the 29er does not have a larger contact patch it does have longer one though.
Contact patch means "area" of the tire (bike or car) in touch with the surface. Area = length X width. A "longer" contact patch or a "wider" contact patch both result in a "larger" contact patch.
you guys spend alot of time typing. In the time since I last left here I could have done a 100 mile bike ride and converted 10 tires to tubeless
contact patch does not change from one bike to one bike.
The only 2 variable in contact patch are
sprung weight
air pressure
wheel size, tire size and bike do not affect contact patch size. they will affect shape but the size. The square centimeters put on the ground would not change on my bike if I though pugsley tire on it or a road tire. Only the shape would be different.
BTW you have unsprung weight totally wrong in an early post, I typed up an explanation but the forum deleted it.
OUCH. Your engineering understanding surprises me sometimes. You are right about the contact patch. It's determined by the weight the tire has to support. Wrong thinking on my part. Good catch.
I type much better than I ride, btw.
sorry for the caps in the lat post....
its the contact patch starting to making sense though now?
the real reason why road bikes have narrow tires has more to do with aerodynamics and weight than rolling resistance. On MTBs for XC racing almost all the pro run 2.25 front and at least 2.1 rear. Some run as wide as 2.4 fronts and 2.35 rear.
In a perfect world 2.4 would weigh as much a 23c road tire and in that perfect world the 2.4 would for sure roll faster due to its short contact patch. In the real world wider tires do add weight, there is point in time where staight line speed is going to be sacrificed by the added weight, there is also a point in time where the added corning grip is not going to make you any faster.
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