Tires and performance gain

[jellyrug]

Wondering if anyone knows how much more hp only a different tire can put out on the pavement?

Reason for the question is my Prius experience:

New tires at 50,000 miles, gas consumption went down from best of 58 mpg to 52 mpg.

New tires at 100,000 miles, put on Michelin energy savers and I am back up at 58 mpg.

So, it follows that if I can get 11.5% better fuel consumption with low rolling resistance tires only, I must be putting more power out the rear wheels in the same ratio.


I'm wondering if anyone ever tested this on a motorcycle, anywhere?

PS. In competitive cycling, we pay a handsome price for low rolling resistance bicycle racing tires, I guess for a reason?

[IG.]

Never heard about such consideration for bike tires. I would imagine that Prius puts so little output (i.e. efficient) that the slightest inefficiency in rolling resistance translates into slightly reduced mileage. For high output vehicle such as Hayabusa, slight improvement in rolling resistance would be a lot less noticeable.

If for instance, you always stay in 6th, and ride steady at 60 mph, then yes, you would notice the difference in mileage - similar to Prius. However, I would think that the actual power savings are really negligible - I would guess a fraction of 1 hp.

[dadofthree]

Not a tire expert

[fallenarch]

Certainly this is true for Bikes. For example touring tires have less traction but last longer due to the harder rubber. Another example is adding more air to the tire to ride the highway (less grip, easier to roll) and less air in the twisties (more grip, harder to roll the tire). However less traction will not make a bike necessarily faster on a track (drag or road) because you need to get excessive power to the ground. Most race bikes go for more traction at the EXPENSE of power. The Prius does not use anywhere near maximun traction so it can sacrifice some to get less rolling friction and therefore better mileage.

[RedBusarider]

Are you trying to get 58 mpg on your Busa?

You probably already get 58 mpg of water on your bicycle.

"PS. In competitive cycling, we pay a handsome price for low rolling resistance bicycle racing tires, I guess for a reason?" Yes it's called GREEDY manufacturers.

[outlawbusa]

I would think less rolling resistance on the bike means less traction put to the ground which means more wheel spin

You Prius probably didn't have to worry about that so much...and more air pressure in the Busa tires might mean better fuel mileage but less traction, same with a lower resistance tire.

I don't think you are comparing apples to apples in your scenario. Is there logic behind the question, absolutely...but the Busa is a different beast.

For cruising around I can see attempting this. Twist the throttle a bit and then at that point who's worrying about fuel mileage.

PS: When I purchased a diesel truck a few years ago someone had 32 PSI in 10 ply E rated tires. I pumped the tires up to 70 PSI and gained well over 2 mpg. But again I didn't have to worry too much about traction on this rig...