A purely theoretical question I am sure. Snow.

bendertherobot

I take it that snow studs are absolutely not allowed in most, if not all, leagues?

tgotb

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19744633#p19744633]bendertherobot[/url] wrote:

I take it that snow studs are absolutely not allowed in most, if not all, leagues?

Studs in shoes or in tyres?

The rules say that you can use "any type of bike without restriction", so long as the wheels (not tyres) are UCI compliant, which suggests tyre studs would be legal. At National level (trophy series and national champs) UCI rules apply and studs are banned.

That said, given the scope for injury, I think using studs would be a pretty bad idea; I actually assumed they were banned until I read the rules. I'm not an MTBer, but I suspect that MTB racing (where I'm guessing studs are allowed) is less of a contact sport than cross.

VamP

Allowed or not, I suspect they wouldn't be very good. Something like the Dugast Diablo would work, but typical commuter studded tyres would only have limited terrain capability. In the UK, even when it's snowy, it's rarely solidly frozen, invariably there is a mixture of snow, ice, mud, slush etc.

ddraver

Mud "spikes" work very well on snow.

But yes, you 'll need metal spikes for ice

roger_merriman

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19745315#p19745315]ddraver[/url] wrote:

Mud "spikes" work very well on snow.

But yes, you 'll need metal spikes for ice

Indeed My memory is that CX tyres worked well in snow to a given depth. Snow being similar to mud,

bendertherobot

I only ask because, well, this weekend..............

tgotb

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19745956#p19745956]bendertherobot[/url] wrote:

I only ask because, well, this weekend..............

By the time you combine the factors:
- In the UK, most snow tends to come after mid January
- In the UK, most races tend to come before mid January
- It takes frozen ground and quite a lot of snow to create proper snowy race conditions (as opposed to normal muddy conditions but with white scenery)
- In the UK, if we have that much snow the entire country seems to grind to a halt, so there's a big risk such a race would be cancelled anyway

Scotland and the North of England might have a shot at a proper Winter race (and maybe Wales, but only if you have a race course near the top of a mountain), but even they're going to be few and far between. For the rest of us, I reckon we're going to be lucky to see more than a handful of such races in our entire racing careers. However, being an optimist, I have a set of clincher file treads in the garage and winter tyres and chains for the car...

trek_dan

Thing is though powdery snow is actually grippy. More so than deep boggy mud. I'm sure if a race was ever on sheet ice you'd see some advantage in ice spikes but would the race not be cancelled anyway if the course was dangerous? We had a round in the NE last year and there was a tarmac section linking the 2 sides of the courses together that was icy in places and a couple of people had nasty falls, but the rest of the course was just hard rutted mud with a white frosting and as usual boggy in places. We've got 2 races on this weekend in NE and heavy snow forecast for both 8) ..

imposter2.0

It would take a lot of compacted snow/ice to necessitate ice tyres being useful Most snow covered tracks turn into brown sludge after a couple of laps anyway...

bendertherobot

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19746310#p19746310]TGOTB[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19745956#p19745956]bendertherobot[/url] wrote:

I only ask because, well, this weekend..............

By the time you combine the factors:
- In the UK, most snow tends to come after mid January
- In the UK, most races tend to come before mid January
- It takes frozen ground and quite a lot of snow to create proper snowy race conditions (as opposed to normal muddy conditions but with white scenery)
- In the UK, if we have that much snow the entire country seems to grind to a halt, so there's a big risk such a race would be cancelled anyway

Scotland and the North of England might have a shot at a proper Winter race (and maybe Wales, but only if you have a race course near the top of a mountain), but even they're going to be few and far between. For the rest of us, I reckon we're going to be lucky to see more than a handful of such races in our entire racing careers. However, being an optimist, I have a set of clincher file treads in the garage and winter tyres and chains for the car...

Indeed. Which is why it was purely theoretical. There's a pretty good video on youtube of a US race last year, drone test. Was beautiful, hang on.........

bendertherobot

https://youtu.be/O1fOxppHDlE

cyclingsheep

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19746847#p19746847]bendertherobot[/url] wrote:

https://youtu.be/O1fOxppHDlE

Yeah Chris Haskell. I really enjoy this guys videos although I'm yet to see a proper muddy cross race, seems theirs are fairly dry most of the time.

bendertherobot

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19746881#p19746881]cyclingsheep[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19746847#p19746847]bendertherobot[/url] wrote:

https://youtu.be/O1fOxppHDlE

Yeah Chris Haskell. I really enjoy this guys videos although I'm yet to see a proper muddy cross race, seems theirs are fairly dry most of the time.

Fields never look that big either!

VamP

Racing in the snow is magical, but as said, it's happened only a handful of times in the time I have been racing. Very memorably at Herne Hill one year, particularly so for the drive through snowy London streets - mostly deserted on the way there.

I have ridden in proper powder snow in Europe, and that is brilliant fun and with really quite good grip. Any tyres work in those conditions, but in England, muds will be best. Slippiest stuff is wet slush and wet ice, though you can usually find your way around the worst of it.

Big bonus of snow days is the usually low turnout, so cheap points to be had. That's if it's not cancelled. The biggest problem ironically are ice clumps around cleats, making clipping in hard or even impossible. WD40 helps there,

Robb0

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19746949#p19746949]VamP[/url] wrote:

Racing in the snow is magical, but as said, it's happened only a handful of times in the time I have been racing. Very memorably at Herne Hill one year

Yes that was one of my favourite ever cross races - really technical but perfectly doable on mud tyres (Michelin Mud2). So, was there any snow in Britain this weekend? I was over in Belgium for the mud and sand of #koksijdeworldcup where I think it was a couple of degrees warmer and rainy.

ugo.santalucia

Racing on spiked tyres?

Just to give you an idea, it takes me nearly 10 minutes longer to cycle 12 miles to work with spiked tyres, over CX mud tyres...
they weigh 1 Kg each

bendertherobot

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19748356#p19748356]ugo.santalucia[/url] wrote:

Racing on spiked tyres?

Just to give you an idea, it takes me nearly 10 minutes longer to cycle 12 miles to work with spiked tyres, over CX mud tyres...
they weigh 1 Kg each

That's cos you is little. Mine are fine. Slower yes, but fine. I think, last year, on a 20 mile trip they were about 5 minutes off. Besides, in a CX race, I'm not really competitive.

Monty Dog

Don't think that studded tyres are permitted - had the joy of a few snow crosses a few years ago - snow can vary from slush to ice so no definitive answers. If its about freezing, then a frozen front mech can also be a problem. Worst was an event where it was 6 inches of fresh snow on a frozen, rutted field - people were crashing all over. By the final lap my drivetrain had frozen solid and had to run much of the last lap.