Mark Threlfall: The tires that you fit your bike can serve several different purposes.
When choosing the right tire for you, well, it can be incredibly difficult because after all,
these tires can drastically impact our cycle. It could be the difference between winning or losing,
or crashing or not crashing. Today, I'm going to run through some of the key
considerations you should take into account when choosing your next set of bike tires.
[music] Now the tires that you put on your bike can be one
of the most cost-effective upgrades you make to your bike. They're relatively inexpensive when you
compare that to the cost of your bike and some of the other componentry that goes on your bike, yet,
it can have a drastic impact on our comfort whilst riding, the grip and our handling, the speed,
and also the amount of time that we might spend stood on the side of the road fixing punches.
All of these factors need to come into play when we're choosing our tires, but unfortunately, there
is no one size fits all or one magic tire that hits all of those. Normally, as you prioritize in
one area, you will have to compromise in another. For instance, a softer, grippier tire may actually
be more prone to puncture, but then the more puncture-resistant ties are harder and actually
probably will cost you more in terms of watts and be a slower tire. I'm not necessarily going to be
telling you which tire to buy today, but I'm going to provide you with as much information
as possible so you can make your own educated decision upon what you want to prioritize in.
[music] First things first,
we just want to find out what those priorities are for you, what you're looking for in a tire. Is it
speed, is it comfort, is it grip, is it puncture resistance, et cetera, et cetera? This may also
change as you go through the year. For instance, here in the UK at the moment, we're in the winter,
and my priorities have definitely changed. I'm looking for a tire that is more punch resistant
and has more grip, as where we've got wetter road, slippier roads. As we then head into the
warm months, into the summer, I'm then looking at racing and I want a faster tire, something with
less rolling resistance. [music]
Now before we even look into different tire treads and different rubber compounds,
let's actually look through the different tire options for you. There's three main options here.
We've got clincher, tubular, and tubeless. Now the most common choice is still today, probably
the clincher tire, and that is simply because of its ease of use and its versatility. Typically,
they have a wire or bead edge to them, that slots into very firmly and securely into the inside rim
of the wheel. Then with inside that tire, you then have an inner tube that should you get a puncture,
you can quite easily just whip the tire off, take that inner tube out, and put a new one in,
or fix that inner tube and put that back in. It really is quite handy, very easy to use, and
also actually shares a lot of performance benefits that you find in some of the other options,
which raises onto the tubular option, which is more commonly used for racing and more so
actually in the past, the last decade or so ago. That is because they are lighter and they have a
lower rolling resistance. Now they're essentially one single tube and they have their inner tubes
sewed into them. That means that then to put it onto your wheel, you actually have to either
tape it onto the rim or glue it onto the rim, which makes it a little bit tricky, and should you
get a puncture, well, again, it can be a little bit more problematic to get that one fixed.
Then we have the tubeless tire, which shares many of the same properties of the clincher tire. They
look very similar, except, they have a far tighter fitting to the inside rim profile of the wheel.
That means that then, as the name suggests, they are tubeless. There's no inner tube that's needed
to go inside these. Although, most of them can run that as well. Once you fitted this tubeless
tire to the wheel, you then squirt some tubeless sealant into the tire, and then that works to
plug any small holes or tears to the tire on the go. Hopefully, you don't need to stop,
it just plugs it as you go. You lose very minimal pressure as it's doing that. The only thing maybe
to be wary of with these is because its so much tighter on the inside rim of the wheel,
they can be quite tricky to fit. [music]
We're now moving on to tire size choice. Of course, we've got so many options here, but the
three main ones have to be 23C, 25C, and 28 C. The C refers to essentially millimeters, so
the width of the tire when it's installed, which is measured at the widest point.
Now the 23C tire used to be the most popular option, particularly
amongst racing, because it was thought to be the faster tire, it would cut through the wind,
but more recently, the 25C has taken over and is definitely the more popular tire.
Oddly, and this may sound strange, it has a shorter but wider contact area to the ground,
which actually results in a lower rolling resistance, so a faster tire
for less effort, whilst actually increasing the grip. It may result in a higher aerodynamic drag,
but that said, with its increased popularity, more wheels are actually being designed specifically
for use with 25C tires. Actually, we're seeing a better aerodynamic drag with those tires.
We also have the wider 28C tire. Again, we're going bigger again. It has a wider contact
area again, which actually can result in a low rolling resistance with some tires and increased
grip. We are seeing more of an aerodynamic penalty with these kind of tires, so we don't typically
see these on racing bikes or particularly on the front wheel, but we are seeing them
more and more on the rear wheels, as I've got on my bike here because it is less of a
penalty back here. As I've said, it increases grip and it's out of the airflow so much.
