Originally Posted by chas58

Interesting read, thanks.

yeah, I took my 60mm slicks mountain biking and obviouslyl they wer a total nightmare if the terrain was just a little bit damp. Forget damp grass or mud.

Interestingly they didn't do great on sandy turns either.

Jan is big on the "tredless thing" and Honest I lean that way too.

What he consistantly misses is that treaded tires slide well. Slicks go down fast and hard. Could he have saved is crash if he had knobs? I know I have been in situations where knobs made all the difference. I even ran knobs on the front and slicks on the back - the rear end obviously gave way in hard turns where sliding was involved.

Fattish tires on straight sand is an unfair advantage. Fattish tires work well if they have the traction (dry course or sand)

He makes a big point of why they sell few treaded tires. Yeah, if you are gravel riding and not going fast enough to get a little sideways they are great (in the dry).

For gravel (non competitive), Personally I run 90% slicks in the summer. In the winter I have tread because I want to be able to catch my bike when it starts to go sideways.

I think a big part of his advantage was flotation in the straight sand sections. The weight disadvantage for me would be significant somewhere around 40mm+