Dear Lizzy:

You know a lot more about tires than I do. To me an inch wide doesn't seem so wide because the mountain bike tires sold around here are two-three times that wide. My tires are an inch wide with a raised pattern of zig zags. It has a zig zag, indention, zig zag. The raised zig zag is opposite of indentions. Two lines of raised zig zags opposite smooth flat indentions. The raised zig zag is smooth like the flat indentions but because the zig zag is raised next to the flat indentions it gives the tires a knobby looking appearance. Its actually kind of a pretty pattern if you look at it but who looks that hard at tires. You probably don't get a very good idea of what it looks like from my description but since you were right about the width you probably have a better idea of what the tire is like than I do. I actually thought my tires were less than an inch wide because they seemed so narrow compared to the standard mountain bikes. Yet they are wider than my husband's which suited me fine because this is the first time I've ridden on such narrow tires. Okay maybe an inch isn't narrow but if you've only ridden tires that are much wider an inch it seems narrow. Its all a matter of perspective I guess. I'm pretty sure we don't have any performance catalogs around. Are they catalogs that sell bike parts? I live in a place where cycling is really popular yet I've noticed that the local bike shops really don't have much in a variety of saddles,clothing, camelbaks, water bottles, different bike parts ect. The local REI has more cycling apparel and camelbaks than the bike shops do and since REI caters to all sports I find that surprising. If you hydroplane on a bike do you lose control? I hydroplaned in a car once and felt as though I didn't have any control while hydroplaning. On second thought I can see that your right and that wintry wet conditions would be a lot different than just riding through pavement wet from sprinklers. But I think I will still approach any wet places cautiously.