Can you mathematically compare wide-base to duals?

Can you compare the rolling resistance of a super single to a the rollling resistance of a dual, or are these numbers only comparable to other numbers within the same category (the two categories being duals and super singles)?


In other words, is it completely accurate to say that a super single with a rolling resistance of 150 is equal to two duals with a rolling resistance of 75 each? Or are you only "allowed" to compare duals to each other and super singles to each other?


I heard you can compare the RR of super singles with duals ... but then someone else told me you couldnt. (This second person said having a bad super single was NOT as good as having two good duals...which would not be the case if you could compare rolling resistance from either category.)


By the way, I just say "super single" cuz everyone else does but I know the actual term is "wide base single."

 

I appreciate the comments...and I'm still totally confused!


It seems to me that whatever mechanism pulls tires and determines rolling resistance should be "blind" in the sense that it should not know what it's pulling in terms of how much rubber is on the road, how heavy the tire is, how big the tire is, what kind of tire it is, etc etc....it should only be worried about how much resistance is given, how much force it takes to pull it, and then it should be able to give a number. Imagine I'm blindfolded and pulling a sled - first let's put my mother-in-law on the sled, and I'll give you a number that tells how much resistance there was, say 100. Then put a bull on the sled, and (still blindfolded) I'll pull the sled and give a number of 150. Two bulls on the sled and I'd give you 300. Etc etc etc.... Using this system, a wide-based single tire to which I gave 200 would be equal to two tires I gave 100 each put together....but I myself wouldn't even have to KNOW this because all this was going on when I was blindfolded and ALL I'm doing is reporting (with complete ignorance to what I was pulling) how much force it takes to pull each of these things. This way EVERYTHING with a rolling resistance would be comparable to everything else, no matter what it was. You would be able to compare wide-base tires and duals absolutely, with no question at all which was better.

For some reason everything I just said is showing up in a different font....

 

Thanks much. This kinda makes sense.

 

I think this is something the experts (like on the radio!) need to make clear when they are talking about rolling resistance to non-experts. I've heard lots and lots of experts talk about rolling resistance but no one ever said that the actual number applies to two duals together, not just the one tire. It's really misleading to talk about a single dual and say that "IT" has a rolling resistance of 120....and then talk about a wide-base tire tire and say "IT" has a rolling resistance of 120. Anyway thanks again for the help