road texture and fuel consumption

[Seeker]

I ride country lanes, vehicles are rare and my mind wanders (yes, a bad habit, I know... add it to the list).
My thoughts turned to top dressed road surfaces after they've been down a while. The centre is rough but the car tracks are smooth so would riding in the car tracks give better fuel consumption?

As usual I argued myself to a standstill since I couldn't figure out which would have the greatest rolling friction coefficient. A smooth tyre on a smooth surface should have the most grip but a treaded tyre on an uneven surface? Would it have fewer contact points? I looked it up and a smooth surface should give you reduced fuel consumption. (ie better mpg).

https://www.ijeat.org/wp-content/upl...5365047418.pdf

[zsv650s]

Yep less rolling resistance = better mpg try knobblies on a mtb vs road tyres much less effort to pedal on the road.

[keith_d]

Better still, put slicks on your pushbike then ride it on various road surfaces. Rough surfaces are definitely harder work than nice smooth tarmac on a pushbike and I would expect the same to apply to motorbikes.

However, at the speeds a motorbike is travelling the majority of the work is done against air resistance. Drag is proportional to the cross sectional area and the square of the velocity. So if you want to save petrol tuck yourself behind the fairing and ride a little slower.

[Chris_SVS]

Yeah rough surfaces or just bad roads are definitely harder on tyres as little as 23mm wide. The high pressure upwards of 100psi makes the difference rather than rolling resistance.

Drop the pressure for comfort and evidently a larger contact patch has an effect then