Wintrac Xtremes are being fitted to the car today.

Heading up north on Friday….in an expected 12 degrees 🙂

I think everyone who moans about people shutting the trains and roads when it snows should be put in charge of running them.

My ice spikes were bought in 2004 in Finland – they are in surprisingly good nick considering. They only get a few outings a year now of course, that may be why 🙂

MTQG

dont landrover recomend you fit the spikes to the rear 😉

Ive got ice spikes for the commuters – both mines and the mrs

ive got 3 cubic metres of dried logs

a tank full of oil

a sandman fat bike 😀

cars are rolling on winter tires.

Hopefully bruneep will sort me out with a set of new blinds so im not heating the atmosphere.

Shame my landrover is not ready – i have almost all the componants now i just need the time to strip out the old engine and fit the v8 😀

Last year I had to cycle up a local mountain to find some snow to try out the ice spikers… Alfine helped loads too.

I did bed the tyres in by doing my 30mile commute – so much more rolling resistance my legs were like jelly when I got into work 10 minutes later than normal – the ride home was pergatory (and I lost a spike).

Think people have been watching too much Doomsday Preppers.

Does any one ride them for 30 miles on tarmac to bed them in as recommended?

It’s only necessary if some of the studs haven’t been seated in the tyre properly

Despite Because of having pram wheels our dinky car has managed fine last few winters

Fixed for Donk.

I’d heard thinner tyres helped but I’d presumed that was large diameter wheels with thin tyres. Ours are pretty small diameter too.

Look at any of the wrc cars come the snowy events, all run on super skinnys! Fat low profiles = ditch finders in snow!
Therefore it stays on the drive unless I fancy going out for a cheeky play! Said “playtime” once resulted in a 3.5 mph shunt into the trolley area in m a totally deserted focus carpark! 👿
Only other allowance if snownageddon is forecast is keeping the genny in the van to fire up a temp supply at home. I live in Derbyshire this has not been required yet!

This thread has almost certainly broken winter 🙁

Rocks seem to kill studded tyres quickly. I rode a whole winter on snow and ice in Finland, didn’t lose any studs. One ride in the beacons on mixed ice and rock and I lost about a dozen studs 🙁

Ice axes and crampons are sharpened.
Van ready for last minute trip to Scotland if conditions are right.
Couldn’t feel my feet or hands for last hour of my ride in the lakes on Saturday.
Good endurance levels for cold and discomfort.

Yep, I’m ready.

Log shed full,

Mud Terrains on Discovery

New stove on order.

No matter how cold it gets here, it will be tropical compared to the Blewett Pass in Washington State last month.

I used to own an Aygo- even on Eco tyres it was awesome on snow due to its thin tyres.

This time I’ve got Uniroyal M+S Plus 6 tyres- same width.

Lets rock snow, come and get ‘sum

Voice of reason from the Met Office
http://metofficenews.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/whats-in-store-this-winter-responding-to-the-headlines/

It seems that it is the time of year for colourful headlines about an impending big freeze.

[quote]Ultimately, we’re heading into winter and we expect winter to be colder than the rest of the year – but it’s too early to say exactly what temperatures we can expect or where and when we might see snow[/quote]

Rocks seem to kill studded tyres quickly. I rode a whole winter on snow and ice in Finland, didn’t lose any studs.

What brand? Apparently Nokians can be poor re. properly seated spikes.

emsz – Member

Ive got thermal underwear, the knickers go up past my tummy and the vest goes over my bum attractive?

I’m pretty certain you don’t want me to answer that, emsz… 😉

Met office = no idea what we do here but we’ll get bonuses all the same.

I live in civilisation so not that concerned tbh.

Did just order winter tyres for the car- not so much for “going driving in the snow” as for “going driving when it might snow”.

Its not just ‘might’ though. Winter tyres are good/better for allround grip when the temp really drops.

I’m driving to Germany this winter as well.

Plus there will be a time when you see a big snow dump and you ‘could’ get stuck. Why stop riding/going out/go to work if you reasonably can stay mobile and not leave your car and walk home for hours or sit huddled waiting for help?

Does any one ride them for 30 miles on tarmac to bed them in as recommended?
It’s only necessary if some of the studs haven’t been seated in the tyre properly

I thought I would take my studded tyres for a gentle bedding in ride last winter and lost a helluva lot of studs. I wrote to Schwable to complain/ask what I had done wrong as I had been riding like a pensioner. They said I had done the right thing and you should ideally do at least one bedding in run on all studded tyres. Schwables line is that some stud loss is to be expected. They very kindly sent a pack of replacement studs for me to stick in the tyres.

Studded tyres?

Just ride Swampt’ings 8)

They said I had done the right thing and you should ideally do at least one bedding in run on all studded tyres.

Did they explain what’s the difference between a bedding in run, and a non-bedding in run was?

hora – Member

Its not just ‘might’ though. Winter tyres are good/better for allround grip when the temp really drops.

Yup. I used my icebears on the old car for last winter, and even with the lack of snow they were still well worth it- better in the rain and cold, and also better at driving through fields and ditches and such. (already got the new car stuck in a ditch 😳 )

When it’s already snowed, I’ll probably still not use it much- just because most other people don’t have snow tyres, and can’t drive in snow, you’re only making as much progress as the person in front.

Plus there will be a time when you see a big snow dump and you ‘could’ get stuck. Why stop riding/going out/go to work if you reasonably can stay mobile and not leave your car and walk home for hours or sit huddled waiting for help?

We spent all of last winter driving up as far north as we could be bothered on a friday night, dumping the car and heading to the hills. We would often have to dig the car out when we returned on a Sunday – then add on 100+ miles on the A82 if it’s still snowing (they are pretty good at clearing the road though).

That was in mrs peterfile’s little front wheel drive peashooter with 5cm wide tyres 🙂 This year it will be in a 200bhp rear wheel drive car with 8.5’s….so the winters have gone on (smaller alloys fitted too)!

I don’t want to miss any winter action as a result of a wee bit of snow….that’s what we head up north looking for!!!!

don’t forget you often wake up- look out of the window and say ‘oh wow, its snowed last night!’

So fit them before..

Plus ever sat in your office at work looking out and saying ‘oh wow, its starting to snow’….and hour later ‘oh its getting worse/how get home at this rate’?

Its not over-worrying, it can be that fine line between you slipping a bit and driving into a kerb. Those tyres save the geo/walking home priceless bill…

Just ride Swampt’ings

Possibly not the best option for ice covered lanes…

Did they explain what’s the difference between a bedding in run, and a non-bedding in run was?

Bedding in seems to involve running the tyres at a ‘medium’ pressure to make sure all the studs can have force put through them to help them seat more securely in the tread. You also need to ride slowly with no agressive braking or steering. The studs are effectively little rivets that are only half covered by the tread. High tyre pressures on hard surfaces and normal riding can easily rip them out.

It was quite possibly the most boring bike ride of all time although the noise from the studs was fantastic. It sounded like a million pairs of hobnail boots being thrown down the road.

What brand? Apparently Nokians can be poor re. properly seated spikes.

They are Nokian WXC300. After that rocky ride I contacted Nokian and they also sent me a whole bag of spares for free 🙂

Incidentally the tyres are not as good as super studs in soft snow, but ice is when you really need them!

Did they explain what’s the difference between a bedding in run, and a non-bedding in run was?

I get all my studded-tyre info from this very informative website (check the FAQ at the end)

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp

These for us that run

I can confirm that they kick butt