Snow MTB'ing.......which snow tyres??
Discussion
I've been doing a little snow riding with all the snow we've had in Vienna. There's 50cm in the Wienerwald (trail area), and although it's seriously fun, it's also bloody hard work keep the bike upright even with my tyre pressure down at about 15psi.
On top of this I've already had two punctures with the tube shredded to pieces due to pinching as the low pressures.
As such, I want to buy some spiked tyres, but can anyone recommend any? I've found two options on CRC but I don't know of any other alternatives....
Moderate snow with ice
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
Hardcore ice and snow!
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
Opinions? Alternatives?
On top of this I've already had two punctures with the tube shredded to pieces due to pinching as the low pressures.
As such, I want to buy some spiked tyres, but can anyone recommend any? I've found two options on CRC but I don't know of any other alternatives....
Moderate snow with ice
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
Hardcore ice and snow!
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
Opinions? Alternatives?
Oooh, bookmarked !
No experience so far, but was chatting to a colleague today about how unpleasant I found my commute this morning. The limited amount of snow here, has frozen into ruts, which kick the front and rear wheel in different directions, and frankly, make it really nasty to ride on.
Anyway, this guy has fitted spikes, and says the difference is night and day. He has one heavily spiked tyre, and one with fewer spikes on the rear due to lack of clearance. His recommedation was for more spikes if possible.
Drawbacks were said to be more noise on dry tarmac and higher rolling resistance. His solution was two sets of wheels with a choice of studded or non studded tyres depending on conditions.
I'm pretty keen on getting some myself.
No experience so far, but was chatting to a colleague today about how unpleasant I found my commute this morning. The limited amount of snow here, has frozen into ruts, which kick the front and rear wheel in different directions, and frankly, make it really nasty to ride on.
Anyway, this guy has fitted spikes, and says the difference is night and day. He has one heavily spiked tyre, and one with fewer spikes on the rear due to lack of clearance. His recommedation was for more spikes if possible.
Drawbacks were said to be more noise on dry tarmac and higher rolling resistance. His solution was two sets of wheels with a choice of studded or non studded tyres depending on conditions.
I'm pretty keen on getting some myself.
BOR said:
Oooh, bookmarked !
No experience so far, but was chatting to a colleague today about how unpleasant I found my commute this morning. The limited amount of snow here, has frozen into ruts, which kick the front and rear wheel in different directions, and frankly, make it really nasty to ride on.
Anyway, this guy has fitted spikes, and says the difference is night and day. He has one heavily spiked tyre, and one with fewer spikes on the rear due to lack of clearance. His recommedation was for more spikes if possible.
Drawbacks were said to be more noise on dry tarmac and higher rolling resistance. His solution was two sets of wheels with a choice of studded or non studded tyres depending on conditions.
I'm pretty keen on getting some myself.
Yup, I thought about two sets of wheels but at €500 a set plus the tyres on top of this, it's not exactly cheap!!!!No experience so far, but was chatting to a colleague today about how unpleasant I found my commute this morning. The limited amount of snow here, has frozen into ruts, which kick the front and rear wheel in different directions, and frankly, make it really nasty to ride on.
Anyway, this guy has fitted spikes, and says the difference is night and day. He has one heavily spiked tyre, and one with fewer spikes on the rear due to lack of clearance. His recommedation was for more spikes if possible.
Drawbacks were said to be more noise on dry tarmac and higher rolling resistance. His solution was two sets of wheels with a choice of studded or non studded tyres depending on conditions.
I'm pretty keen on getting some myself.
I've read it makes a massive difference though. Only the other day I fell off my commuter on the way to work on some ice and I have a nice big bruise on my backside...
OK. I used my Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pros for the first time, today. On a fiendish mix of fresh snow-over-patches-of-ice, they were really fantastic. They were indeed "night and day" compared to knobblies, with loads of sure-footed grip.
I'm still learning to put my faith in them, but so far, they are superb on the type of snow and ice that previously would have had the tyres sliding around.
Recommended.
(some guy even flagged me down to warn me about an icy slope I was approaching. "no need mate !")
I'm still learning to put my faith in them, but so far, they are superb on the type of snow and ice that previously would have had the tyres sliding around.
Recommended.
(some guy even flagged me down to warn me about an icy slope I was approaching. "no need mate !")
I've experimented with home-made studded tyres in the past, they can be made to work well but are best suited to Our Nordic and Alpine Friends who have proper winter rides - 100% on the white stuff.
The next best thing is to use your mud-specific tyres, on your narrowest rims. You do have mud specific tyres, dont you....!?
And as for pressure - lowering pressures is wrong. You want to raise them, just as you do in mud!
So - narrow tyres, with tall, widely spaced spikes. High pressure.
Think like crampons...
Specialized Storm Control are a good 2.0 Mud tyre, Panaracer do some good ones, and I think you can get Maxxis Swmapthings in a narrow size too.
Above all - if we DO get a good dump of snow, then make sure you do go out to ride some fun trails. it is Hilarious. One of my favourite rides was at Dalby last year, everyone told us not to bother but with proper plannign and kit we had a ball, took 3x longer than usual to cover a shorter distance but was brillaint fun.
ease off the tension on your pedals too as you'll be 'dabbing' rather a lot mroe than usual!
The next best thing is to use your mud-specific tyres, on your narrowest rims. You do have mud specific tyres, dont you....!?
And as for pressure - lowering pressures is wrong. You want to raise them, just as you do in mud!
So - narrow tyres, with tall, widely spaced spikes. High pressure.
Think like crampons...
Specialized Storm Control are a good 2.0 Mud tyre, Panaracer do some good ones, and I think you can get Maxxis Swmapthings in a narrow size too.
Above all - if we DO get a good dump of snow, then make sure you do go out to ride some fun trails. it is Hilarious. One of my favourite rides was at Dalby last year, everyone told us not to bother but with proper plannign and kit we had a ball, took 3x longer than usual to cover a shorter distance but was brillaint fun.
ease off the tension on your pedals too as you'll be 'dabbing' rather a lot mroe than usual!
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