Pick the right tire

To make sure the rubber meets the road, chosse the tire that best fits the conditions in which you’ll be riding.

Rain riding

The points of contract on rain tires have two purposes. They break the surface plane of the water so that the tire can make contact owith the road, ant they enhance the grip of the tire once it doaes. To accomplish this, good rain tiers are tipically outfitted with a diamond or file tread pattern.  Rain tires also use soft compounds that grip the road better but wear out faster. In wet conditions, run your tires 5-10 psi lower than normal, which increases the contact patch – the surface area of the tire touching the road.

Racing

In the tire casing, a high number od threads per inch leads to a supple and controlled road fell. When you roll accross uneven pavement, supple tires absorb impact and maintain grip with the road, minimizing vibration and maximizong control. The high-tpi casings are teamed wiht flexible belts to addd some measure of durability, but the downside to all lighht, suple racing tires is that they cost the most  and wear out the fastest.

Rough Roads

Rubber is the heaviest substance in tires (there are also threads and layers of nylon, cotton, silk, Kevlar and other substances), ans it’s also resistant to punctures. So adding rubber to low-tpi tires to fill in the spaces between threads results in an inexpensive, flat-resistant tire. For further protection, durable, nearly bulletproof belts are sometimes laid over the casing. The downside of these sturdy belts is that they detract from rollong efficiency and road feel.

Winter training

A hybrid of flat-resistant and rain tires, off-season tires are made with tread compounds that maximize the sruface area of the contact patch and maintain grip. Because the road is typically more cluttered with debris, the threads are also tougher to guard against cuts, making the stiffer and slightly less grippy than rain tires. A good way to counteract the loss of traction is to increase surface area: if you ride 21 or 23c, swithc to 25c to gain mo control in turns