Best tyres for commuting?

[yugyug]

Jeez... Aero effect of tread... That's really pushing it!!

[ItsDank]

Jeez... Aero effect of tread... That's really pushing it!!

Not quite, there's a reason that golf balls for example have bumps, it's to reduce the turbulence and drag created from smooth surfaces. The same applies to some of the bumps you see on Zipp rims and of course, this applies to tires as well.

[yugyug]

Fair point about golf balls, but that concerns the entire cladding of an object, not a relatively small part of a bicycles surface which had another primary function. I suggest that designing tread for traction (or not designing it as the case may be) trumps any possible reason for designing for aero effect - especially for racing bikes.

[__PG__]

Jeez... Aero effect of tread... That's really pushing it!!

Not quite, there's a reason that golf balls for example have bumps, it's to reduce the turbulence and drag created from smooth surfaces. The same applies to some of the bumps you see on Zipp rims and of course, this applies to tires as well.

Golf balls are dimpled to cause the boundary layer to become turbulent. A turbulent boundary layer has more momentun and thus is less susceptible to separate in an adverse pressure gradient.

Smooth surfaces by themselves create less skin friction drag than a rough/dimpled surface. A laminar boundary layer causes less drag than a turbulent one.
However, a laminar one is more likely to separate when moving into an adverse pressure gradient thus it will create a larger wake, and hence more pressure drag.

The dimples on Zipp rims are probably cosmetic. The dimples on the front of some of the TT helmets I see definitely are.

[RonK]

Golly - where can I get some dimpled tyres for my commuter.

[ItsDank]

Jeez... Aero effect of tread... That's really pushing it!!

Not quite, there's a reason that golf balls for example have bumps, it's to reduce the turbulence and drag created from smooth surfaces. The same applies to some of the bumps you see on Zipp rims and of course, this applies to tires as well.

Golf balls are dimpled to cause the boundary layer to become turbulent. A turbulent boundary layer has more momentun and thus is less susceptible to separate in an adverse pressure gradient.

Smooth surfaces by themselves create less skin friction drag than a rough/dimpled surface. A laminar boundary layer causes less drag than a turbulent one.
However, a laminar one is more likely to separate when moving into an adverse pressure gradient thus it will create a larger wake, and hence more pressure drag.

The dimples on Zipp rims are probably cosmetic. The dimples on the front of some of the TT helmets I see definitely are.

Funny enough, Zipps own marketing materials go on at length about their windtunnel figures and the primary example,a golf ball creating a turbulent layer whilst rotating.
http://www.zipp.com/_media/pdfs/technol ... _edges.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In any case, the graphs on the page previous show reductions in drag but the tire design wasn't based on providing these results (but it does anyhow).

I've done many km's in the rain with the Grip 4 SC's and they give you plenty of confidence in the wet. With my Vittoria Evo CX's I would skid upon wet braking and powering out of the saddle was out far too risky but this hasn't been the case with the Michelin's. With the Grip SC's I can get out of the saddle and power at high cadence without slipping in the wet, it's great If there's a lighter option that provides more grip than I'm all for trying it out. As a commuter tire, it's impressed so far.

[__PG__]

It's funny reading that article. The author/journo contradicts himself a few times and doesn't seem to know his arse from his elbow, but the Zipp engineer seems to know what he's talking about.

I'll read it again, but it seems that the ZIpp 'dimples' are not being used in the sense that golf balls are dimpled. Otherwise, you wouldn't use them on disc wheel. They seem to be able to lower skin friction drag by using dimples.

[warthog1]

Yeah its prob a poofteenth of nothing though.
Zipp have dimples on their 404 and the similar depth swissside hadron has apparently less drag without using them.

[ItsDank]

A review I've done on the Michelin Pro 4 SC Grip

[warthog1]

Rear 25c randonneur after just 1788.5km

Wont be using them again. Rolls ok, similar to marathon green guard and better than the marathon plus, but not cheap and doesn't last. Has had good puncture resistance though. I'm going to try a 25c durano plus on the rear next. The front one has seen out 3 rear tyres now.

[jasonc]

Rear 25c randonneur after just 1788.5km

I have the spreadsheet number of the tyre mileage that I can show if you like. here's a glimpse:
first randonneur - 2635kms
first marathon plus ~8200kms.
is there any point in discussing it?

Was the tread worn out after 2635 kms ? If so were you locking the rear wheel regularly?
I get more out of a GP4000S.

I get more out of a GP4000s also. No locking. They are just crap.

that post was from 12 months ago.

