Originally Posted by
hamish5178
Not that I'm disagreeing. But I don't understand the tendency to take everything Sheldon ever said as gospel. He was not a scientist, and I think sometimes was just saying whatever random **** he happened to believe. Take the whole "it's near impossible to cut through a rim because of the force of the spokes, pinching the blade". I'm sure by now we've all seen the video of the guy cutting through a rim and tire with ease. Sheldon probably had no empirical reason to believe what he said, it just made sense to him.
Also, if the pressure on the road of a bike tire is so much higher than that of a car tire, does that mean that getting your foot run over by a bike tire would cause more damage than if a car ran over your foot? (I've always wondered what that felt like)
Like jessesv said, I don't take everything Sheldon said as gospel and I don't recommend you do either. But he does talk sense, most of the time. And yeah, there really is less pressure under a car tire than a bike tire. There's even less pressure under a tank's treads than there is under a car tire, it's simply a function of mass and contact area.