Honda Spree and Elite 50 Forums

The frictional force is dependent only on the nature of the two surfaces but not on the area of contact. damnit proven wrong again.... sorry sorry... again

Greetings:

In grade school we learned about friction. Well, the kids who were paying attention, anyway. I had to pick it up later.

In that "rule", friction depends on force and the friction coefficient only. Surface area doesn't change the friction force.
While that rule applies to table surfaces in the laboratory, it does not apply to the complex interplay between the tire's tread and the irregular, crumbly surface of the tarmac.

Here, contact patch size does matter, and bigger contact area results in superior grip for cornering and braking.

Racing bicycles run 130PSI and more simply to reduce rolling resistance and maximize the forward momentum that can be generated by the limited human "horsepower". To run such pressures, the diameter of the tire carcass has to be very small. Otherwise, wall tension would require much thicker and heavier materials to contain such high pressure. Aerodynamic drag reduction is another reason for the skinny tires. It's not for traction reasons, as anyone who's ever tried to stop quickly or make sudden direction changes on a Cannondale will tell you.

thanks

spewya i couldnt help but notice ur from macomb too lol but heres my 10 cents: i have a honda elite s and it has 3k so ive been through tires. the best tires i ever had were the stock sized ones. they feel like they were made for the bike for a reason. they may not increase/decrease speed and are hi-tech and any other BS but i run them on my bike now. just a little friendly advice