mcnultycop
A waste of money over here (assuming you are talking about studded ice tyres). We don’t get the proper ice that ice tyres are designed for. ...
Someone on here says something like that every year.
And every year they're wrong.
Ended up getting a set of these
https://www.bikeradar.com/commuting/gear/article/daily-deals-cheap-winter-tyres-53486/
I just fitted some of these at the weekend in anticipation of the coming weather. Just enough clearance for them on a 2015 diverge with mudguards for the 28mm. I'm still lacking confidence cornering on ice, but they really do seem to do the job. No sliding around yet.
Draggier and nosier than a normal tyre, but at least I can't hear my creaking BB now...
My commute a few winters ago involved several weeks of solid ice cycle paths.
By the time my 700c marathon winters arrived it had melted, and they've been hanging in the shed ever since...
They do look nice and spiky, maybe one day it'll be worth fitting them.
Thanks for the heads-up on the half price Winter Marathons - got a pair heading my way now 🙂
I run Conti Nordic Spike 240's on the crosser. The 120's are a waste of time in comparison. Not light but will happily ride over boilerplate in confidence.
On the 29er, I run Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro's - my review below.
https://singletrackworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/schwalbe-ice-spiker-pro-29/
I have ridden some pretty hair raising terrain on them. Ben Chonzie in the ice with 80mph winds, a hard frozen Cobbler, Ben Ime and Narnain circuit, Ben Lomond as well as local trails. They just work and take the uncertainty out of riding on sub zero days where it is all too easy to slip and spanner yourself.
They seem like a lot of money for limited use but mine are going back on today as the ice is back! Woo hoo!
Glad of the 252 spikes per tyre Gravdals out there this morning, bit of ice around, I missed any slippy fun and games yesterday.
Do they work well on icy roads?
They work pretty well - not infinite grip/dry weather levels of grip on sheets of ice but reasonable off road conditions kind of grip levels.
There's just not the risk of zero grip levels happening.
I've not tried the marathon winters, I'd be interested to know how they roll compared to marathan supreme hd's. But at the moment I've 2 bikes with studded tyres fitted after racing the puffer last weekend, so maybe 3 would be a step too far. The 29er was reasonably quick riding in this morning though, despite still being on a recovery pace!
It's not just the spikes, it's the rubber compound as well.
I live in Sweden. It's cold here right now and I set off this morning to work in -9C (it's warming up a bit). Even though I live in the city, most of the smaller roads and cycle tracks are sheet ice and snow. Those that are not are covered with kinda slushy ice/snow on a road that is cold. I ran summer slicks until the first serious frost and then changed to the Schwalbe half nails (two lines of spikes, not four) and am glad I did.
The rubber is a softer compound that, like car winter tyres, stays more rubbery at a lower temperature. That alone means you get better grip than running a 'normal' tyre. Add in the spikes and you get more grip on the things that would normally leave you on your arse or, worst case, under a truck. I have only come off once so far, after it threw down about 10cm of wet snow in about two hours on roads that already had ice on. That was fun.
Yes, they are slower. Yes, they are noisier. Yes they are expensiver. But... It means I can ride my bike to work all year round and, as I hate public transport and like eating cake, I accept that gladly.
If you feel really strongly about it, Wiggle had the Schwalbes I have on special at about €22 each. They are the narrowest 26" winter tyres I could find. Nokian also make a really good winter tyre, but I have not seen many of them for sale. I'm still looking for someone that makes a good "Autumn/Spring Cold, but not snowy with rain, no spikes" tyre.
Well now I've fitted them and plan a 40 mile tarmac ride on Saturday to bed them in, it's meant to be bloody freezing so I'm sure there will be ice on the road.
From what I read they provide roughly similar levels of grip to a normal cx tyre in mud, ie not same as a road tyre in dry but at least won't have a 'grip one moment, on arse the next
What kind of pressures are folks running them at on road? I'm running 35 mm, and was planning around 50 psi. I get a feeling that may be far to high however?
