[Yak] slick tires and lousy surfaces

[John S. Allen]

At 10:29 AM 4/16/2009, Lee Lloyd wrote:
>I don't know how many more ways I can say this. Hydroplaning is a
>rare phenomenon, even in cars. When anything loses traction on a wet surface
>be it a car tire, shoe, hoof, or even a bike tire, it is very rarely the
>result of hydroplaning. Saying "bike tires cannot hydroplane" is a complete
>non answer, because it is only relevant in the rare instant that
>hydroplaning would even be an issue, which is uncommon, as I have
>said repeatedly, on all vehicles. Vehicles typically lose control in wet
>weather because there is insufficient friction for their velocity, not
>because they have entered the unusual, and very brief, state of planing on
>top of a body of water.

I did have it happen in a van once, in a deluge, at 60 mph. It was 
very scary, no traction at all, like being an air hockey puck rather 
than sliding on ice -- but fortunately, brief enough that I did not 
run off the road or into another vehicle.

That's once, in 45 years since I got my driver's license. Never, in 
55 years of bicycling.

John S. Allen

jsallen *at* bikexprt.com

http://bikexprt.com