Studs or Deep Grooves?

JavaCofe

hey guys,

just joined today though am a MTB fanatic, hope to enjoy your commentary

in about 3 weeks I'm going to be cycling in snow (Scottish Highland Hill Treck) and I was wondering on the general consensus with studs on tarmac? is the lag noticeable versus wide rubber?

going to be purchasing either:
Panaracer Fire XC Pro Kevlar
or
Shwalbe Snow Stud

PS. I'm going to be using 'slime' presta tubes .. not sure how they are affected by sub zero rolling temperatures?

butcher of bakersfield

I've no real experience, but I imagine it's going to depend if you're mostly going to be riding on snow, or ice..?

nicklouse

studs are for Ice. Just some normal tyres really will do.

JavaCofe

ok, I thought maybe studs could give me extra traction on the slippery rocks. Rubbers it is thanks!

ride_whenever

Nick is entirely correct (IIRC he lives in Scandinavia!!!!!)

Studs are amazing on ice, in that you put a foot down and fall over because you haven't realised you're cycling on sheet ice! In the snow just run skinny mud spikes, preferably a bit softer than usual.

On the road, the studs are very very loud. They're draggy but not a huge amount more than a similar weight tyre, I dropped weight when fitting 2.1 ice spiker pros and found they really weren't that bad so ran them from mid december through to late february last year.

butcher of bakersfield

I thought you ran fat tyres in the snow to stop you sinking through it?

nicklouse

yes if it is just snow that is very deep.

normally just run normal tyres say some Nobby Nics front and rear.

Hard pack snow and ICE is the only reason for studs.

Northwind

I usually use mud tyres... Depends on your snow but even very big regular tyres don't float well on snow, so I go for something that'll cut (and in this country snow's often accompanied by mud o'course).

ilovedirt

I would imagine studs would be more of a hindrance than a help on wet/snowy rocks!!