I had a very unexpected tumble in the dark yesterday on a shared use path. About a 10 metre stretch covered in sheet ice that I didn’t spot until I was merrily sliding along on my side. Falling off hurts when you aren’t expecting it!

Before I fork out £50 on some studded tyres, can anyone confirm whether these would have helped?

Maybe. Ive got a set of its spikers and they are ace on ice and snow, but I probably wouldn’t want to use them for a ride with only a few small patches of ice. If you go for something with less spikes it may not give enough grip to help.

If you are riding on snow and ice lots they will help.

If you are riding mainly Tarmac they won’t help much.

Will they stop you falling off – no. For that try stabilisers!!

Spikes on ice are fantastic. Only realised how well they were gripping when I saw a dog doing a very good bambi impersonation on the ice.

It’s Tarmac. I think I just need to regain a bit of confidence. I managed all last winter without falling off. My default reaction is to throw some money at the problem.

But this is Aberdeen. It was mild last year, but won’t be that lucky again I suspect.

Will keep going until Christmas and see how I get on. Thanks for your advice.

Edit: just seen Zippy’s vote for spikes on ice. Now I’m less certain what to do.

They work for me can’t recall the brand I have but they only have studs on the edge . in normal conditions pumped up they roll on rubber for ice run at lower pressure and the spikes bite. Even pumped up as you slide or corner they will bite and keep you up.

Schwalbe Winter and Marathon Winter ^

Yes.
I use ice-spikers to commute (on tarmac) when it gets icy. You can not fall off your bike due to ice when using them. Sheet ice – front brake – no probs. Even when it does slip it’s in a very slow predictable manner.
Slow and noisy though, so you don’t really want to use them unless it is icy.

Yes. They work extremely well on almost any icy surface. The only problems you sometimes get is when it has snowed some time ago, become rutted and then frozen. They can struggle a bit then. The biggest difficulty is that you can cycle quite happily along, stop, put your foot down and then fall over. They are pretty draggy to use on a daily basis. I use them on an old hack bike so it only gets used when necessary, but I think you’d probably get good value out of them in Aberdeen.

I got some Conti Nordics a couple of years ago when we last had a big freeze. Only used them a handful of times but they were very good – sheet ice over packed snow. Don’t know if I’d want to lug them around all winter though.

http://www.schwalbe.com/en/spike-reader/marathon-winter.html

“The spikes work best on ice when running at minimum pressure, while at maximum pressure the tires can be ridden on ice-free roads with minimal road noise.”

Just carry a decent high pressure mini pump with a bleed valve and get the best of both worlds.

Had an email through for these on offer yesterday for £11.99 so could be worth a punt. No idea if they’re any good or not unfortunately!

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/TYSCSNST/schwalbe-snow-stud-wired-tyre

** just noticed the price has gone up since, still cheap enough.

They’ve been of use twice in the last 5 years darn sarf. If it has snowed it’s normally then rained and all gone.
I put them on my spare bike 2 weeks ago in anticipation!

I can confirm they work well. So well that you forget how slippy it is and fall off when you put a foot down.

I’ve ordered some of the Schwalbe Snow Stud tyres from On One due to the offer they had the other day (£11.99 each). However before that I was about to buy either these:

Schwalbe Winter – Rose Bikes

or these:

Schwalbe Marathon Winter – Rose Bikes

I think the Snow Studs I’ve bought might be a bit draggy but my commute isn’t far. The Marathons look like they’d roll better

Used Ice Spiker Pros* for 2-3 weeks for the 3 winters before last. Meant I could continue to ride to work on the towpaths as opposed to either riding on the roads that were (maybe) gritted, or spending £25 a week on petrol to run the same risk but in a motorised steel safety cage.

*The one and only time MrsMC has seen the benefit of paying twice as much to halve the weight. They are still slow and draggy mind.

ive rode on sheet ice many times with no spikes or problems, one question tho, how long is your stem? if its long it could be the weight bias towards the front that’s causing you to fall???
could be wrong mind.

ive rode on sheet ice many times with no spikes or problems, one question tho, how long is your stem? if its long it could be the weight bias towards the front that’s causing you to fall???
could be wrong mind.

My stem is insanely long – as was the fashion back in 1996 when I bought the bike. But on this occasion I can confirm it was not the stem’s fault. It was hard to stand up on the ice, let alone cycle on it.

