Bike Maintenance For Dummies by Gavin Wright

Author:Gavin Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-07-29T00:00:00+00:00

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Choosing your tread and TPI

When choosing the type of tyres your bike will need, two things are important: tread and threads per inch (TPI).

On a surfaced road you don’t need any tread at all. The rubber on the outside of a tyre is a very good material for holding and sticking to tarmac without slipping. Road bike tyres are only a few centimetres wide and have very little tread, yet they fly round sharp corners at high speed and at steep angles. As long as the rider doesn’t lean too far, they keep a perfect grip on the road. If you’re riding over surfaces that are loose, sandy or wet, however, you need a tyre

that’s wider and has more bumps. The bumps on the tyres grip the terrain surface and the width covers a greater ground area for more traction.

Another aspect to look at is the TPI. Most bicycle tyres are made of two beads, the metal or kevlar rings that hook onto the rim of the wheel; cloth fabric that’s woven between the two beads; and rubber, which protects the structure from damage. The TPI is the density of the strands that make up the fabric part. The higher the TPI, the less the rolling resistance and the better the performance of the bike. Tyres used on racing bikes have a high TPI. The trouble is, high TPI tyres are also much more vulnerable to wear and damage. They puncture more easily and if you take them out on all your long training rides on the road they simply won’t last very long.

The following figure shows three different tyre treads: A mountain bike, which is thick and knobbly; a medium tyre, thinner with some tread; and a racing tyre, narrow with no tread on the contact surface and just a little on the sides.

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