YMMV does seem to be very appropriate in relation to this thread as experiences do seem to be widely varying.
Personally I’m not a fan of slick tyres and won’t wittingly use bald tyres, on the other hand tyres with a solid centre profile sort of running along their circumference have worked well for me and I don’t find that I have any need for knobbly or dedicated off road tyres. 700c x 35 Schwalbe Land Cruisers have safely taken me pretty much anywhere off and on road that I want to go and when they were available I similarly used 27 x 1&1/4 Mitchelin World Tours for many years. As an aside of the two I prefer the slightly bigger (wider and deeper) Schwalbes because (for me) the Mitchelins seem to just get me by on some off-road surfaces whilst the Schwalbes roll happily enough across the same surfaces; I haven’t found the two to be noticeably different in on-road rolling resistance.
Whatever, we all know our own experiences, both what has kept us safe and what hasn’t worked quite as well for us too. YMMV.
Why do we use identical (paired) tyres?
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Carlton green
- Posts: 3715
- Joined: 22 Jun 2019, 12:27pm
Re: Why do we use identical (paired) tyres?
Don’t fret, it’s OK to: ride a simple old bike; ride slowly, walk, rest and admire the view; ride off-road; ride in your raincoat; ride by yourself; ride in the dark; and ride one hundred yards or one hundred miles. Your bike and your choices to suit you.
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GideonReade
- Posts: 410
- Joined: 4 Jul 2010, 10:46pm
Re: Why do we use identical (paired) tyres?
Cheers folks, it seems to be quite a diversity of approaches there. Not sure how it will influence my next tyre change.
I think someone above tried, nobly, to pull some digression back to the original subject text. But maybe this sort of rather general question is a natural rambler...
I think someone above tried, nobly, to pull some digression back to the original subject text. But maybe this sort of rather general question is a natural rambler...
Re: Why do we use identical (paired) tyres?
I was reticent to use slick tyres back in the day but was persuaded to try them when told that the primary function of tread is to dissipate water and the gaps in imperfections in road dressing are far greater than the depth of a bicycle tread so do that job better than a tyre ever could.
The older I get the more I’m inclined to act my shoe size, not my age.
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GideonReade
- Posts: 410
- Joined: 4 Jul 2010, 10:46pm
Re: Why do we use identical (paired) tyres?
And, in relation to the OP, I think the tread/no tread aspect was in relation to having either slicks at only one end, or different treads.
I do recall, we have a couple of Dahon Matrix 26" folders, normally on 35mm or so slicks for town use, also good on Canarian dirt tracks, we took them to the New Forest in a not especially wet autumn. Kept getting stuck, if a gravel track had a slightly muddy bit, no grip for propulsion at all. We hastily bought some Land Cruisers and the equivalent Contis, then were fine. But if that poor drive grip were replicated by anything important done by the fron wheel... disaster. So I can't ever see much role for rear treaded and front slick. Vice versa might be a handful too, or just lose drive and stop.
I do recall, we have a couple of Dahon Matrix 26" folders, normally on 35mm or so slicks for town use, also good on Canarian dirt tracks, we took them to the New Forest in a not especially wet autumn. Kept getting stuck, if a gravel track had a slightly muddy bit, no grip for propulsion at all. We hastily bought some Land Cruisers and the equivalent Contis, then were fine. But if that poor drive grip were replicated by anything important done by the fron wheel... disaster. So I can't ever see much role for rear treaded and front slick. Vice versa might be a handful too, or just lose drive and stop.