schwalbe ice spikers?

CB75

recently bought a pair of these tyres after a slightly cold spell earlier in december and put them on my older kona five o deluxe as a burly hardcore winter bike. only problem is winter is actually turning very mild and im waiting on an arctic freeze to test out these bad boys! anyone else used these tyres and whats your opinion on them?

cooldad

Useful on ice, useless to use on anything else. How often are trails covered in ice - I've never seen any.
For Eskimos.

warpcow

What cooldad said. They're pretty much the goto tyre for early-Spring in Sweden (lots of sheet ice from melting snow), but have a very limited usage. They're ok for mixed snow and ice, but useless on bare ground.

CB75

i bought them mainly for commuting to work if things get slippy. where i live in scotland we had it bad in the winter, not so much last year but the couple of winters previous to that so i just wanted to be on the safe side this year but the way the weathers going could have been a waste of time and money!

Thewaylander

cooldad wrote:

Useful on ice, useless to use on anything else. How often are trails covered in ice - I've never seen any.
For Eskimos.

Year before last and the prior one for about 2-3 months solid actually lol.

But i get what you mean, would have liked a set for those months though, was an actuall thick layer of ice.

CB75

im hoping for that layer of ice again just so i can try them!

cooldad

Thewaylander wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Useful on ice, useless to use on anything else. How often are trails covered in ice - I've never seen any.
For Eskimos.

Year before last and the prior one for about 2-3 months solid actually lol.

But i get what you mean, would have liked a set for those months though, was an actuall thick layer of ice.

Not in the sunny south. Bit of snow, which is fun, odd patches of ice/puddles, but no sheets.

Are you this guy?

CB75

nice one cooldad but no im not that guy! but once the ice comes (if it does!) that will be the face of every other rider sliding all over the place while i remain upright!

cooldad

In that case I hope they new ice age comes soon. Horrible having new toys and not being able to play with them.

nicklouse

Over kill never needed them in Sweden.

the spiked Marathons for commuting yes. but Ice spikers sure if you are on a Bob run.

raldat

Did a snow race here in Denmark a few weeks back. Was running Mountan King 2 race sports while many others had ice spikers on. They had no advantage and the MKs were great. That was fresh snow no ice.

But, I found some ice sheets on forest roads last week when it was all melting and the MKs were no match. A mate and I came off at exactly the same time. Would have been really funny if it didn't hurt!

Still, the ice was less than 10% of the track distance so would not have had spikes on even if I had them.

CB75

the reason i bought them is if it turns icy. snow isnt so much of an issue or reason for buying them. i just wanted a little bit of security knowing that if it gets icy, as it was bad in previous winters, then i can still commute and not come off. im sure we've all had that bad experience of an unexpected slide but 2 years ago i almost ended up under the wheels of a car. so idprefer to be on the safe side!

cooldad

Trouble is they'd be worse than useless on the bits of road with no ice. Which is most of it.

rockmonkeysc

They are completely pointless. Trails aren't usually particularly slippery, normal tyres do the job perfectly well. They would give more grip on the odd frozen puddle but who needs that when you can just commit and enjoy the slide :-)

concorde

On the plus side, it'll probably last you a life time. If you've got the money and get some snow and ice now and again (we do in Wales) then why not.

CB75

RockmonkeySC wrote:

They are completely pointless. Trails aren't usually particularly slippery, normal tyres do the job perfectly well. They would give more grip on the odd frozen puddle but who needs that when you can just commit and enjoy the slide :-)

like i said previously the whole point is to stay upright commuting. on ANY normal tyre black ice can have your bike sliding unexpectedly and take you by surprise so commiting and enjoying the slide is all well and good but when you dont expect it and with traffic about its a diffirent story. As for previous comments about the marathons, i did look at them but thought with only spikes round the sides theres still a possibility of sliding with no central spikes thats why i went for the ice spikers. overkill or not id like to stay alive for a wee while longer and not be under the wheels of an oncoming vehicle, had a close escape before and you really cant put the price of a set of tyres on your life. overkill? staying alive!!

cooldad

But 99.9% of the road will not have black ice, so grip there will be compromised, and the spikes will wear out very quickly.

CB75

they have to be run in on road for 25 miles to set the spikes into position. when it freezes here it gets very icy. id rather be safe than sorry!

rolf_f

cooldad wrote:

But 99.9% of the road will not have black ice, so grip there will be compromised, and the spikes will wear out very quickly.

Actually, this isn't my experience. Marathon Winters are fine on normal, unfrozen tarmac; they make a sound like you are riding on pea gravel but otherwise you hardly notice they are on (even the weight isn't so much worse than a normal Marathon Plus not that that is saying much).

And, of course, the spikes don't wear out. They are made of tungsten carbide which is harder than a) the tarmac and b) the rubber of the tyre

CB75 wrote:

As for previous comments about the marathons, i did look at them but thought with only spikes round the sides theres still a possibility of sliding with no central spikes thats why i went for the ice spikers.

Depends which ones you get - my Marathon Winters do have spikes along the main tread line. Basically four rows. I think some varieties only have two rows which I guess are the ones you looked at.

CB75

looks like i might get some use out of these bad boys soon!

The Rookie

Must admit I am very aware than one missed patch of ice on my commuter and I'm going down......having said that I'd never improve any strava segments on ice spikers.....marathon winters are a sensible winter commuting option though.