So, seriously: what does the eyeball wind tunnel think of that Specialized tire? It seems, at least in pictures, to have a rather odd ‘squared off’ thing going on? Does it really look that way in the flesh?
I could see it being good–or maybe not-so-good. I’m curious if you have any thoughts.
Yeah…that’s the “dual radius” tread design thingy S touts…the open tubular version has 2 small ridges on the either side of the tread, but they aren’t anywhere near as “pronounced” as on some of the lower level S tires. I was worried that those “features” might stiffen the tread up, but apparently they don’t according to Al’s testing
Aerodynamically? Dunno…on one hand, it’s a discontinuity which isn’t normally good…BUT, if it happens to act as a boundary layer “trip” and it also happens to be in the right spot, maybe it’s good??
huh…thanks for your thoughts. That’s pretty much what I was thinking as well; maybe–maybe not!
Sadly, short of seeing tunnel data on the tires, I doubt there’s any way to tell. I just don’t see field testing working for this one…
I’m surprised a little in these days of wind tunnel marketing that tire manufacturers haven’t jumped on the bandwagon of touting a tire’s aerodynamic properties–since there are plenty of anecdotes from folks who’ve been to the tunnel that there are significant differences among different brands of tires.
Yep: slide rules at 20 paces, just like in the old days…
Watch it! I’ve got quite the “quiver” of slide-rules in my collection (fer real!)…including some hefty metal Pickett models that hold a nice “edge”…and don’t forget about my circular slide-rules that double as “throwing stars”
I’m surprised a little in these days of wind tunnel marketing that tire manufacturers haven’t jumped on the bandwagon of touting a tire’s aerodynamic properties–since there are plenty of anecdotes from folks who’ve been to the tunnel that there are significant differences among different brands of tires.
