Originally Posted by
MassiveD
I'm not convinced that going down in a corner on the pavement is something knobs or even cuts are going to stop. You don't get the chance to run it both ways. Basically they would be worse unless your tire cut through whatever was there and got a bite on pavement. If it was ice or oil that isn't going to happen, nor can you get a grip on fine sands and silts that accumulate at corners by running knobs.
You've missed the point of knobbed tires. A light knob like those on mjoekinz28's Bontragers aren't there to help with on pavement performance. They are there to help with off-road traction on looser surfaces but they are limited because of their size. A taller, heavier knob does a much better job on a wider variety of loose surfaces but they suffer somewhat on harder surfaces. Some people think that they are dangerous on pavement but in 30+ years of using them on pavement, I've never found them to be so.
As to ice, snow, sand and gravel or even oil on pavement, a slick tire is going to be even more limited than a slight knob. It doesn't take much lean angle to have a slick tire slide out in a corner on slick surfaces.
Originally Posted by
MassiveD
Anyway, most cyclist in the road, or on tour are not laying her over on the edge of the tire, ...
Are you certain of that? I go around corners aggressively no matter what bike I'm riding and most people I see on the road ride similarly. Bicycles don't...and can't...lean over like a motorcycle can because our center of gravity is too high but even a moderate lean into a corner will result in moving off the center of the tire and significantly onto the edge.