Snow tyres

PIKEO

Hi there peeps, hope your all well? just to ask about some advice as for snow tyres, planning on commuting in the snow this year and was looking at these http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=24563 . What do you guys think? thanks PIKEO

Pudseyp

Bit of an overkill and very expensive !! you just need some decent mud tyres that will do the job...at the end of the day if it doesn't snow they will be a waste of money and the points will wear very quickly..

Something like these which you can run at low pressure to maximise grip...

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... -2in-9241/

PIKEO

will these grip hard compacted snow or ice, because that is what the ground was like last year and I can not see the rubber of a tyre alone could do this, hence the studs. I'm not trying to dismiss your advice, just thought these tyres will be no good in that situation, thanx PIKEO

nicklouse

yes they are for ICE and very compacted snow. but are not the lightest ice tyres.

PIKEO

nicklouse wrote:

yes they are for ICE and very compacted snow. but are not the lightest ice tyres.

haha sorry, I ment the tyres from the post above not the ones I had the link to, if these are not the lightest ice/snow tyre, do you happen to know which are? thanx

robertpb

These are as light as can get for ice tyres, but the price will make your eyes water.

http://www.nextdaytyres.com/Tyres/Schwa ... spx?ID=609

Softer compound mud tyres are a lot cheaper and grip a lot better than you would think.

PIKEO

not totally sure to what I will get, defo a toss up between the two snow tyres, thanx for your time to answer my topic, take care all of you

TheJohnClimber

I've got 2 of these 3.8" wide monsters turning up this week
http://www.fatbikes.com/surly-nate-tire-120tpi.html


Bring on the snow

Northwind

Depends how much riding you're going to do in those conditions... For snow that hadn't been packed down and squashed by a million feet, my swampthings still did the trick but ice and hardpack is a different story. So I got a pair of old tyres and whacked about 200 steel screws through them, then ground the ends down slightly and packed the inside of the tyre with a load of tape and an old inner tube, to stop the heads puncturing the tube. Sounds ridiculous but it's surprisingly effective. The screws wear quite fast on tarmac but they did all of last winter's bad snow.

cooldad

I remember the pics. Didn't believe it would actually work.

RyanMK43

I have a pair of the ice spikes, although i can't comment on how well they worked in the compacted snow, as when they finaly tunred up from the delays from the snow it had all gone and only really thin slush left around (they worked fine in that). Schwalbe recommend you run them on hard surfaces for i think it was 20 miles, so i put them on for my daily commute and they roll surprisingly well on the roads although people will hear you comming, the spikes sound like somebody crushing glass with a rolling pin. yeah they are quite exspensive but you will have them for years to come because you will not be using them for 3/4 of the year. My daily commute to work is about 16 miles there and back, half road and and the rest is paths down the river and little back roads so only half getts gritted, the rest is compacted snow/ sheet ice and after having a couple of nasty accidents the year before i thought enough is enough and brought a pair, i feel a hell of a lot more confident knowing i have these for when things get bad. All the reviews are good and say they work. So i say yeah go for it.

Northwind

cooldad wrote:

I remember the pics. Didn't believe it would actually work.

Did I do pics? That's unusually organised of me I've never used proper ice spikes, but I'm reasonably sure they'd work better than mine. I think most of the problems I had with mine are just down to the choice of tyres- I used a Factory XC (s***e) and a rather worn-out Nevegal so they don't work that well on softer snow. Should have used Swampies or Medusas or something. But they're pretty capable on sheet ice and hard snow.

Thing about the proper ice spikes is that sure, they're expensive but you could still be using them in 5 years or more.

cooldad

Seem to remember a whole thread. Can't be arsed to look though. We do a lot of riding in the snow, but all off road and an old set of Onza Porcs work fine.
I commute in a car, like grown ups do.

Anonymous

This kind of discussion comes up in car forums also and the simple answer is to ask yourself how many days you think you'll get ice and hard compacted snow conditions in the UK to justify it? Even "up north" it can't be that many to be worth the hassle changing tyres for the odd day like that and the expense. If it's commuting, would your place of work even be open anyway if conditions are like that?

Minions and High Rollers work for me in snow. They work in just about any condition for me. Compacted snow is usually fine as long as it hasn't been turned into ice.

Northwind

cooldad wrote:

I commute in a car, like grown ups do.

Often I do, but last year it was buried by 2 feet of snow

PIKEO

deadkenny wrote:

This kind of discussion comes up in car forums also and the simple answer is to ask yourself how many days you think you'll get ice and hard compacted snow conditions in the UK to justify it? Even "up north" it can't be that many to be worth the hassle changing tyres for the odd day like that and the expense. If it's commuting, would your place of work even be open anyway if conditions are like that?

Minions and High Rollers work for me in snow. They work in just about any condition for me. Compacted snow is usually fine as long as it hasn't been turned into ice.

We had loads of snow for the last two years, and it stayed around for two weeks and I live near the coast, so it tells you how much snow we got. Good to see it on Christmas day, but it can bugger off after lol

cooldad

Northwind wrote:

cooldad wrote:

I commute in a car, like grown ups do.

Often I do, but last year it was buried by 2 feet of snow

Happened to me a few times as well, good excuse for a few days off. My company doesn't count it as leave neither.

Northwind

Think they would have been annoyed after the third week tbh. Though, I did take a few days off just on general principles.

cooldad

We have it a bit easier in the sunny south.

Northwind

I live up the top of a decent size north-facing hill, which is dead clever. On the plus side, when the icecaps melt I'll be fine.