With the Schwalbe winter active spike, the ideal pressure varies with conditions. Higher pressure for less icy conditions, where the tyre profile means the studs make less contact. When it gets icier, drop the pressure which means a bigger contact patch are the studs in greater contact. Recommended pressures (see https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/schwalbe-winter-active-spike-tyre-709890?product_shape=black&article_size=700x30C) are 50psi for icy conditions and around 90 psi for ice-free roads with minimal noise. I think I run somewhat lower than these personally....
Cheers, I'll go with 50 and see how i get on. No idea why anyone would run them when it's not icy!!
I'd be careful with high pressures on the (Marathon) Winters. Once I was JRA to work and noticed a wobble on my front tire. Stopped to take a look and saw about 20 cm of inner tube bulging from between the rim and bead, same thing in the rear. I'd just pumped them up to around max recommended in order to make them roll faster as there wasn't much need for the spikes that day. Something had happened to the beads, and they wouldn't stay on the rim anymore, even on low pressures.
The casings are pretty stiff and the ride extremely uncomfortable at high pressures anyway, so I'd advise to go low.
About rubber compunds and freezing temperatures, here in Finland there's a sort of mountain biker folklore that says that anything softer than 50a is going to go plasticky in freezing temperatures. So folk ride Maxxis dual compounds instead of 3C and Schwalbe Pacestar instead on Trailstar. When the Addix compunds first came out I did see one news site advertise them keeping their properties down until -4 °C, but haven't seen anything since.
The point is that not many road tyres have compounds that soft to keep wear in check, and I've never heard anyone having problems with road, CX or XC tyres in the winter. I currently have Hillbilly/Butcher on my MTB, that I commute on when I know there's going to be a lot of snow, and Hutchinson Toro CX's on my fixed everyday commuter and they've all been ok down to about -25 °C. Earlier winters I've ridden Gravelking SK's, Ritchey Megabites, Schwalbe G-Ones and Schwalbe Smart Sams in addition to Marathon Winters without rubber related problems.
I was running my 700*35s around 60-70 psi.
Adding to the knowledge pool for Marathon Winters-
I used to run my marathon winters quite soft- 50-60 psi ish. I started running them harder (80-90 psi) as per the max inflation rating on the side, to reduce noise and increase speed.
On the rear (I've been using them 3 winters so far and keep on accidentally putting the same tyre back on the rear, so total maybe 12 months riding, 12 miles/day) I've lost about half of the spikes, those that remian have started wearing through the casing on the inside. I use panaracer flataway tyre inserts (who wants to fix a puncture on an alfine bike in the winter????!?!) and the studs have worn through that as well.
Luckily CRC had their tyres on sale and I got a replacement without bankrupting me!
I use the old snow stud tyres, but would prefer the full on ice spikers.
There must be hundreds of barely used 26er ones lying in the sheds of more modern bike riders who have gone to 29. Anyone got anything?
If anyone is after some ice tyres I'm about to stick some conti Nordic spikes in the classifieds. They got me through the beast from the easy last year, and only gave up when I tried to dick about on compacted frozen snow.
DM me if interested.
Pm sent
My Ice Spikers are going on tonight, then off for a night ride in the snow - Whoop. Should take about 10 minuted to swap both over.
Just fitted my spikes to the tandem for tomorrows ride. Several days of heavy frost on wet ground followed by a light dusting of snow. Gonna be slippy with hidden icy patches!
I can barely stand up on the pavement outside my house today due to the ice and will be on some back roads tomorrow that I expect not to be gritted, ie lots of ice. I'm still apprehensive..the spikes on them are tiny!😮 do these things really work or am I going to have to totally alter my riding style and be ultra careful so as not to fall on my ass?
I appreciate (before anyone points it out) that I don't have any spikes on my trainers when walking down the pavement, but nor am I going at 20mph with potentially cars behind me..
yes they really do work.
