Pressure
The effect of tyre pressure on performance can hardly be overstated. Winter cycling typically involves a reduction in pressures, with emphasis switching from speed to reliability and grip. A tyre at lower pressures is harder to puncture (see how much easier it is to pop a newly-inflated balloon than one that has gradually deflated over a few days) and increases the contact patch and with it grip. Those are the theories, anyway.
Tubeless tyres (not to be confused with tubular) take this thinking a step further. By offering a system without inner tubes, lower pressures can be run without fear of the dreaded ‘pinch’ flat, where the tube is pinched by the rim. And if the increased contact patches offered by lower pressures offer more grip, as generations of cyclists believe, tubeless should be a sensible choice for winter. We’re in the process of finding out, running Schwalbe’s Ultremo ZX tubeless on Stan’s Alpha 400 rims.
