I recently inexplicably washed out on a dry-ish road corner, breaking my helmet, breaking my finger and all manner of other bumps and scrapes. The bike has nobbly WTB Raddler tyres on it, which I assumed would give better grip.

It is only recently I started riding on the road because of the boggy trails around here and would like to keep on the road for training rides.

Was it an error to use nobbly tyres on the road? A mate who does not ride roads suggested there is a greater contact patch on a semi-slick tyre which would provide better grip on the road compared to nobbly gravel tyres.

Roads aren’t much fun to land on so I’m feeling slightly nervous; please share your knowledge so I can be as safe as poss when venturing back onto the road.

Thanks,
Rich

Slow down is the best advice.

I crashed last year – pedestrian ran out from between parked cars and wrote off my frame and fair amount of skin on my right hand side. I’m much more nervous now, especially after a bad off road crash the year before, but I’m just very aware of my surrounding, look out for pot holes, gravel, wet leaves, anything that could catch me out. I’m just generally cautious and slightly slower, and my confidence is gradually building back up.

Also see if you can get out with a mate, just to give you some support and encouragement.

As for tyres, well tarmac doesn’t “give” so nobbles have nothing to bite on, so smoother tyres will have more rubber in contact with the road, but it’s cheaper to lose 1-2 miles per hour than pay for new tyres.

There’s a reason road tyres are basically slick bar some very shallow lines or diamond type tread – which are used to disperse water.

Road grip is purely mechanical and relies on as much of the tyre being in contact with the road as possible.

Other than that, just get back on the horse.

As with all things, just take it easy at first.

I was road riding yesterday between frozen puddles and frozen cow poopage, with rain on top. Corners and braking were at the ‘easy tiger’ end of the spectrum.

On the road I find it’s normally small stones & gravel that’s been pushed to the edge of the road that causes me to slide on corners. You need to be on the look out all the time.

Also ruts, pot holes, metal grates/manhole covers, wet leaves, dry leaves, frosty patches, dead badgers……pretty much everything that isn’t dry road 🤣

Just take it easy & look a long way forward for possible tricky patches.

I find I come off on the road because of one of two things: not weighting the front wheel properly, and being hit by a car.

I’m not sure that helps much. I would get some slicks. I’m currently using some Challenge Stradas, they are pricey and kind of a pain to mount but amazing.

I wouldn’t generally want to use knobbly tyres on road. The knobs can wander and slip more easily than a smoother tyre which will probably have a greater contact area. The road itself is plenty rough enough.

I wouldn’t generally want to use knobbly tyres on road. The knobs can wander and slip more easily than a smoother tyre which will probably have a greater contact area. The road itself is plenty rough enough.

Thanks folks. Makes sense, sounds like I made an error not running road tyres on the road…silly me. As soon as I can use my dominant hand I will switch some roads tyres on to the bike. I bought some Gravelking semi slicks by mistake and missed the send back window so I will stick them on.

Gravelking semi slicks by mistake and missed the send back window so I will stick them on.

Cracking tyres IMHO. I have 43 and 38 sizes. They are great on anything road related other than wet leaves and ice

I’ve had some sketchy moments in the past on wet and frosty roads which led me to look at tyre upgrades.

I’m using Continental Grand Prix 5000 on the road bike (all year) and they have been good for me in terms of grip even in the wet (puncture resistance so so) YMMV. I believe Continental Gran Prix 4 seasons are meant to be good compromise between grip and puncture protection, though I could never find a good deal when I was looking. I’m sure other manufacturers do similar.

I had the same happen to me, front washed out on a turning. The Marathons came straight off and Gravelking 35s went on. Confidence has taken a hit on the dark mornings so I’m hoping that will return over time. Slow and steady for now.

Yes, to echo others, I’d go more slowly around corners on knobbly tyres. I feel that they’d have less grip as less of a contact patch. I use Gravelking SK tyres all year round and find that they’re great and very grippy. As well as gravel on corners and junctions, my nemesis is green, slippery patches on little-used lanes. Just another thing to watch for!

Ride 1-1.5m out so you are on the bit of tarmac used by car tyres, debris and gravel can normally be spotted but diesel is not so obvious and super slippy and the driving line will clean up first. I saw lots of it during fuel panic from drivers brimming their tanks.