[warthog1]

Oh well, I'm an experiential learner
I got somewhere around 4k from my smp, I didn't record all my rides so guessing a bit and it did die prematurely from a sidewall cut. They ride like a lump of leather IMO.
Far more duarble than a randonneur, tread wear wise however.

[tez001]

I got some 25mm radonneurs which I'll be putting onto the commuter next. Hope I get more than 1800kms out of them though. The current Rubinos have done 2300km and are nearing on replacement, and I thought that was bad.

[rangersac]

I got some 25mm radonneurs which I'll be putting onto the commuter next. Hope I get more than 1800kms out of them though. The current Rubinos have done 2300km and are nearing on replacement, and I thought that was bad.

You won't on the rear, I've tried and they died pretty quickly. A nicer ride than SMPs and grippier in the wet was my impression, so I left one on the front, but am back to running an SMP on the rear.

[warthog1]

Moneys tight at the moment so I went cheap.
https://www.torpedo7.com.au/products/01 ... -700-x-25c
I don't expect it to be the best commuter tire but it went with some chainrings I bought for the roadie and stayed under $100-
I'll see how it goes wear wise anyway.

Edit;
They don't review well
http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/wheel ... 89crx.aspx

http://bikesmarts.com/the-20-road-tire- ... a-zaffiro/

[familyguy]

Moneys tight at the moment so I went cheap.
https://www.torpedo7.com.au/products/01 ... -700-x-25c
I don't expect it to be the best commuter tire but it went with some chainrings I bought for the roadie and stayed under $100-
I'll see how it goes wear wise anyway.

Edit;
They don't review well
http://www.roadbikereview.com/cat/wheel ... 89crx.aspx

http://bikesmarts.com/the-20-road-tire- ... a-zaffiro/

Have used the Zaffiro they put it up against in the last review with good success. Only throwing tyres out when they squared off on the rear tread, not because of cuts. Lugano should be OK for $20.

Jim

[PatNZ]

Rear 25c randonneur after just 1788.5km

Im really surprised the Randonneurs wore out that fast. I was thinking of them when I got my previous gator skins. I thought they would last longer since they are the heavier more touring style tyre. At least I know to avoid it now.

I got around 6000kms out of my rear gatorskin. Its hard to tell exactly since last year I wasn't keeping and exact log of my Kms like I am this year.

I'm testing MP4 Endurance tyres now, with logged milage. So it should be interesting.

[warthog1]

I ride on course chipseal during much of my commute and it has as much climbing as I can throw into the route. I think its the out of saddle climbing on the coarse surface that hammers them. The schwalbe marathon and marathon plus lasted longer though.

[fatherofmany]

My experience so far on Maxxis Re-Fuse 700C 25mm.

Pleased to say that after 8 months and over 3500km commuting, including one of the worst debris ridden roads on the Central Coast (Manns Rd for anyone that knows it) I wore the rear down to the kevlar and replaced it. Considering I ride past a car wreckers and multiple garden supplies and metal recyclers, no incidents at all with them and very chuffed. The tyre was chopped to bits but no glass got past the kevlar.

However.. 2 weeks after I swapped it out I made it to within 200m of work and suffered a flat on the new rear tyre. the cause.. the tiniest, thinnest piece of wire, about 1cm long got through the weave where all the glass couldn't.

They are on my other ride too - the weekender - and no flats there either. I think they have a nicer road feel than the Specialized Roubaix or the Armadillos.

Because they are a flat packed tyre, the fitting of them when new can be a bit tricky as they don't want to readily conform to their new round shape. I think they are worth the effort though, as I found out later that once they've been on for a while, they are easy enough to replace tubes in if you ever find the need.

FoM

[singlespeedscott]

Few tyres will stop the old radial tyre wire.

[Thoglette]

My experience so far on Maxxis Re-Fuse 700C 25mm.

Pretty similar to mine - one puncture in the time it took to get to the kevlar, (very fine piece of glass) similar industrial estate routes. Grip is average but ok. Mine were wired so no issues with roundness

[poohkies]

rating my gatorskins probably best tyres ive had

[kb]

Few tyres will stop the old radial tyre wire.

And it's a bugger to get out of the puncture resistant belt. A couple of those had me buying a mini Gerber folding pliers for my saddle bag.

[warthog1]

2036 km from the randonneur and the red line was almost continuous around the tread. Ditched it and on with the schwalbe lugano.
Famous last words but I am done with leather tyres. The bike feels so much more lively without a thick heavy rear tyre on. The heavier/thicker the tyre, the more it sucks the life out of the ride. I think I'm with SSScott here,

life is too short to ride heavy tyres

I reckon a durano plus is as thick as I'll go in future.

[singlespeedscott]

Hear, hear