Wider Tires Roll Faster

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

Here is a link !

http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/BQTireDrop.pdf 

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 14, 2012 at 1:53pm

Thanks Casey!

Casey Carnes said:

Here is a link !

http://www.bikequarterly.com/images/BQTireDrop.pdf 

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Permalink Reply by Duppie 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.

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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.

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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...

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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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