Winter Tyres...

beau selector

... yes I know we've not even had summer yet but hear me out.

My current commute involves taking a folding bike (Tern Verge P18) on the train & cycling around 15 miles per day on roads that I believe are gritted in the winter, though this year will be my first winter doing this commute so I'm not 100% certain.

Currently I have Schwalbe Kojak (slick) tyres on but I think it would be sensible to go for something with more grip for the winter. I've been thinking about the Schwalbe Winter Marathon tyres (the ones with the studs) which by all accounts are great even on ice & snow and was interested to know what others' experiences have been with these as well as any alternatives. From what I've read these are perhaps the most 'extreme' winter tyres and I'm not sure whether something else (i.e. without the studs & potentially less drag) might be more appropriate given that the roads I ride on should normally be gritted.

Any thoughts welcome, the reason I ask now is that some winter tyres seem to be cheaper now than they no doubt will be in a few months' time.

slowbike

I bought some studded tyres in October (in Norway, they were cheap), fitted them in November to some spare wheels, tried them, put the other wheels back on and spent most of the winter riding the slicks.

Only once did I go out only to come back because the back wheel slipped 3 times in under a mile - by then it was too late to ride* so I had to take the car

I've yet to really use the studded tyres.

* studded tyres are hard work and will slow you down considerably. Mine feel different on the corners too - there seems to be an edge to them - so need to be more careful.

I still feel it's best to choose the correct tyres for the conditions - ie slick most of the time, knobblies when there's lots of rubbish on the road and studded for ice conditions. To make that easy to achieve it's simpler to have 2 or more wheelsets with the relevant tyres and cassettes fitted.

DrLex

I'll echo much of slowbike's post, although I'm a little more positive about studded.
I bought a set of studded tyres for my hack bike a few years back; thereby giving me a quick alternative according to conditions/forecast. I reckon I've ridden barely two dozen days on them since, but glad to have them - not only do I feel safer (and Mrs Lex is happier), but it also adds to the exercise, as each tyre is about a kilo. Last outing, I cycled past a Vito van that was on its side and transverse across the ungritted road, and had two police cars in attendence.
If your 15 miles are on main roads, then chances are regular tyres will be fine for nearly all conditions - save your money and effort.

Initialised

I've been using Schwalbe Snow studs for the past four winters, I now fit them to an MTB to use when the weather is sub-zero. They have never punctured and have ridiculous grip on ice if you drop the pressure down towards 25PSI. They add about 1.4kg to the bike compared to Schwalbe Durano 1.1.

Take it easy on corners, they kind of resist aggressive cornering on tarmac anyway so will let you know when to ease off. I ignored this once, hit a patch of oil on the road and fractured my shoulder, not a bad break, just a chip but took loads of Physio to fix the tissue damage inside.

These days if I take the MTB I do an off road route for a change of scenery and riding style unless there's heavy snow or traffic then it's great to be the fastest thing on the road as an inch or two of snow brings the city to it's knees.

How do you find the Kojaks and what size do you use?

beau selector

Thanks for the replies so far.

The Kojaks that I use are 35-406, 20 inch wheels as it's a folding bike.

By the sound of it the studded tyres would offer excellent grip but might be a bit much in the conditions I'd expect to be riding in. Maybe something with more grip than my current tyres would be more appropriate for general winter riding.

Initialised

beau selector wrote:

Thanks for the replies so far.

The Kojaks that I use are 35-406, 20 inch wheels as it's a folding bike.

By the sound of it the studded tyres would offer excellent grip but might be a bit much in the conditions I'd expect to be riding in. Maybe something with more grip than my current tyres would be more appropriate for general winter riding.

My rule is basically if there is a decent chance of ice or snow I'll take the MTB with studs.

It is an odd feeling riding on ice, you feel the rear wheel go but as it goes the studs start to bite and you stay up.

Marathon Winters come in 20" 1.6 so not much bigger than the 1.35s you have.
http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/spikes/marathon-winter/

Last time I really missed them was descending into Rookhope on the C2C 7 off road route last March, being a North West facing hill it was icy in places and I had to take it easy as I was on a road bike, if I'd had the MTB with the Studs I could have flown down.

tomawest

I bought marathon winter tyres last year and was dissapointed I never had chance to try them out properly (although that did mean the weather was surprisngly good during winter).

I did however run them in for 40 miles and thought they were OK on tarmac. Puncture resistance was good and rolling resistence was not massively worse than the Marathon Plusses that I normally use however this was using the tyres at full PSI so there wasnt a massive amount of stud contact with the road. That being said, I had little to no confidence in leaning into any bend with the studs on as the traction was noticably worse (as you would expect). The vast amount of reviews I had read do state that you have to take care of them when its not icy and they will take care of you when it is. Id also say that when autumn arrives, it would be a good idea to use them then too as they do a good job against the leaves!

desweller

Winter Marathons are OK. I've heard good things about the Schwalbe Ice Spiker range.

It's pretty entertaining riding on packed snow / ice with spiked tyres if you don't mind a bit of slip and slide. It's impossible with conventional tyres no matter how knobbly they are.

mtbcommuter

I bought the Schwalbe winter tyres with studs a couple of years ago just prior to winter 2012. They were fantastic, I bedded them in as per the instructions & found they were very reasuring when in use on ice. They still offered plenty of grip in snow but obviously the snow makes pedalling a little harder.
I found it was quite amusing that some of my mates who drive to work found they got stuck/sat behind traffic that was stuck etc. whereas I had plenty of traction (until I got off and found I could barely walk on the ice!!)

I didn't use them last winter as it was so mild...even up North.

I would offer a little word of advice though, if you're going to buy them, buy them early. I paid £30 for a set for my MTB, when the snow arrived they were £30 each :shock:

Initialised

It was a disappointing winter, maybe this year we'll get some decent snow. I had to go well out of the way to find any snow or ice to justify riding the studs.

beau selector

mtbcommuter wrote:

I would offer a little word of advice though, if you're going to buy them, buy them early. I paid £30 for a set for my MTB, when the snow arrived they were £30 each :shock:

Tell me about it - dotbike were doing the 20 inch ones I'd need at £17.50 each but had already stopped trading by the time I came across them.

It sounds like they do the job really well, I guess it's up to me to decide whether they're necessary for riding on roads that I'd expect to be gritted over the winter or whether something else a bit less extreme but still more grippy than a set of slicks will suffice.

Kieran_Burns

That was a stonking ride. Right up until I got to the bit with 38 ton artics sliding around. I went home then, but the tyres were perfect for the conditions (Marathon Winters)

snig

I've seen two types of stud winter tyres, some with the studs covering most of the tyre and some with the studs just on the outside, are both for the same conditions, if so which are the best?

Initialised

snig wrote:

I've seen two types of stud winter tyres, some with the studs covering most of the tyre and some with the studs just on the outside, are both for the same conditions, if so which are the best?

Depends on conditions.

On roads where the snow is mostly cleared but theres the odd icy/snowy bit tyres with studs on the side will be better, they'll keep you up on the odd bit of ice. When it's full on ice and snow on untreated off road paths or packed snow full studs at low pressure would be better.

bobbygloss

Kieran_Burns wrote:

That was a stonking ride. Right up until I got to the bit with 38 ton artics sliding around. I went home then, but the tyres were perfect for the conditions (Marathon Winters)

When it's really icy, you need something with more spikes.


Nokian Extreme tyres. Just remember that you can't stand up when you stop.