Bedding in new winter studded tyres?

N0bodyOfTheGoat

This weekend's cold snap has made me seriously think of fitting my 45Nrth Gravdal tyres on the Voodoo's alternative 29er wheelset, having bought them from CTBM back in late January, but I'm struggling to find any info about bedding them in.

Isn't the advice, at least for Schwalbe winter tyres, to run them at low pressures for the first "x" number of miles?

UndercoverElephant

NitrousOxide wrote:

This weekend's cold snap has made me seriously think of fitting my 45Nrth Gravdal tyres on the Voodoo's alternative 29er wheelset, having bought them from CTBM back in late January, but I'm struggling to find any info about bedding them in.

Isn't the advice, at least for Schwalbe winter tyres, to run them at low pressures for the first "x" number of miles?

Same advice for my Sumoi tyres, 50km on not icy roads.

fat daddy

I vaguely remember something like that when I bought mine ..... and I even remember when riding to work on "that" bike on the non cold days to bed them in wondering what the point was of it ..... then when the ice did come I lowered the pressure anyway to get maximum grip

All in all I was left in bewilderment to why you need to bed them in .. or at least why I was bedding them in before the ice

Cant wait to use them again this year, hope we get some really nasty weather .. they were awesome last year

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Well I've just come back in from fitting them on the 29er wheelset, went on easy enough... The dilemma is how low on the 35-75PSI scale to use to bed them in!

Currently got ~45/60, after circling in the car park with ~40PSI in the rear, which "rode" ok enough but looked like I was asking for a snakebite given how I reckon ~65-70% of the weight goes over the Voodoo rear wheel.

Trying to muster up some enthusiasm to go for a test/bedding-in ride, but bloated from a big carvery roast; sunset is here; it's freezing outside; I did a ~3000 feet hill rep session about this time yesterday etc. :oops:

jds_1981

No idea on the usefulness of bedding in. But don't trackstand as you run quite a risk of pulling the studs out of your front wheel if you do.

itboffin

50km on studded tyres fark me that would hurt, how fast are you going?

timothyw

I'd suggest that most people in the UK ride them as a precaution in anticipation of hitting the odd bit of ice - in which case bedding them in feels a lot like overkill.

I can see that it might be worthwhile if you did actually live somewhere where you were riding on ice/compacted snow most of the ride.

I'd suggest that you try and avoid particularly big accelerations (which given the weight of them will not be a problem) and more importantly try not to lock the brakes, as that's how studs are most likely to get pulled out.

greenamex2

Well...looks like today's job is fitting the snow tyres to the hybrid...about an inch and rising!

Hope it is all still there tomorrow...will be a slow but fun commute!

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Well they certainly make every ride technically a workout on Strava, they are hard going, at least at ~45/60PSI!

Going to try inflating them to ~55/70 and pop out in the wind and rain a bit later for some more hill reps. :twisted:

roger_merriman

greenamex2 wrote:

Well...looks like today's job is fitting the snow tyres to the hybrid...about an inch and rising!

Hope it is all still there tomorrow...will be a slow but fun commute!

Was okay here 11 miles across outer London, about a inch or so on the shared paths with Marathon Plus Tour, no ice or compacted snow so studs probably wouldn’t make much difference grip was okay. The XC MTB tyres it had no before where better in snow than the marathons though these aren’t that bad.

Tomorrow if it thaws and then freezes overnight might well be worse. And studs if you had any would be good.

greenamex2

Tyres fitted and tested, no worse than riding in the mud on my normal bike/Tyres.

A few studs are missing, might get some spares and the tool.

prawny

Tried mine out in the cul de sac earlier, far too much snow for them to be worth it, it’s too soft for the studs to get any purchase, would be better with a fat bike

jds_1981

Tuesday morning is currently looking like it'll be the bad one. -3 overnight.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

prawny wrote:

Tried mine out in the cul de sac earlier, far too much snow for them to be worth it, it’s too soft for the studs to get any purchase, would be better with a fat bike

I have to confess that having fitted the Gravdals to the 29er wheels, I do wonder if re-fitting the rear fat wheel would give more traction, at least in snow... Albeit we seem far more likely to get ice than snow that lays down here in Southampton!

Gravdals seemed a little easier to move at 50/70PSI earlier, but if I wake to find there is a real risk of ice, I shall random guess to drop pressures by ~10PSI before I head into work. They have had ~40 miles of pre-ice use over the last few days, mainly making ~4000 feet of hill reps a little more challenging.

wolfsbane2k

NitrousOxide wrote:

prawny wrote:

Tried mine out in the cul de sac earlier, far too much snow for them to be worth it, it’s too soft for the studs to get any purchase, would be better with a fat bike

I have to confess that having fitted the Gravdals to the 29er wheels, I do wonder if re-fitting the rear fat wheel would give more traction, at least in snow... Albeit we seem far more likely to get ice than snow that lays down here in Southampton!

