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Tires of any vehicle are usually treaded for two main reasons:

- Friction - On soft surfaces, where the knobs and ridges of the the tire can sink into the surface, the overlap between the two increases friction. A bit like when cogs or the two halves of a zipper mesh.

On hard surfaces, where the tread can't get any "bite", a smooth tire is usually better as it provides a bigger contact surface and better stability.

Treads also help a bit if you have sand/grit on a hard surface. With smooth tires, any sand/grit on a hard surface can act as ball bearings, allowing the tire to slip real easily. With treads, any sand/grit can only roll along a short distance before ending between the ridges and knobs, allowing for good contact between rubber and surface again.

- water dispersal - when something like a car wheel rolls through a puddle of water it'll act a bit like a rolling pin, pushing a wave of water ahead of it. The treads allow some of that squeezeed water to escape through the grooves of the tire, allowing the tire to still keep some rubber on the ground. Depending of speed and the depth of the water, eventually some of the water will be squeezed in under the tire instead, lifting it clear off the ground at which stage the tire will begin to hydroplane - lose grip - which is quite scary. Bicycle tires are too narrow to create much of a wave, and can't hydroplane under any realistic conditions.

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