Tread

The benefits of tread on tyres for road bicycles is a moot point, but the feeling is that during the winter months some is better than none. Granted, the narrower profile of a cycle tyre and the lower speeds at which it travels means the ability of cycle tyre to shift surface is water is massively reduced from that of a car tyre, for example, but narrow gulleys might be expected to channel water away from the rolling surface, while more abbrasive tread patterns – the stippled shoulders of the Vredestein Fortezza Tri Comp, to name just one – could aid grip.

Continental is a believer in tread patterns for road tyres, and the German tyre technicians are hardly amateurs. The long-established Grand Prix 4 is lightly patterned, and their new Grand Prix GT tyre, while offering a slick central ridge, has narrow channels cut sightly off centre and at the top of the sidewall.