Re: Rolling Resistance

On 6/21/2025 11:29 AM, Mark J cleary wrote:

 I remember saying I got a lot miles on my tires compared to what others were getting and Mike Jacoubosky say it was because I did not climb. He said that climbing will wear tires out more. Mike is a Trek store owner in Redwood California and I respect is opinions but generally would disagree with this. I can see that going up long grades you go slower turnover and possible some more tire wear but nothing like seemed to imply. His implication was climbing is hard on tires.

I think he's right. The harder the (rear) tire has to push back against the ground, for example when climbing, the faster it will wear. Here's why.
When the tire is pushing back against the ground the rubber flexes. The bit of rubber doing the pushing at any one instant is flexed towards the front of the bike. (You can simulate this by taking a rubber eraser in contact with your desk and pushing to the right. The bottom of the eraser is deflected to your left.)
At the instant that rubber loses contact with the surface, it flexes back or straightens out. As it does so, it scrapes a bit and a microscopic bit of rubber is abraded off. The harder you're pushing, the greater the effect.
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- Frank Krygowski