Does lowering your tire pressure really help on wet roads?

never mind I just saw the other thread. I don't know why I didn't see it
before.

"Earl Bollinger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I had a discussion with someone recently and he stated that all the racers
lower their tire pressure on wet rainy days, where the roads are wet, and
it works.
Is this really so?
I never saw that as being useful on bicycles, one has to be careful anyway
on wet roads, as most anything it seems could cause you to slip and fall
down.

Earl Bollinger said:

I had a discussion with someone recently and he stated that all the
racers lower their tire pressure on wet rainy days, where the roads
are wet, and it works.

Quoted message said:

Is this really so?

Quoted message said:

I never saw that as being useful on bicycles, one has to be careful
anyway on wet roads, as most anything it seems could cause you to
slip and fall down.

It may work because riders don't corner well on soft tires and this
may be a way of slowing them down in turns where they might otherwise
fall. There is no reasonable way to measure cornering speed other
than to photograph the lean angles. Other effects are clouded by
rider technique.

Jobst Brandt

Earl Bollinger said:

I had a discussion with someone recently and he stated that all the racers
lower their tire pressure on wet rainy days, where the roads are wet, and it
works.
Is this really so?
I never saw that as being useful on bicycles, one has to be careful anyway
on wet roads, as most anything it seems could cause you to slip and fall
down.

Perhaps this only means they were over-inflated in dry conditions?

Reminds me of some "tips" a racer friend gave me once about an upcoming
criterium:

"When everyone lets up and starts getting ready for a corner, take 4
extra pedal strokes and go on the inside. If you don't pass at least 4
guys, you suck. Oh yeah, and put vaseline on your knees if it is
raining because you will fall. And if you don't fall, it means you
weren't racing."

He was only half joking.

Joseph

Earl Bollinger said:

I had a discussion with someone recently and he stated that all the racers
lower their tire pressure on wet rainy days, where the roads are wet, and it
works.
Is this really so?

No. It's baloney. See the earlier thread about this subject, just a
few days back.

Quoted message said:

I never saw that as being useful on bicycles, one has to be careful anyway
on wet roads, as most anything it seems could cause you to slip and fall
down.

The increased hazard of pinch flats is not worth the small increase in
contact patch size, and if the road has oil residue present, the best
thing is to keep the pressure as high as possible; on a slimy road,
the best defense against loss of traction is to have as small of a
contact patch as possible.
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