The type of bicycle tires you choose can have a pronounced effect on your speed. However, the terrain on which you're riding can easily counteract or improve any effects of your tires. The simplest method to increase your speed, for many bicyclists, is inflating your tires to their recommended pressure. An underinflated tire does not roll as smoothly.
Durability
Tires with thick puncture-resistant fabric or rubber will last longer and get fewer flats. However, they will be slower than thin tires because they do not absorb the shocks and jolts of road obstacles and roughness as well as thin tires do. Similarly, the softer the rubber, the faster the tire, and the more easily it succumbs to flats.
Width
Wide tires absorb impacts better, making them ideal for mountain bikes, beach cruisers and BMX bikes. However, narrow tires have less air resistance and are more maneuverable, so are likely to be faster than wide tires given the same conditions. You can use them on road racing, track and commuter bikes.
Diameter
Theoretically, smaller diameter tires would be slower because of rolling resistance. As tires rotate when you ride, they deform against the ground and this creates rolling resistance, or friction that slows you down. A small tire has a larger percentage of its circumference deflecting against the ground at any given time. However, engineer and bicyclist Jobst Brandt notes that smaller tires tend to be manufactured with thinner rubber and use lighter tubes, eliminating their disadvantage and in some cases making them faster than larger tires.
Tread
Jobst Brandt points out that knobby treaded tires experience greater rolling resistance because the tire bulges and deforms between the tread spaces as it deflects against the ground. As outdoor equipment retailer REI notes, a slick or semi-slick tire has little rolling resistance, and will move faster than knobby tires on paved roads.
Terrain
While nearly all tires move faster on smooth pavement than on gravel or mud, treaded tires give you an enormous speed advantage off-road. Tires with thick wide tread can gain traction and move on muddy terrain, whereas slick tires would just slip and slide. Slick tires cannot grip complex off road terrain. The high traction and maneuverability of knobby tires on muddy, gravelly or bumpy surfaces more than offsets their higher rolling resistance.
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