Wet Road with slick tyres

Conti 4seasons are the grippiest tyres I've had. Also (by far) the fastest wearing. Schwalbe Duranos are my current favoured tyre for winter riding - reasonable grip and puncture protection.

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sm [369 posts] 4 days ago
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Bicycle quarterly recently published some interesting research re: slicks in wet. In short, slicks are no good in the wet. Here's the research(link is external).

- See more at: http://road.cc/content/forum/176604-wet-road-slick-tyres#sthash.ILbwHXwR..."

thanks will look at

my list of things to avoid/take care with:

slick concrete as found in some underpasses / car park entrances

white lines / yellow lines 

as above metal covers and large metal plates covering holes

tram tracks if you have them are very special in the rain

grit washing in from side roads

grit at junctions outside the area used by vehicles

pollen/blossom from trees 

hidden pot holes in deep puddles

bricks/rocks in deep water on cycle paths

Completely slick bicycle tyres offer the best grip only on the completely slick surfaces which don't happen in the real world outside the laboratory or a velodrome.

A diamond/file pattern tread which you can see on some tougher winter/roubaix kind of tyres actually improves grip on the roads due to the fact that it interlocks with the imperfections of the surface. Even seemingly the smoothest tarmac or concrete is really rough when looking up close.

Bicycle quarterly recently published some interesting research re: slicks in wet. In short, slicks are no good in the wet. Here's the research.

I'm a GP4000s rider too. Love them. Best slicks in the market. Would prefer some tread in the wet though.

I fully agree with what my cycling colleagues are saying, to summarise for you!!

- The "tread" on road tyres are for show only, actually admitted by Continental who say you can't aquaplane on narrow tyres, and the marketing department make them put tread on!!

- Get your tyre pressure right, there are calculators on line, I use 25mm conti 4 season in winter, I weigh 72kg so have about 85 on the front and 90ish on the back.

- If you are lucky enough to have a winter & summer bike, 25mm gp2000 mk2 are gorgeous for general riding around, I believe some people would go for a lighter tyre if they race, but  all the excess weight on my bike is in my fat arse so I don't bother.

- keep an eye on tyre wear, the conti' shave wear indicators, and I believe the 4 seasons will wear more quickly, as they are softer to have more grip in the wet AND cold.

Enjoy it, and I hope the weather improves soon so you can ask about best summer tyres

Love the GP 4000s for everyday riding - they are good in the wet too but there are softer tyres out there with even more grip. e.g. Conti's GP4 seasons are fabulous if you can afford them given their wear rate is a bit higher.

As everyone else says - avoid tread on a tyre for the road. You are actually degrading the grip (by having less tyre in contact with the road) if there is a tread on the tyre

I've been using a set of GP 4000S II for the past two winters and they've been great in the wet. I've never had an off, but I do take care when cornering if it's wet.  As with any slick tyre, they are useless if you hit a loose surface. Watch out for piles of grit and salt at the side of the road, or built up near junctions off the line that the cars take.

I've only had one flat with them, and that was after running over a large patch of glass broken glass from a car accident. Having said that, I rarely flat anyway (about once per year), YMMV.

As other have said, unless you're a big guy, don't pump them up to anything like 110-120psi, you'll ruin the ride and reduce grip for no real gain.

There's still loads of tread left on mine after around 1,000km. I didn't realise, but the two small pits on the surface of the tyre are actually wear indicators, when they can't be seen, you need to replace the tyre.

http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/twi.shtml

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Another vote for Conti GP4000 in 25mm as a great winter tyre. The ride isn't as good as some softer tyres but they are very hard to beat for wet grip and puncture protection.

As has been said tread patterns don't do much on a road tyre but rubber compound makes a massive difference (some cheap tyres are truly awful in the wet). Buy a Conti with the Black Chilli compound and try to avoid metal and paint in the rain.

Not sure what you weigh but at 70kg I'd put about 80psi in the front and 90 in the rear for a 25mm tyre.

Theoretically tread should help when riding on mud / slime / leaf covered roads at this time of year - e.g. the stuff you get under low hanging trees. The only time my front tyre has properly given way under light braking was in such conditions. That was a slick tyre & slick mud combination.

But you'd need a lot of tread for it to have much of an effect. 

Water clearing apparently isn't relevant because acquaplning is practically impossible at cycling speeds. 

