See, when I need to buy something bike related (which is surprisingly often), I sort of go on auto pilot on my evening commute, first trying Bicycle Habitat which I think suffers as the most widely known bike shop in the city. Every time I go there I have to wait around forever to learn that they don't have what I want, and this experience was no different. Not only did they not have the tires I was hoping to get, they didn't have a single matching set of 700x23's, which is pretty lame for such a big and supposedly "well-stocked" bike shop.
If I don't find what I'm looking for there (which is frequently) I'll stop by Toga in downtown and see what they've got. Though they usually have a broad inventory, I always get the feeling that I'm getting shafted a little when I go there. So often I just leave without buying anything, and see what Ride Brooklyn has.
As usual, they not only had the exact tires I was hoping to buy, but even the colorway that I wanted too! Ride Brooklyn is moving up in my book, I can tell you that. Here's a blurry shot of one of them in all its branded glory with my tired coworker in the background.
Maxxis Xeniths are foldable due to the nifty Kevlar® bead so getting them on the first time was a little weird. It was like wrapping a wheel with a broken slap-bracelet until I managed to pump it a little so the tube would encourage it to start taking shape. Though after getting them on and pumped up to around 125psi, I took a quick spin and what a difference they made!
Though it is possible that being brand-new tires, they highlighted the inadequacies of my previous set of Specialized Mondos which I wore down to nothing, after a few days of varied riding on the Xeniths, I can say confidently that they're simply better all around.
When it comes to bike stuff, the old mantra of "you get what you pay for" couldn't ring truer; and at $65 a pop, these bad boys are at the top end of racing clenchers, and it shows on the sidewall where in big white letters 'HORS CATEGORIE' is emblazoned. Perhaps it's just marketing mumbo-jumbo, but I like to imagine they allow me to climb faster on the numerous "beyond categorization" climbs we have here in the northeast.
So the reason I'm going on about tires today is because in researching which tires would be best for my riding style, I consulted the venerable Sheldon Brown and came away with a very thorough understanding of another common misconception people almost unanimously ascribe to.
You may have noticed that both of the sets of tires I referred to above have no tread pattern whatsoever, which may strike you as a slippery solution to old rubber. When I first got my bike, it came with treadless tires as well, and I was very cautious about cornering until I got familiar with the tire's limits, but still I doubted their effectiveness during less than ideal weather. "Surely bald tires have a propensity to hydroplane," I thought.
Thanks to bike-nerds who have the desire and know-how to figure things like this out for the rest of us; apparently it is nearly impossible for bicycle tires to hydroplane, even with no tread pattern! Sheldon spells it out most succinctly:
Bicycles canNOT hydroplane because:It turns out that true hydroplaning is difficult even for cars, and is of greatest concern for airplanes landing on wet runways, so Sheldon then refers to a table calculated by "the aviation industry" which shows that a round-section tire running at 40psi (think mountain bikes and beach cruisers) would have to hit water at 55mph to initiate a hydroplane; at 100psi it would have to be travelling at over 100 mph; and at 120psi (a typical racing bike tire pressure) one would have to go nearly 115mph!
1. A bicycle tire has a curved road contact. Since a bicycle leans in corners, it needs a tire with a rounded contact area, which tends to push the water away to either side.
2. A bicycle tire is narrower [-than a car tire], so not as much water is in contact with the leading edge at once.
3. The high pressure of bicycle tires is more efficient at squeezing the water out from under.
4. At high bicycle speeds, hydroplaning is just possible for car tires, but is absolutely impossible for bicycle tires.
So for most cyclists in cities, a treaded tire is no more useful than the guards on the GWB. Further proof of this comes when you examine the road surface which you're riding on. The asphalt or concrete is riddled with little indentations that are bigger than typical tread patterns found on most road tires. Since the tire is flexible and bends over these bumps and dips anyway, the tread really serves no purpose whatsoever except to reduce the amount of rubber in contact with the road at any given time.
Though apparently tire companies have noticed people's apprehension toward treadless tires because of this assumption, and mold patterns into tires to increase sales despite knowing that they tend to eat away at performance.
Unlike the great helmet conspiracy, this trend is motivated by profit directly and is a curious example of how catering to the unsophisticated reduces quality and efficiency for others. Because people are scared of slipping and falling, so-called 'racing slicks' are branded as "Hors Categorie" or "Open PRO" (whatever that means) and subsequently a surcharge is added because you want what is deemed by the idiocy of others to be pro-level equipment.
Sometimes companies will even go so far as to sell mediocre products at grossly inflated prices thanks to these marketing shenanegans. The tires I just replaced, the Mondos, make a great example of this phenomena.
After riding on them for thousands of miles, I noticed that I kept thinking they were flat. I'd reach down and pinch my tires at every other red-light wondering why they felt so doughy. Understandably, this started to bug me and after doing a little research, I found that this is a common problem on Specialized's mid-range racing tires. Some have speculated that inferior rubber is used so they wear out fast and you either keep replacing them or spend the extra buck on their "pro level" tires.
Whatever the case may be, the bottom line is this, if you notice your tires when you're biking, one of three things could be wrong:
- you don't have them inflated to high-enough pressure.
- your tires aren't as expensive as they could be.
or, - you're looking at them, which is dangerous.
...and less like this car that was photographed and forwarded by a friend:
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