Discussion
corkythecat said:
just having a debate at work over the law regarding bald tyres on a push bike,is there such a law?
Oh god I doubt it, what law would you be falling fowl of?Personally I think there sould be some lightly enforced rules on cycle 'roadworthyness' but it's not like the Police pull people for not having the correct bell/reflectors/lights.
In Holland you can get stopped and fined for having no (working) lights on your bike. I believe it's € 60,- fine. But bald tyres? Nope, just your own problem.
Biggest problem with bald tyres is that you run a bigger risk for getting a flat tyre. Having ridden some tyres back to the canvas as a teenager I can honestly say that on a normal bike, you'd struggle to notice a difference between a bald and new tyre in terms of grip. On an MTB or Roadracer I haven't got any experience.
Bad brakes howevere are positively lethal! I had one of those brakes that you'd have to pedal backwards to brake (don't know the English word for this). These can fail... and mostly when you're depening on you brakes the most. So, there I was going along with some speed hoping to make the traffic lights (they were still green) when they change from green to red and the other traffic starts moving. No problem I think, I can brake! Pedal backwards, start braking slightly, brake harder, brake even harder... BANG! The clip that holds the brake shatters, out of nowhere. With just a few meters left and rumbling traffic at at least 70km/h in front of me I had only one option. Steer right into a ditch... luckily it was dry. Could have been messy
Biggest problem with bald tyres is that you run a bigger risk for getting a flat tyre. Having ridden some tyres back to the canvas as a teenager I can honestly say that on a normal bike, you'd struggle to notice a difference between a bald and new tyre in terms of grip. On an MTB or Roadracer I haven't got any experience.
Bad brakes howevere are positively lethal! I had one of those brakes that you'd have to pedal backwards to brake (don't know the English word for this). These can fail... and mostly when you're depening on you brakes the most. So, there I was going along with some speed hoping to make the traffic lights (they were still green) when they change from green to red and the other traffic starts moving. No problem I think, I can brake! Pedal backwards, start braking slightly, brake harder, brake even harder... BANG! The clip that holds the brake shatters, out of nowhere. With just a few meters left and rumbling traffic at at least 70km/h in front of me I had only one option. Steer right into a ditch... luckily it was dry. Could have been messy

Parsnip said:
corkythecat said:
just having a debate at work over the law regarding bald tyres on a push bike,is there such a law?
Don't think so - the tyres on my race wheels are pretty close to slick.
They were new like that too so not my doing! As someone else has said, bike speeds are generally much lower so slick tyres tend to give good grip in all weather. Ice and wet leaves are the only things that have given me contact with the road!Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff



