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Car tires shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment. Urgent action is needed (phys.org)
submitted 2 years ago* by to c/climate@slrpnk.net
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Electric cars are not THE solution.

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[–] 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Is it not because they have so little contact area compared to passenger vehicle tires?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    The contact area compared to the weight ratio is not that different from any other vehicle .... a bike weighs less so it has less contact ... a car weighs more and so needs more contact with the road ... a truck weighs a lot and needs even more contact with the road.

    The end result is always the same ... the technology is there to make a motorcycle tire last far longer and the same with car tires ... the problem is is that there is no financial incentive to make a long lasting tire that would be better for the environment.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I know motorcycle tires need replacing fairly frequently, but I had no idea it was a racket. Although, I'd think they'd generally need to be softer for maximum traction on two wheels.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago

    The whole traction debate only makes sense if you start getting into racing speeds and riding on a fast race track. For the average rider, we're only riding at normal highway speed (at least we are supposed to) and guys like me like our riding lifestyle enough to never get into crazy speeds because we baby our bikes, we don't want to create any more variables to put our lives at risk and we're cheap and don't want to wear out our tires.

    If I knew of a manufacturer that produced a cheap $100 tire that could last four or five season of my light moderate riding ... it would be the only tire I would buy. But there are so many manufacturers, types, subtypes, models, years, design, material of tires out there that's it's a constant science to try to figure out what is real and what isn't. I usually don't have the time to research it all nor do I have the resources that I just end up buying the same Metzeler tires because I don't want to order the wrong tire and I definitely don't want to install the wrong tire either.

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