If the marketing is to be believed tyres like Pirelli Vinturato have a comping that works better in lower temperatures.
For best grip on the roads you need slick tyres in as wide a size as you can fit on your bike.

I have recently changed to GoodYear Vector 4season tubeless in size 30c and they feel very good on corners, although the Continental GP 4 seasons non-tubeless in 25c felt good before them.

@neila Marathons or Marathon Plus? The latter have a newer rubber compound that will work better than the green guard Marathons. Pluses are more expensive.

I can’t stand knobbly tyres on road, it unnerves me. Even gravelly ones with tiny knobbles. I constantly feel like the front tyre is going to step out when cornering hard. Get some decent road tyres – faster and safer.

I finally got around to buying a Marathon Supreme this summer, decided to buy some more recently to fit to my Voodoo Marasa commuter, but will have to see how they cope in cool wet conditions over the winter (I’ll fit my Gravdal ice spike tyres if morning temps are forecast to be close to 0C).

They size a bit small, 35mm is ~33mm, so I’m expecting the 40mm to be ~37mm and the 32mm to be ~31mm.

Merlin also have a 28″x2.0″ variant, which might just safely clear my Marasa’s rearward triple front mech if it’s really ~47mm max, but I was wary of it being listed as 28″ instead of 700/29″.
https://www.merlincycles.com/schwalbe-marathon-supreme-folding-touring-tyre-28-233093.html

A slighter longer stem, with bars a bit lower, might help to get more weight over the front wheel for stability on fast sweeping bends downhill.

This time of year roads can be pretty slippy, even on a road bike I back right off on damp corners this time of year as they can be really treacherous, so much crap on the roads at the moment.

As above, decent sticky road tyres as wide as will fit.

Winter is probably not the best time to try and get back your confidence. Minimise the impact that weather can have on a ride. For me in the winter, I’m looking for significantly above freezing (so ice isn’t a concern), or if it’s only a few degrees above, it needs to be sunny and I’ll wait until early afternoon so that roads will have had a chance to have had some traffic and thaw if in the sun. Try and ‘read the road’ as much as possible – I’ve got a descent off a hill on my regular route – it’s west facing and 100m higher than my start point, so I know that there’s more chance of ice in the winter. Keep an eye out for the obvious stuff – ice on the verge, frozen puddles? Take it easy unless you can see that the road itself is dry and in the sun.

This time of year roads can be pretty slippy, even on a road bike I back right off on damp corners

And drain covers are normally wet. Using Knobbled tyres, the lack of contact in any lean coupled with flexibility of the knobbly will see you over. I’m running Conti 5000 road tyres and fixed wheel, and still notice slipping traction quite often out on the road.

I came off in the wet on a crisp packet. Thankfully unhurt, but bloody hell it happened fast! So maybe it was leaves? I generally don’t bother with the bike once summer has finished.

Watch out for painted bus/cycle lanes too – last time I came off it was doing a left onto one, front tyre touched the white and over I went. I tell myself a bus probably leaked diesel on it too, but yea, slower round the bends ever since.

I think knobbly vs slick is unlikely to be the problem. If you’re cornering hard on a clean road, then the squirm is likely to be off putting, but probably not much less grippy in reality. The main reason to use slick tyres on road is rolling resistance. Contact patch isn’t critical (according to A-level physics it doesn’t matter at all) and you only need to watch pros descending on rock hard 23c tyres to see that a tiny contact patch can produce a huge amount of grip.

If there’s mud or gravel on the road then knobbly tyres will actually help.

If there’s oil or other slippery gunk on the road then tyre choice probably won’t help you.

You describe the road as “dryish” – slightly damp is often worse than properly wet.

Best advice I can give (which I read on here some time ago) was to stay away from the edge of the road, including bike lanes, as that’s where all the road crap ends up. Hope this helps.

Personally I think knobbly tyres would make a difference on the road and best avoided if possible. I’ve come a cropper a few times on knobbly tyres when I’ve unexpectedly hit cobbled or wooden surfaces and would presume they would be less grippy on tarmac too.