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Bike Tires

Bike tires will look very different depending on their application. Indoor track racing tires are thin in profile but several inches thick. Mountain bike tires are stouter, but almost round in profile. Street bike tires are tiny by comparison, both thin and small in the side wall.

The reason for the wide variety of bike tires is that each tire performs best under different circumstances. On a specially laid track with only one direction of turn, indoor racing bikes can afford to maximize their tires without worrying about bumps or other obstacles. This is why the tire profile looks as exotic as it does. It provides the best transfer of thrust from wheel to ground, as long as there are no variances in terrain to be concerned with.

The mountain bike tire on the other hand is built specifically to handle as many variances in terrain as possible. It is wide as well as round, and holds the largest volume of air of any bike tire. Its pressure is kept low, so that large bumps can be absorbed by the tube rather than causing a blowout. Its performance at high speeds is lower than other models, but that is because it is not built for speed, it is built for control.

An outdoor racing bike tire is akin to the indoor variety, except that it does have to be able to survive the incidental bumps that are out there in the real world. We’re not talking taking-the-bike-up-a-curb-bumps; those would destroy a road bike’s wheels as well as the tires. We’re talking the small bumps in any pavement, cracks, pebbles, things like that. The low volume and high pressure of a racing tire will survive these bumps while providing the best aerodynamics possible.

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