Vittoria Corsa Pro are they directional?

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by Web1111a

Where do you see it on the control?

Some days this forum needs a reading comprehension refresher at the login prompt

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by tellyho

I feel like I read somewhere that tire makers tested tires and found that rolling resistance was different in different orientations.

It's more like that it is something the tire makers would like you to think, regardless of its veracity. Tires are a product whose features can be difficult to distinguish by casual inspection - for example, tread compound plays a large role in tire performance, but you can't tell one compound from another by eye. So product makers often add visually obvious features to make it easier for customers to distinguish one brand or model from another. For tires, the most visually obvious feature is the pattern of the tread. Which the tire makers then have to justify by insinuating that their tread patterns are better - regardless of whether there is any basis for these insinuations. Note that the reason I used the word "insuation", because these companies typically provide no hard evidence. For example, when was the last time you saw a tire company present rolling resistance or traction data? Answer: Never.

[dr.dre]

Originally Posted by Web1111a

Where do you see it on the control?

It's very small print, on the edge of the tread, I guess owing to the sipes on the side, there is a way they are meant to be oriented. The other guys might be right, and it doesn't matter at all to traction or rolling resistance, I don't know.

[dana_e]

Non-control, are not

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by dr.dre

It's very small print, on the edge of the tread, I guess owing to the sipes on the side, there is a way they are meant to be oriented

Those so-called "sipes" aren't true sipes, they are just grooves fashioned into the tread to give the impression of wet weather traction. In reality, bicycle tires too narrow and under too high a pressure to be able hydroplnae. And besides which, those tiny groove couln't move much water even if bicycle tires could hydroplane (the reason auto cars need sipes). If you compare an auto tire to a bicycle tire, you'll find the tread contact patch of the bicycle tire is likely smaller than the tread blocks between the sipes on the auto tire. The "fuax sipes" on bicycle tires are put there siimply to placate consumers, who assume that since auto tires need sipes, then bicycle tires must need them too.