why do the fastest bicycles have really thin tyres but the fastest cars have very wide tyres

Question

why do the fastest bicycles have really thin tyres but the fastest cars have very wide tyres

In: Engineering

Answer 1

Top fuel dragsters produce about 100000x more power than a human. The challenge is how to lay that much power down without skidding. Hence the big tires. They also have no gearbox; they rely on tire deformation to generate traction and change the final drive ratio as the car accelerate. That eats up some power, but they have power to spare.

Because humans are so wimpy, bikes need skinny tires to cut wind and rolling resistance. You see the odd fat-bike, and the fat wheels help with flotation, but that’s about it.