Bicycling can’t save us from our energy crisis. At this point, nothing can. But it does point us toward a way to get through it with grace and possibly even build ourselves lives, communities, and a transportation system that we can truly afford.
- Elly Blue
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/index.htm - Ken Kifer, the Man, the Legend!
http://www.adventurecycling.org/ - Great routes
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help - Learn how to be LBS independent.
http://travellingtwo.com/ - Subscribe and get a free 66-page "Bike Touring Basics" .pdf
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/ - A journal for every tourist, ever.
Why do road tires have tread?
Touring tires often have heavy grooved treads. There’s little logic because, as the American mechanic Sheldon Brown argued (www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html), bike tires can’t aquaplane - not until close to 200kmh, anyway - and the tread is already softer than the road. The grip is provided by rubber pushing itself into the road. For the same reason, you may slip in shoes but never on bare feet. To cut a tread in a tire lessens its contact with the road and therefore its grip. It does the opposite of what you’d expect.
Why, then, is there a tread? Because, as Brown pointed out, it is impossible to persuade novices and those in a car culture (cars need treads because their tires are wider and flatter and turn faster) that bikes don’t need them. So makers cut a tread knowing that if it does nothing to improve road riding, the rubber they remove makes a thicker tread lighter.
Lightweight Alternatives to Chainwhips and Lockrings
Ken Kifer on Cycle Touring
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/index.htm - Ken Kifer, the Man, the Legend!
http://www.adventurecycling.org/ - Great routes
http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help - Learn how to be LBS independent.
http://travellingtwo.com/ - Subscribe and get a free 66-page "Bike Touring Basics" .pdf
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/ - A journal for every tourist, ever.
Why do road tires have tread?
Touring tires often have heavy grooved treads. There’s little logic because, as the American mechanic Sheldon Brown argued (www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html), bike tires can’t aquaplane - not until close to 200kmh, anyway - and the tread is already softer than the road. The grip is provided by rubber pushing itself into the road. For the same reason, you may slip in shoes but never on bare feet. To cut a tread in a tire lessens its contact with the road and therefore its grip. It does the opposite of what you’d expect.
Why, then, is there a tread? Because, as Brown pointed out, it is impossible to persuade novices and those in a car culture (cars need treads because their tires are wider and flatter and turn faster) that bikes don’t need them. So makers cut a tread knowing that if it does nothing to improve road riding, the rubber they remove makes a thicker tread lighter.
Lightweight Alternatives to Chainwhips and Lockrings
Ken Kifer on Cycle Touring
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