Schwalbe Marathon Winter (spike) tyres

CycleOfViolence

Road home at 11pm last night along the towpath at -5, over frozen snow and ice, never slipped, slid or twitched, excellent investment.

IanLD

No further stud loss so far. Had some icy patches on the way back and had one twitch on frozen run off on a cambered bit of cycle path. Same point I had a twitch when using the Continental Winter Contact II tyres.

Both times it was the rear and nothing to cause any concern.

Still bedding them in, so not running at lower pressure which I presume would be beneficial for icy stretches. What sort of pressure is best for ice?

Bordersroadie

Ian, if it's occasional black ice or patches of frozen field runoff (ie lots of bare tarmac) I use 70psi, the max. Much quieter and reasonably low rolling resistance.

For sheet ice/widespread black ice I go down to 40-50psi. This is when the Rice Krispies are loud!

Inbetween, on compacted snow I'll go with 60psi.

My commute is all on rural backroads so I get quite a variety of conditions.

IanLD

Thanks for that info

Great to get ideas of what works with them and pressures for different conditions. With the weather over in the west of Scotland being cold but dry so far, I'm not getting big areas of ice, so will keep them at 70. Hard to tell from the forecast if we will get much snow, so not sure if I'll get a real chance to try them out.

Have to say that even on the patches of ice I've ridden on so far, it is great not to have to worry too much about them. Still finding my way on them, but was pleased when I got shouted at to watch for the ice on my way home by a guy on a road bike with slicks and was able to continue without problem.

Anyone know how well the 20" version copes with frozen ruts etc? That's still a concern I have that may put paid to my once or twice a week leave the car at home days. No space in the office for my hybrid, so can't use the 700c to deal with ruts

Initialised

Urgh, loads of slush this morning, like stirring custard.

father_jack

can't see the point of these in the UK. The only snowy and icy roads is my street, on the main roads they're gritted.

Probably more suited for countries like finland and alaska where you have inches of snow and ice, rather than UK "snow storms"

Big_Paul

Father Jack wrote:

can't see the point of these in the UK. The only snowy and icy roads is my street, on the main roads they're gritted.

Probably more suited for countries like finland and alaska where you have inches of snow and ice, rather than UK "snow storms"

That's the problem, in NI, gritting is very hit and miss apart from motorways, the only gritted road within half a mile of my house is a dual carriageway, the hard shoulder/cycle lane is never gritted, I also have a shed up in the hills that can be pretty much cut off in icy conditions, the winters made short work of the big hill up to it, when I got off the bike to open the gate, I nearly went on my backside it was so icy.

fnegroni

IanLD wrote:

Anyone know how well the 20" version copes with frozen ruts etc?

Remarkably well, especially if mounted on a BMX bike.

meanredspider

Father Jack wrote:

can't see the point of these in the UK. The only snowy and icy roads is my street, on the main roads they're gritted.

Probably more suited for countries like finland and alaska where you have inches of snow and ice, rather than UK "snow storms"

Well, I suppose you're lucky to be riding on main roads when it snows (and very unlucky to be riding on them the rest of the year....). I simply couldn't commute by bike without them because I'm lucky enough to hardly share the route I take with a single other car. Lots of other people take cycle routes, canal paths etc etc which don't get gritted. Doesn't take much of a fall on ice to wish you'd invested.

rolf_f

I was between Leeds and Bradford on Monday on normal Delta Cruisers (on my touring bike). One of those days where you don't know what tyres to pick but not wishing to salt up my newly built, fresh framed mtb (on which the Winters are used), I didn't err on the side of caution or route.

I soon found myself riding on a road covered in snow and then on a road with random snow packs chucking the rear wheel all over the place. Whether I should have had the knobblies or the Winters (or even the Deltas) I don't know but even somewhere like Leeds does have occasional need for Winters. You can't always rely on the gritting - even on main roads.

Kieran_Burns

My commute is almost exclusively 12 miles of country lanes, none of which are gritted.

The problem I faced was the half rutted, half frozen, half snow covered roads (I know that makes 150%, it felt like it)

There was no way I could've made that run on anything other than the Marathon Winters. The only thing that DID stop me was the realisation I would be sharing the road with 38 ton artics in a couple of miles. I was doing fine (apart from the bloody ruts making the front wheel twitchy) but the knowledge that a huge great artic trying to get past me on the NSL stretch made me realise it was just too dangerous.

Shame that, it was kind of fun until that bit. What I might do next time is try the 18 mile river path route and see how things are that way

IanLD

25 miles done today on the 20" version. 2 miles this morning where I could see the patchy ice and 23 mile run home along Clyde walkway. Honestly couldn't tell the difference between clear sections, heavily frosted sections, ice and frozen run-off.

Still to gain full confidence in the tyres abilities, but found them amazing today. Never thought I would be wanting ice to ride on!

Initialised

@KB slow down the lorries, let them pass then draft them to get back up to speed.

cookeeemonster

your fancy dan spike tyres are now obsolete

http://road.cc/content/news/74516-bike-spikes-tackling-snow-and-ice-video

Kieran_Burns

Initialised wrote:

@KB slow down the lorries, let them pass then draft them to get back up to speed.

Why are you not dead? :shock:

corshamjim

I think my Marathon Winter tyres are nearly done. I've used them three winters now, commuting 8 miles daily so I think they've lasted well. The tyres themselves are fine; the studs are rather worn smooth though and I've found they're just not digging in like they should. I'm hoping this weekend will be the last of this winter's frosty weather, then I won't need to worry about buying another pair until next autumn.

Initialised

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Initialised wrote:

@KB slow down the lorries, let them pass then draft them to get back up to speed.

Why are you not dead? :shock:

Dumb luck probably.

Just bagged 4th place on a Strava Segment (Redheugh North) drafting a bus in the snow on an MTB on Snow Studs. It might be a bit stupid, reckless and dangerous but it's so much fun!

wolfsbane2k

Just bumping this thread from the grave, as it's a useful reference going forward.

porlyworly

After getting thoroughly soaked this morning, thinking of fitting mudguards to my CX bike for winter commuting duties.

Got a spare set of wheels with 35c Marathon winter spikes which I swap in when the roads are covered in ice / snow, anyone know if clearance wise they will be fine with guards? Got these guards (45mm version which claims to be good up to 35c) https://www.condorcycles.com/products/p ... 7007836615