jens wrote:
I was long skeptical of the "lower is better" line. Why? Because of literally hundreds of hours of road-testing different models of Mtb tires at different pressures over several years. I tested them on roads much rougher than any roady or triahtlete will ever see. Here's one of the smoother parts.
The results of this testing were very consistent: higher pressures were better. This lead me to ride (and win) the Mt. Ashland Hill Climb race several years running with Mtb tires inflated around 80psi.
So how do we resolve that with Tom & company's tests? You'll note that the bikeradar guy, like me, tested up a steep grade. I have speculated that, at low speeds up steep grades, the big torque from the rear wheel stretches the tire in a circular fashion. If you watch a low pressure Mtb rear tire as you go up a hill, you can actually see the ripples in the tire indicating this. So in addition to the normal hysteresis loss that we think of, you have a sort of torsional loss.
Some day, I'll redo these tests on both the hill and the flat ground. My suspicion is that the lower pressures will do much better on the flat than on the hill.
The trail in that picture apart from the occasional bump is probably smoother than a typical bitumen road.
I don't think that hills have anything to do with it apart from a more rearward weight bias will weight the rear tyre more.
What matters is the power being transmitted. 350watts on the flat is the same as 350watts up a hill apart from the weight shift unless you use dramatically different cadences.
But this is an area where I am really interested and surprised that not a single reply was made to my thread about it.
How much drive losses do various tyres have?
My bum measurometer says a 25mm tyre has far less drive losses even when run at a lower pressure than 23mm one.
Which is a bit counter intuitive as I would imagine a higher pressure would offer more sidewall support with less windup.
Maybe I am feeling losses due to squirm at the interface under power.