'Upgrading' to skinny tyres pointless for London commuting

Coz they don't get all hysterical and shit.

Why would anyone then?

Lower rolling resistance, definitely. Up to 5W power saving on a pair of tyres at 50km/h according to AFM

Better puncture resistance, ride and handling, maybe.

Ah! Cool:-) unless you're bmmf who can't see the difference. Ill never hit 50 and won't feel the difference either.

You never hit 30mph?

How did you managed to Crash in the back of a red bus? Tree seeds got in your eyes?

The lower rolling resistance feels great when slaining the bike. It wants to run away from you like a mischievous* child. Once you're moving, and dealing with overcoming other forces, the sensation is lost completely. You'd need to be optimised in so many other ways first before that up-to-5W saving at 50km/h comes into play.

Puncture resistance - well, it seemed about the same, in that during 1000 miles I got 1 puncture from some kind of fuck-off penetration by a monster shard of glass (in the rain) which tends to be about my luck on butyl. Impossible to call.

Ride and handling - imperceptible. If anything, once pressures are adjusted to give the same level of tyre drop, I prefer butyl.

Longterm adhesion of puncture patches seems better on butyl. I was getting accelerated air loss on the front wheel (patched) relative to the rear wheel (unpatched). Not sure what was going on there. It was a decent patching job.

Weight was the same in the case of what I used: ~75g.

Price was double for latex. Verging on triple due to better deals coming up on butyl from time to time.

I know my place.

You never hit 30mph?

How did you managed to Crash in the back of a red bus? Tree seeds got in your eyes?

Are you saying that I can only ride into a bus at 30mph?!? Riding on 43x19 into the back of a bus is easy if you don't see it. My speed was irrelavant.

How are we meant to subvocalise it then?

/mis-chu-vuhs/ or /mis-chi-vuhs/.

Apologies for not using IPA. Haven't got it set up on here.

You'd need to be optimised in so many other ways first before that up-to-5W saving at 50km/h comes into play.

That's like saying you might as well ride old school until you've done under 50 minutes for 25, because you're never going to get comp record on any bike until you can do 30mph on 1970s tech.

As gains go, swapping from butyl to latex has to be about the cheapest in W/£

[QUOTE=BringMeMyFix;2939736]Following up on this, I've come to the conclusion that for the same ride quality / 'feel' / characteristics, latex tubes need to be run 5psi softer than butyl ones with the same wheel+tyre setup (it could be ~5% less, but I can't say for sure, having only done this at 1 pressure setting, with a sample of 1 rider).

is this not a BMMF wind up?
5 psi equalling discernible difference

@mdcc_tester - I know what you're saying, but I'm not racing much on them anyway, and have gone way faster on butyl vs recent results on latex. They don't seem worth it because I'm carrying butyl spares anyway, due to latex's less forgiving attitude towards sloppy tube changes. If my results were a steady march of improvement, maybe, but no, I've gone faster on the sort of courses I enjoy with 46cm drop bars on 81" fixed / 32h box rims than I have with a disc wheel, deeper front, and aerobars fixed or geared. Due to not liking TTing much, my results are hugely dependent on attitude and conveniently placed riders ahead of me (not drafting, just chasing down). Kit upgrades are pretty moot.

@m.f. - I think with tyres/tubes, there are a number of critical points on the pressure scale (relative to rider weight) where significant changes in handling behaviour occur. A 5psi / 5% difference is enough to leap over/under one of those thresholds, whether it's the one below which you can't ride without bottoming out, or above the one that stops the wheel skipping off the road. Let's not forget a 5% difference in speed or rider weight is a huge fucking difference.

That's like saying you might as well ride old school until you've done under 50 minutes for 25, because you're never going to get comp record on any bike until you can do 30mph on 1970s tech.

As gains go, swapping from butyl to latex has to be about the cheapest in W/£

I kind of agree with this. People spunking all their money on the most tenuous of light & aero parts for marginal benefits when they are not even "competitive". Why not train and get good on any old thing which is practical and cheap and when you start getting impressive numbers buy fancy gear in prep for racing.

If someone is not even competing, but challenging themselves for fun. Then it would also be reasonable to get a period correct bike and try to match old records for TT's and such.

It wouldn't be fun. It would be horrendously painful, and impossible.

DFP kinda have a point.

My Genesis is a slack CX bike, I rode this on forum ride/audax.

When I got on my road bike, I was able to push myself even further without trying hard due to getting used to riding a very heavy steel CX bike whose geo is closer to a tourer than audax.

Perhaps old road bike are a great way of pushing yourself, but I don't race (yet) so can't make a fair comparison.

Consider myself corrected,
*musttryharder

What are you going to race Ed?

Just put some Big Apple liteskin 2.35s on a ss mtb conversion that I'm using for pootling along towpaths etc.....I'm really suprised at how well they roll...dead comfy too..

Loved them, much much better than the Fat Frank.

A friend runs the Schwalbe Furious Fred. That's a really great tyre for hard pack. Really supple and light too.

Someone tell me again please, what tyres should I be using on my 4 mile commute?

Thanks

Someone tell me again please, what tyres should I be using on my 4 mile commute?

Thanks

Fixed Gear? Anything less than a Challenge Pista Seta Extra Tubular is just false economy mate.

I used 22mm tubs for my commute yesterday, and very comfortable they were too.

This morning 28mm clinchers, which were if anything a bit more crashy.

Is that because the tubs are now in the bin?

:0

What pressures are you running the 28s at?

I think I'll ride latex... just to save weight.

I'm admiring your individuality here Iain. I'd never really thought of it for cycling before, but I guess well-shined latex is pretty aero though - especially on your arms.

Oh??? I thought that's why ppl rode latex... Why would anyone then?

For most people I think it's mostly the tightness that they like from latex and oddly, also the sweatiness. Many say that it feels like a second skin. And if that's what you like, then you should be true to yourself I guess...

I guess well-shined latex is pretty aero though

That's what people used to think:

but modern thinking is to select covering texture according to the place on the body; putting it simplistically you want smooth and shiny on leading edges, and rougher where the air hits the surface at a glancing angle, with 'trips' at the point where flow separation would occur on homogeneous surfaces to keep the flow attached for a bit longer by turbulating the boundary layer. I don't think it matters what the fabric surface is like after full flow separation has occurred.

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