When do I need winter tires?

hippak

Hi All.

Question regarding winter tires. When I lived in Canada At the first snowfall studded tires would go on my mountain bike. Now that I'm living in the Netherlands we rarely get any snow (last year we had 1 day of negative temperature the whole winter). On the off chance that it does snow or that we experience negative temperatures for an extended period of time I will park my road bike. So with that being said there's no plan's to get studded tires (if that is even possible on a road bike).

But what i'm wondering is if there is a period of time where the temperature is hovering around 0 degrees Celsius, is there a particular tire I need to swap to to keep me safe on the road or would the stock tires that come with say a stock Madone 4.9 be fine in the winter months?

Thanks in advance for the help!

w00dster

Hi Hippak,
No need for winter tyres per se. I know people who run their stock tyres throughout the winter. I have a Madone (4.7) and I use Conti 4 Seasons. I don't think there is a great deal of additional grip, but they seem to be pretty puncture resistant (I've had 2 punctures in the last 18 months - approx 500 miles a month).
From memory the Madone comes with Bontrager R2 tyres, if it is these, then you might want to do what I did - used them until it started to get really wet and cold then put these on the turbo and use my Conti 4 Seasons. (That said I've just bought a new cyclocross bike with nice big tyres and disc brakes for this winter)

John.T

The biggest problem in winter is that you tend to get more punctures in the wetter conditions. The flints and glass bits get lubricated and cut in easier. I run pretty well the same tyres summer and winter. Just go to 25s on my winter bike. Tyres with a softer compound grip better on wet roads and do not wear as fast as they do in the dry. If you have only one road bike then just run what is on it unless you find grip problems.

roux_guy

I've just bought a set of Conti 4 seasons ready for winter. The rubber is designed to stay softer and grippier in cold temperatures and they have a double Vectran layer, Conti's toughest anti-puncture technology.

markhewitt1978

Roux_guy wrote:

I've just bought a set of Conti 4 seasons ready for winter. The rubber is designed to stay softer and grippier in cold temperatures and they have a double Vectran layer, Conti's toughest anti-puncture technology.

Same. I generally change them around the time the clocks change at the end of October and back to GP4000S when the clocks change back again in March.

Philby

I keep my Conti GP4000S 23mm tyres on all year round. Never had a problem with punctures caused by objects piercing the rubber.

Initialised

You only need Winters when it snows or there's ice about.

dennisn

WHEN?
Well, summer, spring, and fall are out. Let's see, what's left? :?

Monty Dog

Nothing except studded tyres will give you grip when there's black ice on the road. Wider tyres at lower pressures will provide a little more grip but to be safe, I simply head offroad. When it's wet in these parts, little flints get washed onto the road that simply shred anything performance-oriented - riding 'fast' tyres in winter is a good way to pi$$-off your ride-buddies when you need to borrow tubes/pump/patches.

kingrollo

.....and it depends what your stock tyres are.....theres no need for winter tyres .....but if you ride something as feathery as michelin pro race - you will get a few punctures in thw winter IME !

NeXXus

What is a winter tyre?

dj58

Continental Wintercontact TS 850 205/55 R16 91H, great on cars, a little on the wide side for a bike.

Seriously though, a winter tyre should have a soft compound that stays supple when the temperature goes below 7 deg. C.

Conti's bike winter tyre http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle ... pike.shtml

and this http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle ... nter.shtml