Do road race bikes have much grip or do you have to be careful round fast corners?

Question

I have put road tyres and rigid front forks on my mountain bike and today i went round a corner at about 15mph and the front wheel slide out which then made the back wheel slide out in the dry but lucky i jumped off the bike and caught it, i was in a car park so there where no cars about.
Anyway i want to buy a road racing bike and was wondering how much grip those tyres have around corners as they are much smaller and have higher pressures than my mountain bike road tyres.

Answer 1

You really didn't install proper road tires. You installed ATB tires.



Road race tires have different compounds on the tread and sides which is why you often see them different colors in the very center opposed to further round the tyre. The compounds on the side are softer which allow better traction. You won't find ATB tires like that.



As the tires become more specialised for a particular use they change the compounds for that use.



So, to answer your question, road bike tires are grippy depending on the compounds used. Talk to the people at your local bike shop for more detail.

Answer 2

Do road race bikes have much grip or do you have to be careful round fast corners?



==they have enough so that ''grip'' isn;t the issue

the tires don;t slide if you don;t hit wet or loose road

or overuse the brakes

the bicycle just doesn;t go fast enough for that

more likely [in the absence of slippery conditions] you just lose balance and fall for whatever reason





I have put road tyres and rigid front forks on my mountain bike and today i went round a corner at about 15mph and the front wheel slide out which then made the back wheel slide out in the dry but lucky i jumped off the bike and caught it, i was in a car park so there where no cars about.



==ok

wasn;t the tires fault though



wle







Anyway i want to buy a road racing bike and was wondering how much grip those tyres have around corners as they are much smaller and have higher pressures than my mountain bike road tyres.

Answer 3

It's highly likely you went through a patch of road with some loose debris, a bit of small gravel or something. Or you simply took a sharp turn too fast.



Road bikes tires (tyres) grip the road exceptionally well on dry, smooth surfaces. Not so much on gravel or dirt roads. Even in wet conditions, if you slow down on turns you shouldn't have a problem.



The "Tour de Grove" bike race just took place this past week-end in St. Louis. I saw amateur racers round corners at speeds anywhere from 15 to 20 mph. 25 to 30 mph on straight stretches of road.

Answer 4

You probably hit some dirt or sand on the road. I never had a bike lose traction. If it rains after a long dry spell the roads can get slippery until the oil gets washed away.



Edit:

If you look at road bike tires they do not have any tread. The tire is rounded so you have more traction on curves. No tread means there is more road to tire contact. That is why dragsters have smooth tires.

Answer 5

There aren't any tires that have so much grip that you would NOT need to be careful rounding fast corners.



Pro riders try to balance speed and limiting risk, and generally they come down on the side of limiting risk - a crash can end the race, and possibly the rider's life.



So try to keep the shiny side up!

Answer 6

yes you need to careful round the fast corners

Answer 7

just get swicker at biking. duh.