Time for winter tyres yet?

ads4

I'm heading to Bedgebury for a ride with the other half and haven't been out for a few weeks due to work...how are the trails? Will I get away with my Ignitor/Crossmark combo or is it time to stick on the winter Highrollers??

Heading off in a couple of hours...

ads4

Heading off in an hour....

ricardo_smooth

make your own judgement based on what the weather has been like and what it's like today. If it is wet you'll just slide more, High rollers are fine in both conditions though. I use Minions all year round as i CBA to change tyres back and forth. I'm not racing so the rolling resistance benefit isn't really that important to me

Richie63

Ha, if it's Bedgebury, I'd stick with the least tread tyres you have ....To make it interesting

bamba

I dont quiet get the winter tyre thing , mud is mud regardless of the reason, its not like we have really dry weather for seasons at a time like some countries.

Long_Time_Lurker

Depends where you ride and the type of mud that you have on the trails.
Up here in the North East when it is dry, the trails are dusty and gritty, however once it rains for a few days, that turns into a gritty sludge that I haven't experienced anywhere else in the country - very slippery (with the added pain that the grit messes up your chainset).

Back down at my folks (in Hampshire), I never bother changing tyres - standard knobblies work fine.

Was out last night on some trails and the mud is back.
Luckily, I switched my tyres before the ride, otherwise I would have been swimming in a river.

diy

I just swapped my spesh fast trak "summer" front for my Kenda nevegal to get a bit more grip. I'll be swapping the rear for another nevegal or blue groove in a week or two.

The difference between summer wet and autumn/winter wet is that the rain in the sun dries out quickly, whereas in the winter it soaks in, so even in the dry its wet.

If you don't ride very far, you may as well stick to all-round tyres, but if you do any kind of distance, you will want to try to get away with the lowest grip you can. It makes a big difference.

I did 35 miles on sunday and switching the front added 15-20 mins to the ride time. and knocked my avg down by 1mph.