Slicks
 

Anyone toured on complete slicks with narrow diameter? What's the secret of super-broad-and-heavy tyres?

Slicks are great on paved roads. Treads don't help, there, in fact they hinder. Tyres with treads become more important the looser, or deeper, the surface becomes. Gravel, for example, is pretty lethal stuff riding slicks.

As for width, it is partly a matter of road surface. Off-road, wide tyres at lower pressure will give you purchase on mud where a skinny tyre will simply dig in. And it gives comfort, because they run at lower pressures that soak up irregularities in the surface.

So I simply have to drive so fast that I'll hydroplane...

Panaracer Ribmo work very well. So far 2800 miles and no flats on my bike.

Schwalbe marathon plus, lots of tire upgrades went out of the*LBS,
with those tires, heading down the coast.

It is impossible to hydroplane on a bicycle tyre, even wider tyres are too narrow to permit it at the speeds it would be possible to attain. That's why slicks are best on paved roads even in the rain, they squeeze the water aside and put more rubber to the road. Mud, gravel etc present different problems. In those cases you need tread of one sort or another to dig into the surface.

Seeing you're so familiar with strawman arguments, Jobst's treatise on hydroplaning/aquaplaning that also was published by Sheldon Brown on his website, was a false subject that Jobst created to to knock down the use of tread on bicycle tyres.

Jobst disposed of the hydroplaning argument in his opening, that basically, a vehicle has to be travelling at very high speed before aquaplaning occurs. And that is all fine, but isn't relevant when discussing the need or otherwise of tread on tyres. It will happen whether the tyre is slick or treaded.

What he did not address were the much more relevant issues of coefficients of friction and edge grip and siping, which are all well-known in the automotive tyre industry, and are simply demonstrated. Had he done so, his argument might have been more tenable. As it is, the cycling community bought the con-job with nary a question.

By the way, I am fine with riding non-treaded tyres on wet roads. I would suggest that tread might be useful in some circumstances on wet roads, and particularly on chip-seal because of the edge grip factor. But I do take into account my speed and moderate it to suit the conditions.

Or, more accurately with reference to bicycle tyres, it will not happen whether the tyre is slick or treaded.

I wasn't relying on Jobst/Sheldon for my info, but on that provided by the technical people at Schwalbe. They recommend slicks for paved roads but acknowledge that "a slightly serrated surface" - which sounds to me more like siping than tread - offers traction advantages on rough asphalt. Other than that, their point, and mine, is that your traction is provided by the contact of rubber on road, and the nature of the compound. The less good the surface, the more siping and tread will be beneficial. Pretty much what I said, really. But feel free to keep picking arguments, I rather enjoy it.

Really? Bicycles and motorcycles have no issues with hydroplaning because the round profile easily evacuates water out the sides which prevents water buildup under the tire. Specialized automotive rain tires have a tread pattern designed to do the same thing. The last set I used myself were Toyo Proxies T1's -wider than my stock tires, with a softer compound that also gave incredible braking, and refused to hydroplane even in heavy rain at 140km/hr. None of the Metzeler motorcycle tires I ran ever had excessive tread and were never a problem in the rain at similar speeds. Same with the 700x50c Schwalbe Marathon Supremes I'm currently running on a bicycle at much lower speeds. But I can understand how people that insist on buying inexpensive tires that promise 160,000km tread life could have other impressions. Cheap tires don't brake well, or handle well, or perform well in the rain. I guess it would be pretty easy to blame that on lack of tread or insuffecient siping or anything but the result of being cheap.

This forum never fails to amaze me. All thise posts agonizing about which bikes are the best performers and which components are the best upgrades - mixed in with claims that all tubes are the same and that even cheap tires are faster as long as they're skinny. And now this? Here's a news flash - the only thing that counts is coeffecient of friction and contact area. And on glare ice studded tires win over heavy treads for just that reason. On any wet or dry paved surface, its the bicycle tire compound that decides the grip and braking characteristics, not the tread pattern.

I've just purchased a set of Marathon Mondials, the ride so far for me is fine. I like the tread pattern for on and off road rides. Only time will tell as far as it's flat protection.