Originally Posted by
AdelaaR
Ok, I have to admit you got me baffled here
I was apparently misinformed that rolling resistance is frictional and thus is simply directly proportional to the tyre's contact patch size.
I've never even heard of "hysteresis energy", but that could be because i'm not native english speakin' so i'll have to look it up one of these and check it out.
Thanks for the info.
The hysteresis is the flexing of the tire's side walls where the tire balloons out a bit where it meets the ground-- This constant flexing of the tire as it rolls wastes energy. That is why inflating road bike tires to high pressures like 120 PSI helps reduce rolling resistance-- Less sidewall flexing in the tires.