Predicting icy roads – any clever tricks?

I commute year round. So regularly below zero in winter.

Busier roads are better – traffic melts the ice. Not much fun to ride though. Once you get out of urban areas it is likely to mean busier A roads.

Club ride I was on a couple of years ago we had 1 broken collar bone and a broken hip. 2 of the gang out for most of the winter.

I went home that day and started to build my winter cave.

Used to commute regularly when living in Switzerland in -10 but the roads and cycle paths were treated. But salt destroyed my chain and cassette.

Temperature alone isn’t reliable – needs moisture for the ice. I’ve commuted well below zero and been fine.

This. I do plenty of riding in cold conditions, but only if it’s been dry. Otherwise I stick to gritted roads, but that doesn’t always work if you have to turn into a side road at some point. I did a huge slide once because of that, making a real mess of my thigh and wrist.

If it gets to the point I need to think about it, I don’t ride these days (having come off on ice a few times). But living in the far south, we don’t get much ice these days, thanks to climate change. Maybe a week or two’s worth? But frost on a north-facing descent is just as slippery, so I’m always aware of where the sun is and never speed over the crest of a hill in case the other side is frosty.

Unhelpful answer is it depends. For commuting I change parts of my route a bit to ride on busier roads that get gritted, and unless it’s been pretty dry for a while I just skip weekend rides if it’s much below 5 degrees. I used to go out more on the road bike but it’s just not worth it. Chance of injury/holes in expensive jackets and tights/damage to components is just too high.

In my experience, if its a road you’d want to ride on there’s much more chance of black ice, main roads are almost always fine.

This really, and I don’t like to ride on main roads.

I follow the council gritters info on twitter though haven’t checked if they have moved to Bluesky/threads they give a detailed forecast as going by temperature isn’t enough as air and ground temperatures can be wildly different.
If they are going to grit then I’m not going out as I want to ride on quiet roads not main routes, many a time I hear of collarbones/wrists/bruises etc on weekends I have sacked it off.

Yeah no way I’d be going out on roads with even a chance of ice without the studded tyres. Got them on a spare set of wheels, was dubious they’d be any good but they are brilliant.

Beautiful morning this morning, maybe 1 or 2°C but dry roads, no frost on windscreen.

Little patches here and there but could see well in advance and they weren’t slippy.

Still verrrry tempted by studded tyres, am loving getting out on the crisp cold mornings right now, don’t want to miss any opportunities.

We have a failsafe signaling system on our group rides, it normally involves someone sliding down the road on their face. It’s subtle I know, but it works.

I picked up a couple of weather stations from Lidls (£15 each).

one sensor dangles out my bedroom window in a mesh laundry bag. The other one dangles  out my living room window.

so, until they’re blasted by the sun, it’s a pretty realistic indicator of actual temperature before I venture out.

studded tyres at this time of year (until April).

the amount of people doing their winter training on high end pinarellos, 23c tyres, no mudguards…makes me think that there’s a new niche for bikes.

Another stunner this morning and dragged the singlespeed Charge Plug out just to see if it’s worth fitting studded tyres to.

Schwalbe do two different types of studded tyre, depending on the number of studs. Am tempted to go for a lower stud count as I imagine even the ‘icy’ rides will still be predominantly tarmac, unless the difference between 120 studs and 240 is so negligible that I might as well just go all-in?

The other thing to bear in mind is that some car drivers only worry about ice on the road as they loose control of the car.

Glad you are enjoying your winter riding.

I need to either swap to studded tyres or get a spare set of wheels with studded tyres for my Sonder Camino which I commute on in Aberdeen. My commute is on a mix of treated and untreated sections and I have always managed with standard tyres but I have maybe been lucky. I need to get on ebay and look for a second hand set of wheels.

Schwalbe do two different types of studded tyre, depending on the number of studs. Am tempted to go for a lower stud count as I imagine even the ‘icy’ rides will still be predominantly tarmac, unless the difference between 120 studs and 240 is so negligible that I might as well just go all-in?

I was looking at this as well. I think I will go for the lower stud count but not sure if that is a sensible choice or not.

I’m sort of hoping I can mitigate for fewer studs by just being careful, I’m just trundling about and taking it easy on corners etc. at this time of year, and since I might only be out once or twice a week max I’m hoping law of averages is on my side (touch wood!).

