being scarcely skin deep. Why the center checkering changes to tiny diagonal side grooves is a mystery. It's also not clear which way the tiny diagonal side grooves are supposed to point. The colors are pretty, but not likely to be anything except marketing. There's a good chance that this tiny checkering and grooving is just the natural reduction of much larger and earlier tire patterns. *** The top of the fifth column shows side checkering with a bare center. Apparently that manufacturer disagreed with the traditional center checkering and tiny diagonal side grooves. Again, the disagreement suggests that at least one of the manufacturers is clueless. The bottom of the fifth column shows what might be called paint brush markings. They're straight and not as regular as the popular tiny diagonal side grooves, which raises doubts--either diagonal or straight should be better, so at least one pattern is wrong. The only obvious advantage of the paint-brush-mark pattern is that there's no question of which way to mount them. *** The sixth column shows three examples of apparently bare, smooth tread, with up to five dull stripes. Such tires usually claim to have a softer, stickier, faster-wearing sidewall and a harder center stripe. That actually makes sense. Tires with checkering show that the center wears smooth long before the sidewalls show any wear. *** Checkering, incidentally, was originally for the hard metal or wooden handles of edged weapons and firearms. The smooth rubber surface of a tire can be expected to conform to surface irregularities as small as checkering, just as the soft flesh of a hand is expected to conform to the grooving and checkering on this 90-year-old pistol: http://i35.tinypic.com/1zpjdk2.jpg The checkering on the wooden side plates is duplicated in miniature on the spur of the hammer. The vertical grooving on the slide helps yank the slide back with the thumb and forefinger to chamber a round. Again, the point is that a soft, smooth surface material (flesh or rubber) is usually expected to conform to a harder non-smooth surface, whether the harder surface is irregular or regular (wood, metal, or pavement). If the pavement tire manufacturers have some theory or testing behind their miniature "patterns" and traction, they disagree wildly about what patterns work best--deep grooves in ornate patterns, checkering, tiny grooves, side, center, or paint-brush-marks. The variety of patterns is, however, consistent with marketing efforts to differentiate one rubber tire from another. Marketing is essential (and the cost of adding patterns is trivial) when bicycle tires sell for ~$50 and thirty or more of them can be made from the material used in a single $50 car tire. The same pattern can be seen in bicycle helmets, which are basically straps attached to foam shells filled with increasing numbers of holes, covered with a brightly colored hard plastic skin. If the price tags and logos are removed, the sales clerk has a hell of a hard time explaining the difference between the $15 and the $150 helmet. Carl, thanks for assembling and reviewing these tires with appropriate comments. translation: "carl, thanks for writing something that agrees with me, because tire manufacturers, for reasons i can't be bothered to understand, don't." http://www.schwalbetires.com/tech_info/tire_tread Meanwhile true believers still argue here in favor of these inventions with claims of technical superiority. I find the need for this assessment a sad commentary on wreck.bike where readers do not want to believe that the bicycle business has slipped from function into fashion, among other things, carbon fiber everything and colored tires with artistic patterns. total and complete red herring. Meanwhile, functional equipment is hard to find while professional racers model these products for the faithful. As I said, this year's InterBike had less technical content and greatly expanded fashion features than last year. I found no hub, rim or tire shown there that I would like to buy. The market has gotten to the point that I buy a stash of any good equipment I can find when it shows its face. For much of this, the last resort is eBay where unfashionable hardware is being sold off. you poor old man. |
#114
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Two tires
Carl Sundquist wrote:
[...] Under normal operating pressures - up to 90 psi for 35-622 (happy, Tom?) tires,[...] The use of non-ISO designations in tire, tube and rim labeling should be banned. -- Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007 If you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the precipitate. |
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