Road Bicycle Tires

Road Bicycle Tires

This is a preview chapter from my third eBook, Buying a Road Bike.

Beyond your cycling skills and attention to various hazards on the road, your tires are an important part of your safety. Your tires resist punctures and blowouts, provide a part of your ride comfort and grip the road especially in turns. For some cyclists, tires are an afterthought, something bought on sale. Other cyclists study the tire thread counts and whether the tire has a single compound or double compound, or whether the tire color matches their bicycle.
Road bicycle tires come in three general groups, the clincher, tubular and tubeless. . Clincher wheel rims have flanges on both sides of the wheel rim that hold the beads of the tire in place, with a separate enclosed inner tube between the tire and rim. Tubular tires are tires that completely enclose the inner tube, which sewn up inside the tire. Both are glued onto the wheel rim. Tubeless tires mount directly to the rim without an inner tube, much like car tires. Tubeless tires use tire sealant to keep the air in the tire.
All three types of tires have the same basic construction. They have two main elements; a nylon fabric coated with rubber. The fabric is where the thread count, or threads per inch (“TPI”) comes from. The fabric is layered within the rubber and gives the basic shape of the tire. The higher the TPI, the more flexible the tire is. The rubber coating provides the traction and protects the fabric. Manufacturers add different chemicals and compounds to the rubber to increase durability and traction, such as the Continental Grand Prix Black Chili tire. Dual compound tires have a hard rubber center strip for durability and softer strips along each side of the tire to help the traction of the tire in turns.
The vast majority of cyclists use clincher tires. In addition to the fabric and the rubber, clinchers have beads or hoops of kevlar cords or steel cables that run along the edge of the tire. The beads fit into the flanges of the clincher wheels to set the tire in place. The beads are also the parts of the tire that cyclists wrestle with when trying to change a flat with tire levers. Clincher tires typically weigh more that tubular and tubeless tires. Clincher tires are vulnerable to pinch flats, where an underinflated tire hits a sharp edge, and the inner tube is pinched against the wheel rim. There are plenty of clincher tire choices at every bike shop and discount store. Some clinchers have a kevlar belt included with the tire fabric providing a level of puncture resistance. And there are colored tire available to allow the cyclist to match their bicycles if they wish.
Pro cyclists ride on tubular tires or ‘tubs’ in the United Kingdom. They are still the regular tires of the pro cycling tour and were the standard tire for all cyclists years ago. Because tubular tires have no beads, tubular tires are lighter than clincher tires. The tubular rim has no corresponding flange, so the wheel rim is lighter also. The tubular tire has an inner tube sewn inside the tire, and both are glued to the rim. One way to change a tubular flat is to replace the entire wheel, which is quickly done within the pro cycling tour with the team support car and mechanics. For the ordinary cyclist, this could mean either using a spare complete tubular tire placed on the rim replacing the flat or walking home. I met one cyclist with a tubular tire flat who did have to walk home. Pulling the flat tubular and replacing it with another tubular tire means that you have to go slow on the corners.  The glue takes hours to set fully, and the tire could easily roll off of the rim in a corner before the glue sets. However, tubular tires are not vulnerable to one frequent cause of clincher tire flats, the pinch flat. Without an inner tube, the pinch flat is not possible.
Tubeless tires also eliminate the pinch flats since tubeless tires have no inner tubes and the sealant helps with small punctures. Therefore, tubeless tires will help cyclists who experience lots of punctures, either due to the adverse local road conditions or plant life ( like the tribulus terrestris, or Goat Head, which produces spiked hard seeds that easily puncture bicycle tires). If the tubeless tire suffers a puncture, the cyclist can insert an inner tube, pump it up and head home and patch the tubeless tire there.
The major tire manufacturers, with their top tires, are:
  • Continental, Grand Prix 4000S II
  • Schwalbe, Durano S Raceguard
  • Zipp, Tangente Course
  • Specialized, S-Works Turbo
  • Vittoria, Rubino Pro
  • Michelin, Pro4
  • Mavic, Yksion Grip Link
  • Specialized, Roubaix Pro
  • Bontrager, R3

Be sure to match the width of the tire with the width of the wheel. Years ago, 23 mm was the standard tire width with few alternatives. Today, in 2015, some pros, and many other cyclists, are riding 25 and 28 mm tires. These bigger tires offer a little more comfort on the road and reduced tire punctures and with aerodynamic wheels being introduced, the larger tires offer some aerodynamic savings. Also, make sure that your bicycle can accommodate the tire width increase.

Just like car tires, bicycle tires do not last forever. Be sure to check the inflation pressure of your tires at least once a week, if not before every ride. Tires do not hold air pressure. Air molecules, especially carbon dioxide from minipumps, can pass through the rubber compound of the tire. Check the tread of your tires often, based on how much riding you do in a week, or a month. Look for gashes, missing tread and worn out tread, especially the rear tire. The rear tire supports up to 60 percent of a cyclist’s weight and force of pedaling goes through the rear wheel to the road. As the tires wear out, the tires will allow more foreign objects to pass through and puncture the tire. Tires endure more abuse from the road than any other bicycle component and tires are a big factor of a cyclist’s safety.

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