I have some ageing Schwalbe snow stud tyres in 35mm for the gravel bike,  and some even older Ice Spiker Pros for the Soul (partly the reason I’m still on 26″ wheels)

I’ve not come off using either, and the bigger Ice Spikers have seen me ride crazy compacted sheet ice/snow. You do need to be careful when putting a foot down though. Currently regretting not getting the Soul ready to go out for a lunchtime play.

They might only be used a few weeks a year but precovid and when I was commuting regularly,  I justified it ( and MrsMC agreed!) by the cost offset against the cost of driving to the office. Probably took 2-3 winters to genuinely be worthwhile.

Now WFH is an option on icy days, I might not bother, but very grateful I still have them.

Cant speak for studded tyres with lower stud counts, but ive got Continental Spike Claw 240s (26er) and Schwalbe Ice Spikers (27.5). They are awesome on sheet ice (like at the Strathpuffer). Safer to cycle than to walk on it. They will be heavy, draggy and be noisy on tarmac. However in a previous job with a 30 mile round trip commute – i used them no worries.

The lesser studded ones have them on the outside edges of the treads, so need to run lower pressures presumably, to make them more effective?

An oldie but goodie – ice tyre test  https://www.pinkbike.com/news/article2340.html

Most round here commute on the lower stud count tyres and take it a bit easier, or lower pressures if it’s *very* icy.

I ride off road with some nokians with 300+ studs… The sparks when i get off the ice and on to the rocks are impressive.

You know those bloody jobs…

After being essentially nagged by this thread, I popped out to the garage to swap to winter studs on my commute/pub/town bike. Front, all good. Back was a bit off centre/misaligned/wobbly after fitting so I applied the usual extra PSI ‘s to get it to seat… Who knew the brake track was that ready to let go. It did frighten the cat tho… So, I’m now looking for a new rim and a wheel rebuild <sigh>

Years ago long before zwift, I’d happily ride the road bike with 23mm tyres in any weather conditions. I was never worried about snow and ice, even if i fell off. I would call my mates soft if they cancelled winter rides due to icy conditions. Then this happened:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/fatal-journey-the-story-of-a-cycling-tragedy-412717.html

It soon makes you realise its not worth the risk. It’s not the falling off in icy conditions that is a concern, it’s the risk of a 2 ton car skidding on ice and killing me that stops me from going out on the road in icy conditions.

Had a very rare sight waking up to snowfall in Hampshire in November this morning, thankfully it didn’t stick on the roads and I survived popping out on my hybrid with the usual Marathon Supremes.

Ice warning over night tonight, but I have no plans to go out.

I was looking at this as well. I think I will go for the lower stud count but not sure if that is a sensible choice or not.

I have a set of the lower stud count ones.  the studs are on the side of the tyre not the crown.  If the pressure in them is high just riding along the studs do not really contact the ground, on ice you slide then as the tyre tips over it grips.  Lower the pressures and the studs make contact the whole time – so what I did was lowish pressures with a lot of ice, higher pressures with just an occasional bit

 It did frighten the cat tho… So, I’m now looking for a new rim and a wheel rebuild <sigh>

What else did the cat shred while it was on it’s way out of the vicinity?

The joys of rim brakes. Don’t pump them up in a cellar as the bang sounds even louder.

When the air temp is below freezing you start to see sparkles on the road surface and on foliage etc from your lights.  Salt on the road can sparkle a bit but it’s not the magical twinkly kind of sparkle that frost gives.  It’s not 100% reliable indicator of ice because there can still be ice on the road when the air has warmed a bit, but it’s something to look for.  If you see sparkles then a dark patch on the road, prepare for impact.  In the dry, night-time tarmac is actually pretty light in colour – dark patches mean caution. You can also generally see when a road has been salted.  Crucially – don’t go fast at any point.

I’ve done a lot of night rides in freezing conditions and I have yet to fall off using the above advice.

The joys of rim brakes. Don’t pump them up in a cellar as the bang sounds even louder

I was a bit surprised when the local TSG showed up shouting ‘show me your (oily) hands!’ etc 🙂

One of my nearest-death moments on a bike was cycling home from work one crisp frosty evening and receiving an unnecessary high speed close pass from behind from Cambridgeshire gritting lorry on a residential urban street. He must have been doing about 50mph and it was so fast and so close I barely had time to realise I was probably about to die before it was over and he had torn off again into the night.