Trying to wrap my head around how much benefit there is in the tires.
When Bicycle Rolling Resistance (BRR) says that a tire will save you 5+ watts, do they mean one tire saves you 5+ watts and since we ride on two tires it makes a total of 10+ watts difference?
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/...ed-turbo-cotton-2016
Also, is this a reliable watts calculator for cycling?
http://bikecalculator.com/examples.html
If so, when we say that a tire "saves" us 5 watts do we then input that as adding 5 watts (even though in reality our engines aren't creating more watts). In other words, if my current average watts is 150 would my average go up to 155 or 160 if I bought watts saving tires?
$$$:
When BRR rates a tire, one of the values is price. It seems like they might be using full price for rating and not the price that I can really buy the tires at. For example, I wouldn't pay $40 for a 15W tire. Yet a 15W training tire with good puncture resistance for under $20 works well for training in an urban area. For me this distorts the rating/recommendation scheme. Take price out?
Rear tire / front tire. My rear tire by far gets the brunt of wear and tear. The rear wears out faster and gets FAR more punctures than the front. Perhaps because on a road bike I have far more weight - 100lbs on the rear versus 50lbs on the front. And I can't really see what my rear tire might be running over.
By the way, how can we measure how much watts the difference of 100lbs of weight versus 50lbs of weight makes to each tires rolling resistance?
We like our tires to match. So we usually buy the same tires for front and back. If we follow Sheldon Brown's wisdom we place the better tire on the front. In my case, that means rotating the front tire to the rear when my my rear tire wears out or blows out.
However, if I looked at the front tire as being independent of the rear tire choice would it make sense to "save" 5 watts by having a really great tire with a latex tube on the front and just replace the rear tire with butyl tube as needed?
Thank you in advance for your worthwhile thoughts on tires and watt$.
Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.
When Bicycle Rolling Resistance (BRR) says that a tire will save you 5+ watts, do they mean one tire saves you 5+ watts and since we ride on two tires it makes a total of 10+ watts difference?
https://www.bicyclerollingresistance.com/...ed-turbo-cotton-2016
Also, is this a reliable watts calculator for cycling?
http://bikecalculator.com/examples.html
If so, when we say that a tire "saves" us 5 watts do we then input that as adding 5 watts (even though in reality our engines aren't creating more watts). In other words, if my current average watts is 150 would my average go up to 155 or 160 if I bought watts saving tires?
$$$:
When BRR rates a tire, one of the values is price. It seems like they might be using full price for rating and not the price that I can really buy the tires at. For example, I wouldn't pay $40 for a 15W tire. Yet a 15W training tire with good puncture resistance for under $20 works well for training in an urban area. For me this distorts the rating/recommendation scheme. Take price out?
Rear tire / front tire. My rear tire by far gets the brunt of wear and tear. The rear wears out faster and gets FAR more punctures than the front. Perhaps because on a road bike I have far more weight - 100lbs on the rear versus 50lbs on the front. And I can't really see what my rear tire might be running over.
By the way, how can we measure how much watts the difference of 100lbs of weight versus 50lbs of weight makes to each tires rolling resistance?
We like our tires to match. So we usually buy the same tires for front and back. If we follow Sheldon Brown's wisdom we place the better tire on the front. In my case, that means rotating the front tire to the rear when my my rear tire wears out or blows out.
However, if I looked at the front tire as being independent of the rear tire choice would it make sense to "save" 5 watts by having a really great tire with a latex tube on the front and just replace the rear tire with butyl tube as needed?
Thank you in advance for your worthwhile thoughts on tires and watt$.
Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.