studded tyres for snow/ice tyre sizes

andyh01

Planning to get a new best bike and use year round bar when snow/ice around, I may eventually get a set of summer slick wheels, which unless I either change tyres or get a third set of wheels for snow and ice leaves the issue of what to do in event of snow and ice.
When the snow and ice is around I'm planning to use the old Trek 2.1 for winter rides and fit some snow studded tires to that the only concern is widest tires I (think) i can fit are 25mm wide (this bike is rim brakes I'm planning to go Hydraulic disc on the new bike)
Would this plan of using 25mm studded tires work or do they need to be wider so they can run at lower PSI?

imposter2.0

Which '25mm studded tyres' are you thinking of?

bompington

... I'm pretty sure there aren't any. Last time I looked 32mm was the smallest you could get.

kayakerchris

I agree that 32 is the smallest that I could find. They are made for dutch cyclists using their bikes to go to work not people on road bikes trying to race in the winter

Semantik

kayakerchris wrote:

I agree that 32 is the smallest that I could find. They are made for dutch cyclists using their bikes to go to work not people on road bikes trying to race in the winter

Schwalbe do a 30mm one

Anonymous

Even if anyone made a 25mm studded tyre, it would still be way bigger than a 25mm non studded one.
In those conditions you need a different bike.

The roads are not even going to have snow and ice on are they?
Studded tyres will be horrible on anything other than snow, ice and mud.

I have a set for my CX bike, but I can imagine they will never even get used.
I just thought it would be cool if we had a freak snow storm, and I still made it into work!

I have studded trail running shoes and the one or two days I have got to use them have been great!

kayakerchris

from November to March the commuting bike has studded tyres on. Pumped hard for most of the time but any suggestion of frost and I reduce the pressure and I can then ride country roads with no worry about black ice, etc. there are few things scarier than coming round a corner to find a sheet of ice across the road with fresh water still streaming across it. With the studded tyres it doesn't cause any worry.

bompington

Carbonator wrote:

Studded tyres will be horrible on anything other than snow, ice and mud.

less than you'd think as long as you use the type that have studs on the shoulders, not the middle - pumped up hard they run quite smooth but still catch you if you skid on unexpected ice. Let the pressure down like Chris says and they grip like magic on ice.

I've run studded tyres all winter for years, my old route (over the hills to Perth) used to have snow or ice on it more than 1 day in 3 on average: last winter with a new job, new route (more main roads), and mostly mild weather there were only a couple of days when it was really necessary - with the exception of the road I live on, over 10% downhill, plenty of frosty mornings and never a gritter in sight.

My summertime average is about 1:05 for the journey, winter about 1:20 - but there are other factors like heavier bike, clothes & winds, colder temps etc.

And I've come to quite like the confidence-boosting "bacon frying" crackle of the studs.

fat daddy

Carbonator wrote:

I have a set for my CX bike, but I can imagine they will never even get used.
I just thought it would be cool if we had a freak snow storm, and I still made it into work!!

heh .. I also have a set for one of the MTBs on the off chance there is snow this year and I can ride in ... pathetic I know seeing that I could just work from home

Anonymous

Interesting about studs on shoulders only.

Mine look like a Michael Jackson tour jacket!
I hope to get to try them this year........ Hee, hee

meanredspider

Like bompington, I've used studded tyres extensively in the past - Nov-Apr in the Scottish Highlands. I use Ice Spiker Pros on an MTB and they slowed my commute from about 45mins to nearer an hour (big, nobbly, tyres on a heavy MTB is never going to be fast). They are brilliant on ice but make absolutely no difference on snow. In fact, the tyres are pretty horrible on anything other than very light snow. That 1 hour commute has been nearer 2 hours. But I've never had anything approaching a "moment" with them. Tried Marathon W***ers for a while but came off one very icy morning and they weigh near a kilo each! Just as fast on the MTB.