Before you go buying a new tire, it is worth checking the wheel manufacturer's suggestion
so the wheels that you have on your bike, because they may suggest a certain tire size for that size
of rim, the type of wheel that you're using. For instance, a wider tire on a narrow rim
may end up distorted, it may end up giving you more of an aerodynamic drag.
I know this is incredibly confusing but it's worth checking to make sure that you get it
just right. [music]
We are now onto grip and what determines the amount of grip that a tire has. Out on the road,
contrary to popular belief, the tread on a tire actually has very little impact on our
grip on the road. That's because the road is harder and tougher than the tires. The
tire can't really make an imprint on the road. It actually comes down mostly to the tire compound,
the rubber compound of that tire. The softer that compound, the more grip it has. However,
you probably guessed it, the softer the compound, the less puncture resistant it is. Therefore,
the harder the compound, the more punch resistant but the less grip.
It gets quite tricky, I know. However, if you are willing to spend a little bit more money,
there are some tires that go some way to actually try to achieve both to a degree. One of those,
and a very popular one, is the Continental Grand Prix 4 Season Tire. It's a tire that
I've used loads over the years. It's reinforced with high-tech fibers through the rubber, as well
as reinforced sidewalls, which means that very puncture resistant, as well as having good grip,
particularly good for the winter seasons. Another way of finding grip is actually by
running your tires at a lower pressure. This is obviously going to increase the rolling resistance
because it is increasing the contact patch with the ground so much more. I'll be honest,
I've been there during really bad weather or being out on a ride and seeing that the roads are really
quite greasy. I actually let a little bit more pressure out of my tires. The only issue there
is you let so much out that you end up running the risk of getting a pinch flat with the inner tube
in that tire, but that's actually one of the big benefits to tubeless tires because of
course there isn't an inner tube in there, so you can actually run them at a lower pressure
without having to worry about a pinch flat. Then as we move into summer and perhaps
racing starts up again, then potentially rolling resistance becomes higher on our priorities. Now,
rolling resistance is primarily dictated by the width of the tire, the treads of the tire,
and also the compounds of the tire. We've already covered that the wider tires generally have lower
rolling resistance than the narrower tires. Also, with the tread on the tire, typically,
the smoother the tire, the less rolling resistance than the heavily-treaded tires.
Then, it's interesting when we get to the compound because actually the tires with a softer compound
that are more flexible, actually have low rolling resistance than those that are actually
less flexible and the harder compound. Now there's so much to discuss here, but essentially,
the harder compounds almost like bounce along the road, any rivet or bump in the road. Whereas,
these softer, more flexible compounds, conform, deform with those rivets and bumps in the road,
which actually reduces the amount of energy lost also whilst increasing the grip because
they stay on the road that bit more. Hopefully, you're still with me there.
Essentially, what you're looking for is a tire that is smooth, maybe slightly wider around 25C,
but also a softer compound. That's where something like the Vittoria Corsa Speed
comes in. It's a perfect tire. It's a nice smooth finish to it, a soft compound,
and also if you want to get onto something like a 25 mil, that's perfect. There are also obviously
tires out there that claim to do all of it as well as possible, and the Continental Grand Prix 5000
is a good example of that. It's got low rolling resistance, it's got a low aerodynamic drag,
but also highly puncture resistant. [music]
Finally, a couple more points before we round out this video. I've obviously discussed the fact that
the tread patterns have very little impact on the amount of grip that we have on the road,
but actually, this increased tread can make a time or durable and more punch resistant because
there is more material on the tire. If you're looking for a long-lasting hard-wearing tire,
perhaps as a commuter, you're going on varying varying terrains, then that might be a good
option for you to have to look into that. Finally though, if you are using an on-wheel
turbo trainers, you're putting the back wheel, the back tire directly onto the roller of the turbo,
then do be wary, because actually, where you're in that fixed position and it heats
up, you can actually wear out the tire, this kind of bald patch throughout the tire all the way
around. Particularly, with these softer compound tires, you'll wear through them really quickly,
so you can end up with this flat patch that is obviously going to reduce grip out on the
road. It's going to feel really odd and also make it less puncture resistant.
You can actually get turbo-specific tires, which you can swap in and out. Obviously, that's a bit
of a hack. If you can, actually, get yourself a spare cheap wheel that you swap in and out that
has a turbo-ready tire already installed on it. There we go. There's a lot to cover there.
Obviously, do get involved on the comment section below. If you've got any questions, I'll do my
best to get back to you. I've got to say, the Grand Prix 5000 tire has been a Godsend for me.
I find it a good all rounder. Although, as I've mentioned, I do like that four-season tires,
pop that in over the winter and maybe slightly wider width. I hope you have enjoyed today's
video. If so, please do give it a like. Don't forget to give us a follow over on social media
and give us a subscribe just down below. [00:11:15] [END OF AUDIO]