Winter Tires

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Any other winter riders out there? I started again last year after a few years off. I rode all winter through high school and university, but at the time studded tires were mostly homemade, with screws as studs, and weren't that great. Real studded tires from Nokian were prohibitively expensive for a student. I tried the homemade ones but was unimpressed and went back to regular mountain bike tires. Last fall, I got a pair of Continental Spike Claw 240 tires and I was very impressed with the traction. I doubt I'll ever ride in winter again without studs. I used to ride carefully and still slid out occasionally, but with the studs, I always had plenty of traction and didn't have to even think about being cautious when cornering; though I certainly couldn't corner like it was summer.

My car tires only have 113 studs per tire, compared to 240 per tire on my bike!

Here's a Pinkbike test on the subject:

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/article2340.html

These were my options when I looked for tires:

Continental Spike Claw 240
Local Price: $85
I bought these because they were knobby enough to work well in snow, with studs on every knob, but with small enough gaps at the center of the tread to roll smoothly. The rubber is very soft - softer than any of the other tires I looked at - so I figured it was optimized for cold temperatures. Wire bead. The studs are steel and have no significant wear after a season of use. My only complaint is that I lost or broke a couple of studs off the front tire, and I have a couple of tears in the rubber where I expect future stud loss. I think that was due to pulling wheelies over long puddles at high speeds. The tire gets going fast enough that it skids hard on the landing, and may have damaged those studs. I'll avoid high speed runs through puddles in the future, as I know of no front fender that will keep me dry if I allow my front wheel to go through deep puddles at high speed.

I do have some pretty good fenders on my winter bike, an early 90's Nishiki Expedition (pink stickers removed years ago):

NishikiExpedition.jpg


NishikiExpeditionFront.jpg


Nokian Hakka 300
Local Price $200
Too expensive for me. Aluminum-housed tungsten carbide studs and a kevlar bead make this a light tire. About 250 grams per tire lighter than the steel stud, wire bead options.

Nokian Extreme 294
Local Price: $150
I also avoided these because of the high cost. Steel studs, wire bead.

Schwalbe Ice Spiker
Local Price: $120, available at MEC for $95
These look like they'd have great traction on ice and snow. The large knob spacing scared me off though, as I felt they'd be a little rough on dry pavement. The rubber was harder than that of the Continentals, so it might hold the studs better. Steel studs, wire bead.

Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro
Local Price: $145
Not featured in the Pinkbike test, these have an aluminum-housed tungsten carbide stud and a kevlar bead, so they're comparable to the Hakka 300 for weight. I didn't buy them because of cost and because I thought the Contis would ride smoother.
 
All year round; snow, ice, rain, or whatever. I've got a set of Nokion 296 studs that work great on ice. In the fresh snow, or in any other condition but ice I like simple mountain bike tires. One of the reasons is that studs are so [censored] expensive that I don't want to "waist" them by using them on pavement. I think they also have too much rolling resistance for regular use, but I've heard people disagree with this. I've only used Nokian's so I can't comment on other brands.

Bring on the winter.
 
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After another winter on my Continentals, I haven't lost any more studs, and I'm still a fan of these tires. I avoided high-speed wheelies.
 
Half-way through my fourth season and the Continentals are still good. Still no further stud loss. I'm putting around 1000 miles on them per winter.

My drivetrain is another story. My 13 year old chain has now lost 10 rollers due to breakage and finally skipped for the first time last week. I'm surprised it made it this far considering it started losing rollers a couple years ago! I've got an old STX-level drivetrain - including cranks and derailleurs - in good condition off another bike, to be installed this week. I have nicer spare parts than that in my collection, but I don't want to use them on my winter beater.
 
I saw your question on the other thread. The ones I made are almost identical to these, and I used the same screws: LINK

One thing I did differently was the inside; I used a worn-out 26x1.5 slick tire and cut off the bead with the utility knife. Then, I used that as a tire liner. I tried to hot glue a Mr. Tuffy in there, but it would still move around and I still got flats, even with thorn-proof tubes. I still used thorn-proof tubes with this set-up, but it's probably not necessary.

I used an old Dart/Smoke combo that I had laying around, but any tire with big knobs would work. I spaced them similarly to the guy in the link. I made another set with more screws, but it was overkill.


This set-up has its pros and cons. On ice, or if there's ice underneath an inch or two of snow, the traction is ridiculous--better than a road bike on pavement. When you get to sections of road that are cleared, though... It's not horrible, but it gets a bit squirrelly. If your ride encounters a lot of cleared areas, the commercially-available tires may work better.

For off-road stuff though, they're way better. I was just riding on some packed-down doubletrack that was fairly icy (kind of a multi-use place for x-country skiers, hikers, etc, and was riding with my dog. I road some some pretty impossibly steep stuff in total control--it was almost too easy! Even my dog slipped out a couple of times (rare for him!). The giant tire liner and TP tubes let you run really low pressure, which helps in the soft stuff.
 
Those look pretty mean. I can see how they'd be better on a trail or hard-pack snow, especially with even more screws than the guy in that thread used. The home made ones I had used in the past used smaller screws with sharper heads that were screwed in from the outside. No tire liner was necessary, but they had a tendency to rip out during hard cornering on dry pavement.

I suspect the factory ones are more ideal for me though. In spring and fall I'm often on mostly dry roads. During winter, about half my ride is typically on cleanish pavement, with the other on icy hard-pack. I've noticed from the marks made during braking and minor slides that I have about four studs in contact with the ground at any time; every knob has a stud. I do run lower pressure than in summer. Usually about 30 psi front and 40 psi rear.
 
Yeah, I tried the "screw from the outside method". It didn't work--they pulled out almost immediately. The big hassle was stopping flats from the screw heads, and the "tire inside a tire" thing worked perfectly. Obviously, I have a bunch of bike stuff just laying around so I could experiment... I do like the looks of the Ice Spiker Pro for a commercial tire. It looks like Pink Bike just tested the regular one. But yeah,if you're riding on a mix of pavement and ice, this may not be the way to go.

And I have to admit, sometimes even hipsters get it right. This is a great idea: http://gizmodo.com/5719594/zip-tie-snow-tires-the-cheapest-way-to-blizzard+proof-your-bike

Why didn't I think of that?? Obviously, don't try this if you're still running rim brakes.... I always carry zip ties in my saddle bag anyway, so I'm always ready to "chain up"!
 
Wacky. It doesn't seem like the plastic would provide much friction except on loose surfaces.

Not necessary for me, as I don't even run slicks in summer. I like the Panaracer Mach SK for city riding. I've tried slicks before and have three sets, but our roads are never clean enough to be confident while cornering hard on those things. They also seem to be easily affected by glass.
 
My buddy bought a pair of Schwalbe Ice Spikers so I got a chance to take them out for a short ride. Very aggressive looking, like motocross tires. They seem to have quite a bit more traction on icy hardpack than my Continentals; they really dig in. They were a little rougher on clean pavement but seemed like they'd be tolerable. I'd be willing to buy a pair if I needed new tires for my riding conditions. Probably still not something I'd go with for mainly clean pavement riding.
 
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