{"id":580902,"date":"2026-04-02T14:46:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/580902\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T14:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T14:46:12","slug":"pressure-grip-and-rolling-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/580902\/","title":{"rendered":"Pressure, Grip, and Rolling Resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated3 min read<\/p>\n

Riding in cold weather doesn\u2019t just mean dealing with the weather; it quietly changes how your tires work beneath you. Tires that feel great in July can suddenly feel dull and slow in January. Braking points stretch. Corners that were once automatic demand a little more attention. You\u2019re not imagining it and it all has to do with how temperature affects your tires.<\/p>\n

Rubber is temperature-sensitive, and bicycle tires are no exception. As temperatures drop, compounds stiffen, casings behave differently, and the traction window narrows. Combine that with winter pavement, road salt, and a pressure setting that made sense in summer, and the same tires will ride measurably worse.<\/p>\n

The good news is that small, informed adjustments to pressure, tire choice, and your expectations can help you better understand and ride confidently through the winter. Here are three of the most important things riders should know about winter weather and their tires.<\/p>\n

Your Tires Have a Different Grip Level When It\u2019s Cold<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to understand why a wet road will have less grip than a dry one. But most riders assume a dry road in July is the same as a dry road in December. The reality is that the level of grip you have on a dry road is susceptible to both temperature and the specific tire compound you\u2019re using.<\/p>\n

\"close<\/p>\n

Trevor Raab<\/p>\n

When Bicycle Rolling Resistance began static grip testing of tires, they found that testing at 70\u00ba gave them one set of results, while testing at 50\u00ba produced a completely different set. This is because rubber compounds and tire casings harden as temperature drops, but also have an optimal temperature window for grip. A tire might be too soft to achieve its best possible grip at 70\u00ba, but as it hardens, it might be optimal at 50\u00ba. A tire using a different compound and casing could see the exact opposite effect.<\/p>\n

The problem is that, unlike car tires, bicycle tires are not marketed for summer or winter use and don\u2019t list their optimal operating temperatures. This means that, for now, the best riders can do is be aware that temperature will significantly affect how well their tires grip the road.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re Not Imagining It, the Cold Is Slower<\/p>\n

There are a variety of factors that conspire to slow us down during the winter. Chief among them is our relative fitness, followed closely by the increased air density and drag of cold winter air. Turns out there was another culprit all along.<\/p>\n

\"tire<\/p>\n

Trevor Raab<\/p>\n

Recent tire testing published by Ronan Mc Laughlin of Escape Collective showed a large increase in rolling resistance as temperature dropped. This testing controlled for aerodynamic drag and revealed a significant 20-watt penalty in rolling resistance in some extreme cases when riding at near-freezing temperatures.<\/p>\n

Across Ronan\u2019s tire testing, temperature was the single largest factor influencing performance. Meaning that yes, you should probably wait for a warm day to go for that Strava segment.<\/p>\n

Setting Tire Pressure for a Cold Winter Day<\/p>\n

You should know that when you inflate your tires in a warm room and move them outside into the cold, the pressure will drop. The easiest way to address this is to use a tire pressure calculator with built-in temperature compensation.<\/p>\n

\"tire<\/p>\n

Trevor Raab<\/p>\n

The Wolf Tooth Tire Pressure Calculator <\/a>lets you set the inflation and riding temperatures and provides an inflation pressure that stabilizes at the intended operating pressure once you are outside. The key caveat is that when you inflate somewhere warm and then head into the cold, your pressure will initially be high until it cools, so for the first 20 minutes or so, your tires may feel overinflated and have reduced grip.<\/p>\n

If you have a secure outdoor space or an unheated garage, you could also inflate your tires there as a workaround. Just make sure your tires have a chance to cool down before inflating if they\u2019re stored somewhere warm. While there’s not much you can do about your tires’ reduced grip and increased rolling resistance, at least setting your tire pressure accurately and reliably for the temperature you’re riding in can go a long way towards helping you manage the adverse effects of cold weather on your tires.<\/p>\n

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Test Editor Dan Chabanov got his start in cycling as a New York City bike messenger but quickly found his way into road and cyclocross racing, competing in professional cyclocross races from 2009 to 2019 and winning a Master\u2019s National Championship title in 2018. Prior to joining Bicycling in 2021, Dan worked as part of the race organization for the Red Hook Crit, as a coach with EnduranceWERX, as well as a freelance writer and photographer.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3 min read Riding in cold weather doesn\u2019t just mean dealing with the weather; it quietly changes how…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":580903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,8203,10236,784,85,195133],"class_list":{"0":"post-580902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-carousel","11":"tag-core","12":"tag-cycling","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-supes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}