Gravdals seemed a little easier to move at 50/70PSI earlier, but if I wake to find there is a real risk of ice, I shall random guess to drop pressures by ~10PSI before I head into work. They have had ~40 miles of pre-ice use over the last few days, mainly making ~4000 feet of hill reps a little more challenging.

I wish I'd clearance for fat bike tyres.. of course, that means n+2 is a fatbike (n+1 being an adventure gravel bike) ....

Out this way (just north of Portsmouth) sheet ice is appearing already in the hollows and pavements. Will be taking a bag of salt with me for the early morning dog walk!

greenamex2

The bike/tyres coped...just!

On 35mm wide, ordered some 40mm wide plus will also be playing with tyre pressures on the way home.

And for reference...a hybrid on marathon winter's is about 3-3.5MPH slower than a CX bike on cross tyres for the same heart rate on the same stretch of flat road.

timothyw

I was on 700x35 schwalbe winters this morning, was wondering if I might have been better on narrower ones - the interesting moments were when riding over slush which would then sink in a fairly unpredictable fashion.

Well, the real test is tomorrow after the big freeze.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Thankfully no ice to deal with this morning, just cold sleety conditions. Work, on the other hand, is horrid... Had lost feeling in one hand before now thawing out for a few minutes indoors.

wolfsbane2k

TimothyW wrote:

I was on 700x35 schwalbe winters this morning, was wondering if I might have been better on narrower ones - the interesting moments were when riding over slush which would then sink in a fairly unpredictable fashion.

Well, the real test is tomorrow after the big freeze.

I don't think the winters come in thinner than 35s do they?

prawny

You can get 30c winters from Ze Germans.

I decided against it today, snowed all day yesterday and most of the night, still a lot of snow about and not much ice. I'll see how it goes over the course of the day and decide tonight/tomorrow.

greenamex2

Wolfsbane2k wrote:

TimothyW wrote:

I was on 700x35 schwalbe winters this morning, was wondering if I might have been better on narrower ones - the interesting moments were when riding over slush which would then sink in a fairly unpredictable fashion.

Well, the real test is tomorrow after the big freeze.

I don't think the winters come in thinner than 35s do they?

Not on 700's for the Marathon version. There is a 30 listed for the normal winter.

graeme_s-2

700x35C Marathon Winters on my hybrid here.

I managed to stay mostly on gritted roads, and ended up walking across a couple of properly snowed up patches. As others have said it was probably too snowy/slushy for them to work properly. It's meant to be down to -6C here tomorrow morning, but I've got a works do so will be on the bus. Which is sort of a shame as it's probably perfect conditions for studs.

The trickiest surface I've found is partially frozen slush. You get good grip to start with, but it randomly breaks up under the bike causing some interesting moments.

graeme_s-2

On the way home last night it had started to freeze up, perfect for my studded tyres.

Got a front puncture after a mile, decided to walk home with the bike, as I thought my hands would freeze trying to change a tube in the dark (and I'd left my levers at home after changing the tyres over on Sunday night). Halfway home the rear went flat too. Suspect my 7 year old Schwalbe Marathon Winters have perished and the spikes have come through the tyre and ruptured the tubes. Was on the bus this morning anyway so haven't inspected them yet.

timothyw

Yeah, i had a stud work it's way through the tyre yesterday. Made me doubly wish that i'd fitted my newer 700x30 set....

Still, pulled out that stud, patched up the tube and so far so good.

prawny

Hmm, might take mine off again then and put a gaffer tape liner on. Would that work?

timothyw

Erm it might buy you a couple of miles but I doubt it'd stop a steel stud for very long!

If you want to be really cheap, better bet would be another old tyre - cut it off the bead, then put it on the inside of the winter.

It'll make it even heavier and slower, but hey, when it's that slow already who's counting? Just think how fast you'll feel in the spring.....

fat daddy

on the 26"x1.5" mtb marathons this morning ... and man were they needed the roads were streams of ice across frost covered roads.

Couldnt climb out the saddle as it just spun the rear up and was suffering a lot of drift on cambers and any bends, that was at 30psi as well so all studs hitting the road and plenty of squishy rubber. wouldnt have wanted anything thinner .. slow going though I only averaged 7mph .. mind you the cut across the downs over crunchy snow fields was quad destroying

graeme_s-2

In general is there anything that can be done to prolong the life of unused tyres, or is it just the way of things? There's something really unsatisfying about throwing out a pair of tyres that will only have a couple of hundred miles on them because they've perished with age.

jds_1981

Only run studs on the front, had the rear try to catch up with it a few times on the way in today.

prawny

How about on of them tyre liners like this?

wolfsbane2k

Graeme_S wrote:

In general is there anything that can be done to prolong the life of unused tyres, or is it just the way of things? There's something really unsatisfying about throwing out a pair of tyres that will only have a couple of hundred miles on them because they've perished with age.

Dunno, something I'm interested in as well. I've got a set of 700x35" marathon winters hanging on a cardboard tube in the garage that are for next years N+1 ( which may be delayed until 2019) - bought on the basis I doubt i'll see them for £15 a tyre again in the future!