Folding Bikes - Recognising tyre wear and other tyre questions on a Speed D7

Hello,

I recently got a Dahon Speed D7 and I have been taking it places. So far, I'm quite confused with my new tyres as it is my first bike with slicks, therefore, there's just no traditional way of recognising wear, coming from a knobby-tyre background, whereby once the knobs go, it's time for the tyre to go. Yet, when it comes to slicks, it seems to not be able to be judged under the same basis, since there are no knobs. I have a Dahon Speed D7 with its stock tyre, and therefore I was wondering how one determines whether it is time for a change.

Also, I have been hearing all sorts of good things about the Schwalbe tyres, and granted, I am a person who doesn't really care about marginal improvements for a lot of money, but I am tempted to get my hands on them if I can. I was wondering: based on your experiences, do different slicks perform distinctly differently?

Thanks!

Hi
the tires on the speed d7 are not THAT bad .... you will see marginal improvements when you get a new schwalbe tires, but its not like adding 100 hp ..lol The Schwalbe Big Apple fits your bike although the fender cleaance need to be "wiggled" with ... but they will fit The big apples have a nice suspension built in , which your current tires are not so much ....

But I am kinda frugal ( although I selling these things ..lol ) and I would suggest that you put serious miles on your currentones in order to maek the switch

Slick tires versus knobbies ..most of it is in your head .. the contact patch of the tire is about a penny ..it doesnt make a lot of difference what kind of profil you have ( exception mud and snow where knoobies will give you more grip as the knobs sink in and the contact patch is biggger ... but for the road slicks are the way to go ...

when you see cord its time to buy some new tires ... you will see when its time ...

thor

As mentioned above, the slick tires are only really worn out when the fabric of the casing starts to show through the rubber. Until then, the tire is rideable.

That said, on some tires with thicker rubber (especially those without a dual-compound tread), the cross-section will begin to get sort of rectangular as the center rubber wears away. This can cause bothersome cornering characteristics and make a bike not feel as predictable. But it's not a *problem*, just something you either choose to deal with or don't.

I have put 4500 miles on my Dahon D7 stock Kenda tires and have yet to see any signs of wear. I doubt one would get more than 2% speed gain by switching to another brand. I switched to winter studded tires and my average speed only dropped by 10%