no tread tyres for commuting?

pluckey

hi ive been cycling happilly on the tyres that came with my road bike i bought in february till someone pointed out that they have no tread - they are racing tyres i think.
are they dangerous on a daily commute from tallaght to the city or should i get some treaded tyres?

It is a common misconception that bicycle tyres need a tread pattern similar to car tyres in order to be safe. Car tyres are treaded to prevent them from aquaplaning, bicycle tyres are too narrow to aquaplane and also have a rounded profile which means their footprint is oval as opposed to the rectangular contact patch of a car tyre, so they push water to either side. It has been calculated that a bicycle would need to move at 160kph+ through standing water to aquaplane. The only reason to have tread on a bicycle tyre is for grip off road. On road, tread actually decreases the amount of grip because it reduces the contact area of the tyre. Despite this, virtually all bicycle tyres intended for road use have some sort of tread on them. This is purely for marketing purposes and is playing to the uninformed masses that are unaware of the above.

Explained in more detail here.

Chips Lovell

You don't need tread on road tyres. Any tread you do see on them is purely cosmetic and serves no real purpose other than to reassure worried cyclists.

EDIT: James beat me to it.

serendip

I use the same, and probably many here do too.

Just watch out for manhole covers and the like in the wet. On normal roads they're fine, even in the wet.

Edit: James and El Tonto beat me to it.

pluckey

cool guys , thanks