I’m looking at getting a pair of these for my on/off road commute, anybody have any experience?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=48758

I’ve got a pair (slightly different Schwalbe model) and they are very impressive on ice – you can do stoppies!

However, they weigh a ton and rolling resistance is enormous!

Used them on my CX bike last year and the grip that’s available is incredible. You almost need to relearn to ride, stop your brain from thinking it’s snow and ice and just pretend it’s normal trail.

As mentioned though, the noise, feel and resistance if you try using them on clear roads is awful.

I have the similar conti ones and they are amazing on ice

I got some last year for my on-off road commute. Ice/slush/deep snow – impressive.

The only problem with them was … I could still get to work 🙁

If they keep me rubber side down through the winter I can put up with the drag. Much of my route is on cycle paths which end up as frozen compacted snow with a criss cross of bike tyre ruts.

I’ve used a pair of these for the last 2 x winters here in Glasgow. Both years saw 4 – 6 inchs of solid ice for the best part of 3 months. My route is roughly 16 miles with 14 of these on trails which never get salted or ploughed. Only time I fell was when I stopped cycling and got of the bike….I stood on the ice and went on my arse! Cant rate these highy enough….worth their weight in Ggld. As ‘anotherdeadhero’ states, only down side is you’ve no excuses for not getting to work!

The Snow Studs can be deadly because there’s no studs in the centre, and once you start slipping on ice the studs at the edge aren’t always enough to stop it.

The Ice Spikers are pretty good, even on surfaces you can’t stand up on.

It’s for a 29er, so limited in choice.

The idea with the snow studs is you drop the pressure a bit on days when there is more ice than snow, to bring the studs into play.

In practice on relatively wide 29er rims, rather than really narrow road race rims, the studs are almost always in contact a little.

The Snow Studs can be deadly because there’s no studs in the centre, and once you start slipping on ice the studs at the edge aren’t always enough to stop it.

I haven’t tried em, but looking at them this was one of the things that crossed my mind and made me stick to the ice-spikers, but it sounds like people are getting on ok with them.

I have the contis with 120 spikes around the edge not the full spikes – I never had that issue at all

The Snow Studs can be deadly because there’s no studs in the centre, and once you start slipping on ice the studs at the edge aren’t always enough to stop it.

Run them at lower pressure to bring the spikes into play. As I said earlier, you need to almost re-learn how to ride, how to let the bike slide a little and trust that the spikes will catch it. It’s not much different to sliding around in mud, just that the sliding tends to be a bit quicker and people are much more mincey in their riding on snow/ice.

The biggest problem I’ve had with ice-spikers has been stepping of the bike normally, then falling over because of the ice 🙂
Spikes/studs/bits of metal in tyres are ace!

Got some 26″ snow studs for sale. Ridden once for 121km at the Puffer. £35 for the pair posted. Email in profile.

I’ve only done one ride on my ice spikers. I was riding really carefully and had no moments as I had no idea what grip was available. I did start to build up confidence when I saw dogs who were skidding all over the place while I was ok.
I have the folding ones and the weight is ok. My commute is off road so can’t comment on drag but in the circumstances I wouldn’t care.
I did buy my tyres on my company expenses as if I can’t get in my relief costs a lot more than a pair of tyres.

Thanks for the offer devs, but I’m on a 29er.

The ice spiker pro are now available in 29er but are 2.25 so might be wider than you’re after. They’re not cheap though. You’re probably best buying them from Germany.

I use these on my 29er for the ‘Puffer – Nokkian Extreme

Heavy, but effective.