Snow / ice tyres?

dazzawazza
dazzawazza Posts: 462
edited February 2009 in Commuting chat
Does anyone own snow / ice tyres? How do they perform?

Comments

  • ride_whenever
    ride_whenever Posts: 13,279
    The guy who runs my lbs had them on this morning, he swears by them.

    I personally stick flats on my mtb and just skid round corners.
    Neeermad
    Carbon 456
    456 lefty
    Pompino
    White Inbred
  • tiny_pens
    tiny_pens Posts: 293
    I don't have snow tyres but I have been thoroughly pleased with the Nokian cross tyres that my kona Jake came with (second hand). I didn't notice how slippery it was until I stopped at a traffic light and nearly slipped over (serves me right for obeying traffic signals :D )
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    Real men wear 23c slicks.......and fall off allot.
  • BigStu2
    BigStu2 Posts: 794
    If you have a MTB run these. Schwalbe ice spiker pro, almost half the weight of the original ice spikers and offer outstanding grip on any ice covered surface, not to good on smooth rock faces and utterly useless on tiled areas at the local shopping mall.
    1002192sy9.th.jpg
    press for a bigger image.
    .........all
    ...at........work
    fun..................&
    ..no.............no
    .....is......play
  • woodyonthebeach
    woodyonthebeach Posts: 583
    Heres a place. Maybe a bit extream for the snow that we have had.

    http://www.icebike.org/Equipment/tires.htm

    May have been brought up before. Memory is all that good
    The doctor said I needed to start drinking more whiskey. Also, I’m calling myself ‘the doctor’ now
  • bikesdontfloat
    bikesdontfloat Posts: 200
    I've been running on Schwalbe Marathon Winters for the past couple of days (bought from Bike24 in Dresden, ordered on a Tuesday delivered to the UK on Friday and all for only €5.95 p&p). So far they seem great. Really composed and untroubled on the hard packed snow and slushy/icy roads we've just had.
    <hr noshade size="1">If BMWs are such good cars why do their drivers never trust their brakes as they approach an amber light?
  • resus1uk
    resus1uk Posts: 22
    I run a cheap MTB, salvaged from police auction, now fitted with Schwalbe Ice spike tyres for winters like this (I'm on the Yorkshire Wolds so snow is a regular thing every winter)

    Good grip even on refrozen ice/snow.

    Terrible noise on dry roads.
    Beware of overconfidence & going too fast for the conditions,still possible to slip off. Sometimes can ride when one can't stand up, so care on dismounting,

    I keep a standard set of nobblies for the rest of the year ,or to help swap the snow/ice spikes with my son's commuting MTB. Another salvage used for the trip to the station.
  • topcat33
    topcat33 Posts: 57
    I got sick of falling off as about 10 miles of my 13 mile commute is on a tarmac path covered in about 6 inches of ice. So, I made my own front spiked tyre and let a bit of pressure out of the back tyre.

    I used steel screws and cut the ends off for fairly agressive spikes. I only did the front because I wanted to see what the result would be, if the front wheel goes, you're off, the back is not so bad. I'm amazed at how well they work, I've not come off since, sometimes when I get off because the back wheel can't get traction I can't stand up so that's how well they work.

    They don't help in snow but that's where MTB tread comes in.
  • redvee
    redvee Posts: 11,922
    Remember an article in MBUK about Iditabike and a bike custom made for the race that had two rims joined together and two tyres running at low pressure for the snow, albeit a little more than we get here.
    I've added a signature to prove it is still possible.
  • topcat33
    topcat33 Posts: 57
    Yep, when the snow's too deep it's almost impossible to keep going, powder snow isn't too bad but wet stuff is a nightmare. It's not too bad for messing around but if you're commuting you need to keep up a decent speed.

    There's always this; http://hight3ch.com/post/ktrak-from-bik ... -snow-toy/

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