Wet weather tyres

[HarryB]

The tyres on my Cytronex are completely treadless and I wonder if this makes them unsuitable for for wet weather use. I am asking because I had a very near tumble on wet leaves the other day. The bike went from under me but I was going slow enough to put a foot down and so stop myself going over. It really does feel skittish in the wet especially under braking while the Torq and Agattu felt rock solid whatever the weather.

I wonder if I should admit defeat and get some Marathon + and accept they are going to be a bit slower but safer. I know the theory is that tread has very little effect in clearing water but on the road it doesn't feel like that.

 

[flecc]

I think a tread is safer for more reasons Hal. Theory is that the greater area of rubber on a slick enhances the grip, but what's often ignored is that it also reduces the pressure at any point, hence the skittishness.

In addition to better water clearance, tread blocks by contrast have greater point pressure and that together with the sharp edges enables a degree of "bite through" when traversing slippery areas, leaves etc. The extreme degree of this is of course the steel spiked snow and ice tyres of Scandinavia where the rubber gives but the steel spikes don't and form extreme pressure points.
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[Lloyd_50cycles]

Fully slick tyres give awesome grip in the dry, but as soon as it gets wet with no channels for the water to run through they simply aqua-plane. Giving the bike skittish handling. By the sounds of it you just need to run a tyre with rain grooves, this allows the water somewhere to go when the tyre makes contact with the ground, but still giving you plenty of grip. Be warned though, I think the problem you had was more to do with the wet leaves. I was racing downhill on a street course recently and ran slicks with rain grooves. I had plenty of grip in the torrential rain as long as i stayed on the concrete, as soon as I touched leaves or grass it was all over the place. A slick with rain grooves won't make the slightest bit of difference to your overall speed either, provided it is the same dimensions as the one on it now. Try looking at continental contacts, they are fitted to our Pro Connects and work really well in the wet.

 

[john]

Sheldon Brown says "Bicycle tires for on-road use have no need of any sort of tread features; in fact, the best road tires are perfectly smooth, with no tread at all!"

He also says that it is impossible for a bicycle to aquaplane.

All About Bicycle Tires and Tubes

 

[flecc]

It's also true that a faint degree of moisture improves tyre adhesion, and for this reason vehicle braking distance tests are often carried out on faintly damp tarmac surfaces.

The reason is that neither the tyre nor tarmac surfaces are perfect and the slight degree of moisture fills in the imperfections and improves the overall area of contact, leading to a very slight improvement in grip.

Leaves though, and in particular the slime that oozes from them, are a very different problem and only a tread can help in cutting through the slime and debris. That said, riding slowly upright across them is the only safe practice.
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[Barnowl]

I'm sticking with the 700 X 32c slicks for the time being. I haven't experienced any noticable slips yet but I have avoided leaves like potholes - as best I can and none too fast! No way am I going out in the snow though .

 

[Cyclezee]

I personally reduce the tyre pressures to just above the minimum in very wet and slippery conditions in the belief that a larger area of contact increases adhesion. The down side is it increases rolling resistance.

I have ridden through literally tons of leaves this morning on a cycle path lined with trees, the only safe way is keeping the bike as upright as possible and ride as if you are on ice.

J hn

 

[Barnowl]

I personally reduce the tyre pressures to just above the minimum in very wet and slippery conditions in the belief that a larger area of contact increases adhesion. The down side is it increases rolling resistance.

J hn

I reduced mine because it hurt my bum. I had them pumped up to 100 PSI. Nice and lively but I felt every bump. They're about 80 at the moment which is much more comfortable. Maybe that's why they've not been slipping. The max on the tyres is 110 PSI but the minimum is not stated. A bit of extra rolling resistance doesnt bother me.

 

[frank9755]

Hal,

Interesting that you should raise this; I've been thinking exactly the same thing over the last few days. In fact I was about to push the 'buy now' button on a new set of Marathon Pluses last night! I've got Continental Contacts on my commuting bike and they have been great over the summer. I've done over 3,500 miles on them now with only one very slow puncture. I put the fact that they roll very well down, in part, to the fact that the central band of the tyre - the bit that is in contact iwth the road most of the time - is completely smooth.

However I've found them a bit slippery over the last couple of weeks. A couple of slight skids and near-falls have made me lose confidence in them, and I've started taking corners very wide and slow, and looking for new tyres! My theory was that although the central band is very smooth, they've got a block-type of tread on the sides, that you use for cornering, and I was worried that that was not giving me enough grip.

However, hearing that you are finding the same thing makes me suspect it is not the fault of tyres, just that it has been a bit wetter than usual over the last couple of weeks, and that I need to make sure I fully adjust for the conditions. Although I've ridden a bike a fair bit over the years, and have ridden in rain often enough, I've been cycling a lot more in the last year and as a result am going at significantly higher speeds than I have done before. While I have a lot of experience of handling a bike on wet roads at 12-15mph, I don't actually have very much experience of wet roads at 20mph or above. On that basis I think I'll hold my Marathon Plus order and just make sure I take more care in the wet!

Frank

 

[Danny-K]

..Try looking at continental contacts, they are fitted to our Pro Connects and work really well in the wet.

I'm waiting for the semi-slick Continental Sport Contacts, (26 x 1.6), to come in, as every online shop I've tried appears out of stock of them, (what does that tell us about user preference?) Other semi-slicks I considered are available but the owner reviews for the Sport Contacts are, in that transatlantic overused word, 'awesome', and reported as very fast and no more puncture prone than any other type of tyre, (no tyre is 100% immune from punctures, whatever it's protection), and according to some owners, able to withstand some unfavourable road conditions.

However, it doesn't matter what tyres you're riding if there are leaves and rain between your tyre and the road - because then, kinetic energy comes into force and NO tyre in the world will save you, (once you start losing grip in those conditions).

- So, when those conditions are present it's best to go back to basics and simply ease up and refrain from sudden inputs of directional changes of travel.