Off road tyre Vs Road tyre

[phil w]

I was wondering while riding home tonight if knobblies make any differance to speed. I mean I was travelling along at 65 on the TA with the revs showing 5k and the Land Rover esque noise of the tyres on the road and wondered if at the same rev would I be going exactly the same speed but just much smoother ??

[tendays]

I guess you should be going a bit quicker for given revs on knobblies as the effective tyre circumference is a bit more.
OTOH you will be using more fuel to maintain those revs since your rolling resistance is higher.
The same throttle position will give you more speed on road tyres.

Loving my new Mich Road Pilot 3 Trails on the weestrom - ace in the wet, ace in the dry.

[Rubberchicken]

Anyone's guess. Knobbies tend to have a bigger circumference as mentioned, but they also slip more than a regular tyre.

[j]

Knobblies also offer less friction on corners, acceleration and braking. Knobbles will heat up more with prolonged road work.

[Dee Duble Yuh]

The way TKC80s make my Vara shake around at very low speeds is just comical!

[Rubberchicken]

At low speeds it's just comical, at motorway speeds it's a bit more exciting though.

[phil w]

Oh yes knobblies will always heat up and feel looser, TKCs are a great tyre compared to MT21 even at speed. The way the front ends waves around is a true laugh. I know if you rolling roaded a bike on knobblies it would be a few BHP down on a smooth tyre because its not transferring the power down as well, but just wondered if this would equate to them being slower at a given RPM. Although Tendays answer made sense for both statements !!! Strange the things you get to think about hey

[boboneleg]

The way TKC80s make my Vara shake around at very low speeds is just comical!

That's the 'blocks' moving, TKC's can be a bit unerving at low speeds if you're not used to them. As J says they can also get very squirmy if you are 'making progress' on a nice twisty road.

For loud tyres you want a set of Karoo's or T63's, they're hilarious

I have just tried a Pirelli MT21 on the front of my Katoom and I was impressed at how planted it felt for a 'knobblie', but they do wear very unevenly and very quickly