I think I’m going to get some of those Schwable Winters. I don’t think I need the extra studs that come on the sides of the Marathon Winters as my commute is a straight line along the side of the river Dee.

It’s a fair commute though (10 miles each way), so I’m going to hold back just to see if I can get a few more weeks out of my normal slick tyres. Hopefully this cold snap will be over by next week….

get yourself a 60mm stem and see the difference in control, you’ll get used to it in no time at all, especially if you get wider bars to match it.
don’t waste yer money on tyres when that isn’t the problem 😉

devash – Member

“The spikes work best on ice when running at minimum pressure, while at maximum pressure the tires can be ridden on ice-free roads with minimal road noise.”

Yeah, my snow stud is like that, basically a 2 mode tyre. TBH it’s not as effective an idea as it sounds, because it’s generally surprise ice that gets you, and you’re likely to have the tyres pumped up more in those cases anyway. It’s good for if you want to leave the tyre on all the time, and every so often you have an icy commute to adapt to, but it’s not so good for if you have a commute that might often be a bit icy (like mine)

Though, the winter reflex does look like it’ll be a bit better than the snowstud for that.

fanatic278 – Member
Hopefully this cold snap will be over by next week…
.
.
.
Wishful thinking by a Huuuuuuge margin 😆

I assume these spiked tyres are no use for tarmac though? Funnily enough I commute through Aberdeen as well but just on road. I’ve had a couple of dodgy moments lately on greasy roads and white lines. Currently running Schwalbe Marathons

schwalbe marathon winters = you won’t fall off on ice, however i usually fall off with fatigue from riding them the 13miles and 250m of climbing home with them on. pump them to 90psi and they’re manageable but still drag like riding a DH bike with 2.7’s on (maybe some over exaggeration there…)

its tricky for me where i live as its icy/snowy on local roads/bike paths but there will be nothing on the final few mile drag into town where its always a few degrees warmer & gritted. however putting up with the drag is better than shattering a pelvis/shoulder or falling off in front of a car or bus i suppose

get yourself a 60mm stem and see the difference in control

Hilarious! 60mm stems for riding on the road, whatever will STW world throw up next, 63degree head angles for kids bikes?

I assume these spiked tyres are no use for tarmac though?

Marathon winter and the Winter are just spiked versions of your current tyre. Perfectly suited for road and path use on ice. In snow, they dont tend to work as well unless its well packed (ie. on a road). For an MTB the Ice Spiker are studded mtb tyre, so grip a bit better in lumpy snow and general offroad trails.

Marathon Winters work fine on tarmac. I always expect mine to slide around but they don’t, there’s loads of grip. The only worry would be wearing the studs out but I imagine the rubber would wear out (like any other tyre) first.

You could try the Conti TopContact Winters: http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti%20topcontactwinter.shtml

No studs, but lots of sipes (and maybe softer rubber?), like a car winter tyre.

Hilarious! 60mm stems for riding on the road, whatever will STW world throw up next, 63degree head angles for kids bikes?

yea, ‘Hilarious’ … but its not me who’s falling off all the time on the road/dirt/wherever tho is it.

I’m not certain that even a 60mm stem allows you to ignore the rules of physics.

get yourself a 60mm stem and see the difference in control, you’ll get used to it in no time at all, especially if you get wider bars to match it.
don’t waste yer money on tyres when that isn’t the problem

Some of us actually rode just fine on bikes with 135mm stems that were designed for them, believe it or not!
The big difference you’ll notice if you put a 60mm stem on a bike like that will be the 2-1/2″ less reach to the bars making you massively uncomfortable.

On the topic of the OP, I’m not sure I’d choose to run spikes for a mostly road commute, have you anything slightly treaded to try?

I used to run spiked tyres for a 10-mile each way road commute. What’s the supposed issue?

They are noisy as sin on tarmac.

Great. The peds hear you coming and don’t step off the pavement into your path.

I Ran the mega studded schwalbes (Cant remember the name) on my Cargo bike last winter, bit draggy, but better that than a black ice fall 😯

6 Mile across town tarmac commute, but back roads so not always gritted

I picked mine up S/H the previous summer in preparation. 😀

EDIT: mine are Marathon winter as per link up there ^ 😉

I think the noise they make is one of the most satisfying in cycling.