amirm wrote:
> I'm confused now. Let's define the terms here. My understanding of
> the rolling resistance comes from my motoring background, and by what I
> read here, it seems people are referring to a different concept under
> the same name. Or maybe I'm wrong.
> I guess one thing that can be easily confusing is the "rolling
> resistance" and the amount of resistance caused by "friction".
Forget about friction (that involves sliding) and acceleratio
effects. The rolling resistance being discussed here stems from losse
within the tyre
The area of the contact patch of a weighted bicycle tyre equals th
downward force divided by the pressure in the tyre. This comes from th
definition of pressure. For a constant pressure the area does not depen
on the size of the tyre, but is smaller for higher pressure. For th
same pressure, the smaller tyre needs to deflect more to achieve th
required contact area. This deflection of the tyre walls and tread a
the wheel rotates is the primary cause of rolling resistance because
for practical tyre materials, it is a lossy process (hysteresis loss)
From the above it follows that a larger tyre (both wheel diameter an
tyre width) would deflect less and have a lower rolling resistance tha
a skinnier one all else being equal. But all else is not equal. For th
same pressure a fatter tyre will have higher forces in the tyre walls
The force in the wall is directly proportional to tyre width for th
same pressure. So, for a fatter tyre, you could opt for a thicker wall
which increases hysteresis loss, or for lower pressure, which als
increases hysteresis loss
In summary
Rolling resistance comes largely from hysteresis losses when the tyr
deflects. It can be minimized by: High pressure, which reduces th
flexing of the tyre Thin, flexible walls (needs high wall strength
Material choice (cotton has lower loss than nylon or Kevlar, but i
weaker) Large diameter (both wheel and cross-section) Absence o
patterned tread (tread squirms and increases losses
Several of these factors are mutually exclusive, so designers need t
seek the "best" compromise. At the moment this would seem to be a smoot
tyre with a thin wall and with a width of about 23 to 25 mm on a fairl
large wheel. Pretty much the sort of thing you see on most bikes! Not
that we are talking about rolling resistance here and not abou
aerodynamics
Does this help or just confuse
John Retchfor
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