Wider tyres and lower pressures increase contact area and therefore grip and stability. 

I hope you mean 25mm tyres rather than 25cm

On the recommendation of the bike shop that built my first bike I've been riding 25mm GP 4 Seasons for over 8 years.  They are now a bit on the expensive side, but for a light folding tyre they offer excellent puncture protection, and more importantly very good grip in the cold and wet.  They do wear relatively quickly though, but that's the trade-off for good grip.  Remember that nothing grips on ice or diesel though, and wet steelwork and painted lines etc can also be pretty unpredictable.  The GP4S are now on my wet weather / winter bike.

I've gone for the cheaper Michelin Pro4 SC on the dry / summer bike, still in 25mm.  They are pretty grippy in the dry and seem to be wearing well.

I've not had a problem with the lack of grip when cornering, the only time I've ever had a wheel slip on me was on a metal drain cover on a roundabout, luckily I was going slow so I managed to recover it.

Unless you are a really big unit, there's no reason to run really high pressures in your tires, I never go above 90PSI in mine (weighing 65kg) and that's with 23mm tyres.

I've got Conti GP4000II tyres on both my bikes, they have lasted well (4000km+ without showing any appreciable wear), I've not had a single puncture and I've used them in all conditions including snow on one occasion.  Of course I will have jinxed myself now.

I run conti GP4000 which i find very good, i drop the presure to around 85psi front 90psi rear and i have had the joys of cycling in torrential rain and flooded lanes never had a problem, but just bear in mind the conditions do mean rarely a PB

Continental Four Seasons - great grip the wet

The GP4000iiS do not have any tread. They have nice fancy indentations. They're really useful for figuring out when the tyres are worn out. 

Bear in mind the competitors to the Conti's. The Schwalbe One and Michelin Pro 4. Bare as a very bare thing. No tread, just as good in the wet. 

Anecdotal evidence is great. If your tyre slipped out from under you at very low speeds, think about whether those grooves that you didn't have would have sufficiently siped the road so as to increase your grip. 

Use a bigger tyre, run the pressure a bit lower, take more care. All of those are far more helpful than tread.

Tony

Speaking from my personal experience only. On my first Carbon bike it came factory fitted with 23cc tyres with no tread pattern (mavic aksium) first wet ride cornering came off! Following this I changed to Continental Grand Prix 4000S II Folding Road Tyre 25cc never came off and been out in similar conditions and same route.

I recently bought a new bike again fitted as standard with 23cc tyres slick i.e no tread and I thought to save money I would run these tyres out before considering changing! Cycling in pretty wet and pretty cold conditions cornering at slow speed felt the tyre go and fell. Luckily it was at fairly slow speed so no damage or issues. So once again swapped to 25cc GP 4000s II. On my most recent ride again wet / cold using the 25cc GP 4000s II feels much safer and not twitchy at all and no issues. My recommendations would be this but this is solely my experience and what works for me. I notice a vast difference with 25cc tyres with a slight tread pattern. The bike feels safe and I dont get that confidence running 23cc slicks!

I found vredestien senso extreme tyres very good in the wet. £25 on wiggle I think.

Generally it is OK when properly wet. The first bit of rain after a dry spell can be very greasy though. Also watch out for metal covers, for some reason the highways authorities accept these being placed in the wheel path at roundabouts.

Bontrager Hard Case Lites are £25 each. Although maybe not 'really' good, they are definitely a very good tyre at that price.

I've punctured less with them than on GP 4000 SII.

Counterintuitive though it may be, tread plays very little part in a road tyre's grip.  Narrow bike tyres are never going to aquaplane and so tread, which is necessary on car tyres to avoid such things, is not required.

It's the compound that decides whether or not your tyre will hold the road; the softer the better.  But softer wears quicker so most rubber is a compromise between not letting go and not wearing out.

A lot of tyres have dual compound construction.  The centre strip is harder to minimise wear when you are upright and the shoulders are softer to provide grip when you are not.

Are there any really good tyres on sale for less than £30 each?  Read some reviews, here and in other magazines, and make up your mind. 

Having commuted on 23mms for years and only gone down once due to losing grip my advice would be to bank as little as possible, meaning you have to slow right down to take a corner.

Got a pair of mavic aksion tyres on my best bike which have poor grip in the wet. Always got on well with schwalbe duranos. Letting a bit of pressure out can't hurt.