Mike Jacoubowsky said:Yes, but I don't know that a single tire listed in that test is in production anymore. It would be
interesting to see an updated test using the same criteria but current models, so we could verify
(or not) claims that newer designs roll easier, and compare differences between standard carbon
black and the various silica treat compounds.
There was a similar test in a local cycling mag earlier this year, with road tyres currently on
market. The test setup was similar, ie. a steel drum with the tyre mounted against it with a
constant weight, and then letting the tyre coast down from a constant velocity and measuring the
distance. I don't have the mag myself, but IIRC there were a few problems with the test.
AFAIK the tyres were only tested with a single pressure. I don't remember if they used the same
pressure for tyres of different width. This would obviously be a problem, as narrow tyres can, and
are intended to be used with a higher pressure.
Also, unfortunately different tyres were not tested with the same inner tubes, which makes it a bit
unclear if they were trying to test the properties of the tyres, the tubes or neither. Ideally, if
you had a set of tyres and a set of tubes, you could test each tyre with each tube. Of course this
would be quite labourous, but you would get good data about both the tubes and the tyres by
calculatating averages from the test results of each tyre and tube.
I'll try to find the mag, or perhaps somebody else could post the results here?
-as
