Turned around and gave up!

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Comments

  • Initialised
    Initialised Posts: 3,047
    After an off this morning and a niggly shoulder I'm sorely tempted to do some spikey mod or get some ice spikers but £50 each seems overkill.
    I used to just ride my bike to work but now I find myself going out looking for bigger and bigger hills.
  • shouldbeinbed
    shouldbeinbed Posts: 2,660
    Frozen solid in north Manchester this morning, rather hairy going through the country park. Looking forward to trying my stud tyres out.
  • andrewc3142
    andrewc3142 Posts: 906
    Haven't tried studded tyres on a bike, but certainly for cars they only work where the roads aren't cleared at all, eg in parts of Scandinavia. Don't work on tarmac - no grip, wear out in a trice and also not legal (for cars).

    Could be fun off-road for the one or two days we get snow and ice proper, although when I lived in Poland I just used normal MTB tyres - wouldn't fancy studs for where there is a risk of ending up cycling on tarmac.
  • rhann
    rhann Posts: 383
    andrewc3142 wrote:
    Haven't tried studded tyres on a bike, but certainly for cars they only work where the roads aren't cleared at all, eg in parts of Scandinavia. Don't work on tarmac - no grip, wear out in a trice and also not legal (for cars).

    Could be fun off-road for the one or two days we get snow and ice proper, although when I lived in Poland I just used normal MTB tyres - wouldn't fancy studs for where there is a risk of ending up cycling on tarmac.
    are they illegal, have you got link for them being illegal
  • bobbygloss
    bobbygloss Posts: 317
    I think they are illegal in summer in Norway. After something like 15th October, they are legal and most people use them after the first snowfall causes chaos.
    I would say more than 75% of cars in Stavanger have studs on today, and we don't normally get much snow.
    Lots of bikes have switched to them too.
  • andrewc3142
    andrewc3142 Posts: 906
    rhann wrote:
    andrewc3142 wrote:
    Haven't tried studded tyres on a bike, but certainly for cars they only work where the roads aren't cleared at all, eg in parts of Scandinavia. Don't work on tarmac - no grip, wear out in a trice and also not legal (for cars).

    Could be fun off-road for the one or two days we get snow and ice proper, although when I lived in Poland I just used normal MTB tyres - wouldn't fancy studs for where there is a risk of ending up cycling on tarmac.
    are they illegal, have you got link for them being illegal

    When I lived in Poland (for 11 years) I used to do a lot of driving on snow and ice. I fitted winter tyres (not the ones with studs) around 1 November and swapped back in the spring. Worked absolutely fine. In the UK many people (not implying you) seem to think that winter tyres = snow tyres = studs. Not at all the case.

    I did have a set of chains I used to pack in winter, but even in the heaviest snow, on roads covered with thick water ice, I never actually had to use them.

    I did once have to drive a car a short way on uncleared roads with summer tyres on and that was seriously scary ....

    I also tried cycling on my MTB through Saski Park at -15C on a path that was covered with about 20cm of smooth ice. Needless to say, I fell off.
  • fossyant
    fossyant Posts: 2,549
    Studded MTB/hybrid tyres work very well on tarmac.

    I opted for Swalbe Snow studs which are a medium studded tyre, but with an off road tread - you can get fully spiked off road (very expensive) or lightly spiked road/trail tyres as well..

    You run them at 30 psi and the carbide studs 'tinkle' as you ride. As for wear, they don't appear to have worn at all from last winter. I only used them for the two snow bound weeks, and on any wet/damp icy days, including a fair amount of tarmac work. In the snow I just took the off road route as it was a blast, and it was away from sliding cars. On the icy days I took part road/part off road route (part road to keep commute times down).

    They work really well on iced up side roads, just don't try anything stupid. Ride and turn smoothly and you'll have no problems.

    Down side is they are heavy and slow going (like any MTB tyre) but that saved me from pranging the fixed road bike !
  • andrewc3142
    andrewc3142 Posts: 906
    Studded MTB/hybrid tyres work very well on tarmac.

    Happy to be corrected.
  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    "Turn around and give up" would be my advice to anyone thinking of cycling in icy conditions :/
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