Quote:
Originally Posted by gunlover05
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While wider contact patch would be better for AX for sure, ....
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Yes, that is
conventional wisdom. But ask your self, why? ...why is wider considered better? If both a skinning and a wide tire each are touching the ground with 30psi, and holding up 600_lbs each, then they should both have 20_in
2 of contact, each. But wait,
conventional wisdom says wider puts more rubber on the road. Well,
conventional wisdom is often wrong.(though well propagated
) ..."wider" does not give more contact... just makes for a cooler running tire. (less deflection)
Think about how the shape of the contact patch... if you're doing mostly tight radius turns, then you hardly want a steam-roller contact patch. A too narrow patch wouldn't be much better. In theory, a circular contact patch would be optimal, for smallest scrub radius.
Anyway, it's all about balance and optimization... it may be that a taller tire shaves more time due to lower rolling resistance than it gives up in worse scrub, rotational inertia, and CG. --there are too many variable for me to say what set-up is optimal. All I can point out is that, contrary to
conventional wisdom "wider is not always better."
