On Fri, 29 Jun 2018 11:32:57 +0100, Tim Streater
wrote:

snip

Various people here have talked about that, with a flat, the axle is
much closer to the road.

No?!

Well, so it is, by almost the whole distance
from where the tread starts down to the tire rim.

Yes, to make that easier for some to understand let's call that 'the
height of the tire wall (you left brained artists do have a strange
way of looking at mechanical things).

That's prolly about a
third, say 30%, and consequently, people have been trying to imply that
30% of the circumference must disappear too.

Where has anyone 'implied' such a thing, apart from in your head?

Well it would need to,
otherwise the wheel and tire would rotate at a different rates and the
tire would disintegrate.

What are you babbling on about now ffs?

And since as Den so helpfully points out, this is what actually
happens, we conclude that the circumference does not "shrink".

Brilliant. The people who actually understand what is going on *know*
that it is in fact exactly what does happen ... and for reasons you
would never be able to understand. ;-(

Cheers, T i m