Originally Posted by
MichaelW
How would you test the total efficiency of a tyre in a real world situation?
A ramp roll test may be effective: find a ramp, roll down and see how far you roll on the flat on a windless day.
You would have to test all tyres on the same wheelset and adopt the same riding position.
That's a start. The problem is that there are (at least) two (big) effects that are in play. Rolling resistance (which you can measure with your roll-down test) and air resistance (which depends very strongly on speed). Disentangling these effects is non-trivial.