Hey there Peter - In general a larger tire at a lower pressure will give the best footprint. More footprint = more grip. Over the years, I've ridden a pretty wide variety of tires through the rains and I'm not really sure one stands out as horrifically bad. Wet weather riding really does have a lot more variables which rank higher in my book.
- Is it the first rain in a while? This is probably more of an issue for those of us in CA or areas where there are extended dry periods between storms. The first (and sometimes second and third) rains bring all the oils out into a film which can make you feel like you are on ball bearings while wearing roller skates. Or, you tap the brake and are down before you know what hit you. The first rains always put me on "DANGER WILL ROBINSON" alert, as other vehicles will also be having trouble. - Metal Wet metal is bad. Construction plates and any kind of train tracks should always be assumed to be extremely slick. Avoided if possible. Here's a good time to just get off and walk if not. Always cross tracks at 90 degrees if they are wet. Just saying. - Thick paint Those big crosswalk stripes. Road lane striping. Those always seem to be adhesion erasers long into the wet season. The big issue here is that those often appear where we are trying to make turns. - Confidence If you ride loose and keep your head up, you'll be surprised what you can recover from. A bike that starts to slide one way can often be brought back just as easily. A lot of it has to do with keeping your weight off the front end of the bike and really trying to steer from your hips. (not unlike riding in deep sand, but without any of the sluggishness that you feel when doing that). A bicycle will not hydroplane like a car, so you actually maintain pretty good contact with the ground. Once you have a few rides on non-greasy (after the initial rains) pavement, you'll see you do actually adhere pretty well. The things that work against you are oil, metal and paint. Obviously, you don't want to really "push" things if you don't have to, but it's important not to lock up or ride tight. I do try to keep my body a bit more centered over the frame, but the bike itself actually works pretty well in wet conditions. That being said, a round profile tire with a predictable behavior as you lean is my choice. It should not surprise anyone that the Jack Browns fit that bill well for me. Since I ride those most of the time, they don't/won't surprise me when I lean, and they have a plenty sticky compound if I'm not doing something I shouldn't be doing. I will agree with Patrick that Fat Boys (and some other tires from that same company - which I actually got comped (and they don't make anymore) ) were not known for wet weather behavior. I will also say that riding fixed in the wet weather will give you a heightened sense of adhesion. Hope that is of some help, - Jim / cyclofiend.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
