Better traction: armadillos or knobbier WTB Sports

[geardad]

I got a set of somewhat knobby WTB Sports as my winter mud/slush-handling rubber.

I still go over pavement, sidewalks and the occasional patch of ice/black ice or snow.

the bike shop guys say the knobs on knobby tires are good for grabbing mud, but are actually LESS grabby on pavement and ice than a smoother tire is, bcs the smoother tire puts more rubber in contact with the surface.

I would rather not go thru the hassle of changing tires if I don't have to, ESPECIALLY if the more knobby rubber will make me less secure on pavement and ice.

Also weighing in is the fact that the armadillos have really lived up to their flat-proof reputation, and I'd kinda like to keep that thing going...

flats are a pain...

Any thoughts on this dilemma?

thank you!

geardad

 

[weedvspeed]

I got a set of somewhat knobby WTB Sports as my winter mud/slush-handling rubber.

I still go over pavement, sidewalks and the occasional patch of ice/black ice or snow.

the bike shop guys say the knobs on knobby tires are good for grabbing mud, but are actually LESS grabby on pavement and ice than a smoother tire is, bcs the smoother tire puts more rubber in contact with the surface.

I would rather not go thru the hassle of changing tires if I don't have to, ESPECIALLY if the more knobby rubber will make me less secure on pavement and ice.

Also weighing in is the fact that the armadillos have really lived up to their flat-proof reputation, and I'd kinda like to keep that thing going...

flats are a pain...

Any thoughts on this dilemma?

thank you!

geardad

I've heard you can get spiked tyres for if its really icey but it only snows a week or so where i am so i've never bothered.

nicked off sheldon brown...........http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tyres.html

Tread for on-road use

Bicycle tyres for on-road use have no need of any sort of tread features; in fact, the best road tyres are perfectly smooth, with no tread at all! Unfortunately, most people assume that a smooth tyre will be slippery, so this type of tyre is difficult to sell to unsophisticated cyclists. Most tyre makers cater to this by putting a very fine pattern on their tyres, mainly for cosmetic and marketing reasons. If you examine a section of asphalt or concrete, you'll see that the texture of the road itself is much "knobbier" than the tread features of a good quality road tyre. Since the tyre is flexible, even a slick tyre deforms as it comes into contact with the pavement, acquiring the shape of the pavement texture, only while incontact with the road.

People ask, "But don't slick tyres get slippery on wet roads, or worse yet, wet metal features such as expansion joints, paint stripes, or railroad tracks?" The answer is, yes, they do. So do tyres with tread. All tyres are slippery in these conditions. Tread features make no improvement in this.