Winter studded tyres

[darkpoint]

...which may lead to the following balancing act during any freeze we see:  Is it worth £70 in tyres to get to the first heavily trafficed road, where the cars do the magic?

in short nope..  is it worth the 70 quid to keep you upright in traffic when you hit a magic glassy bit, hell yea.

even if the above wasn't true would I be getting me some anyway, hell yea. 

[mattc]

...

Where roads are gritted, there's no need.  A tready tyre is ample.  Pick routes to take the main, gritted roads, and the majority of UK conditions are met.

Ice is a problem on residential un-gritted roads - the cars are moving slowly, so can afford to slide about a bit. Whereas on 2 wheels you've just broken your pelvis/collarbone.
Then there's early morning rides - after a frost, before the cars have churned up the grit/ice (or whatever it is they do).

I don't see enough ice to know much about it, but I see enough to fall off and hurt myself 

[nuttycyclist]

On glass ice where you cannot ride safely, you can ride with ice tyres.

Snow performance is similar to MTB tyres.

<voice of experience>
Unless the glass ice is across a road with a steep camber in which case you'll end up sprawled over the road and possibly in pain. 
</voice of experience>

My road, a rat run half an inch deep in polished ice, was fine to pull a wheelie on with my DIY studded tyres last winter.

[Sergeant Pluck]

I just want to be able to bimble past people digging their cars out, and then turn up at work, at my normal time, whilst everyone else trundles in with tales of woe and difficulty in their travels.

Precisely, Tim  Ideally, without spending too much on the tyres.

Cycle paths just don't get gritted.
Frost traps are everywhere

I'm in SW London but my immediate area seems to be a strangely low, cold spot. Very poorly gritted, if at all. If gritted, not enough traffic for the grit to work.

[Ray 6701]

Are we likely to get another *bad winter this year 

*dependant on whether you like snow & ice or not.

[Cunobelin]

I just want to be able to bimble past people digging their cars out, and then turn up at work, at my normal time, whilst everyone else trundles in with tales of woe and difficulty in their travels.

Managed exactly that on the Catrike last year.

However there were issues with spinning of the drive wheel, so these tyres would be helpful.

[nuttycyclist]

I just want to be able to bimble past people digging their cars out, and then turn up at work, at my normal time, whilst everyone else trundles in with tales of woe and difficulty in their travels.

Precisely, Tim   Ideally, without spending too much on the tyres.

Cycle paths just don't get gritted.
Frost traps are everywhere

I'm in SW London but my immediate area seems to be a strangely low, cold spot. Very poorly gritted, if at all. If gritted, not enough traffic for the grit to work.

To the first quote, my greatest enjoyment last year was 4x4's pulling out to overtake, hitting the gas, and spinning all four wheels and going backwards  

To the second quote, I'm in "Southend Cycle Town".  The Council are already on record as stating that they won't be gritting the cycle paths as they don't expect enough cyclists to exist during the winter...

[cpjmathieson]

I don't see it will be worth my while spending out £70 on studded tyres as I managed ok last year, just thought it'll be easier with studded tyres if I could get a cheap pair... Think I manage, usually the cars have worn a nice route on the roads!

[Greenbank]

I don't see it will be worth my while spending out £70 on studded tyres as I managed ok last year, just thought it'll be easier with studded tyres if I could get a cheap pair... Think I manage, usually the cars have worn a nice route on the roads!

Without winter tyres last year I would have had to have commuted by train 10 days.

The first road I need to go down looked like this: http://www.greenbank.org/misc/Image005.jpg (roughly 5% hill going down). It's about 1km before I get to roads that have enough traffic on them to clear them.

Given that the train is ~£3.50 a day I just need another 10 days and the tyres would have paid for themselves. (I could just work from home but where's the fun in that.)

[cpjmathieson]

these aren't too bad at £27.99 each

Schwalbe Snow Stud Tyre | Buy Online | ChainReactionCycles.com

[Greenbank]

I'm still on the lookout for a set of cheap wheels to fit mine to, but then again I haven't used my hackbike since last winter so it is still clad with the Marathon Winters.

[cpjmathieson]

Would I need a pair or would I get away with using just one?? (front or back??)

[Greenbank]

Would I need a pair or would I get away with using just one?? (front or back??)

You'd need a pair.

If you had one on the back only you'd lose the front within seconds and go down hard. Madness.

If you had one on the front you'd stay upright most of the time but struggle to get any traction.

[cpjmathieson]

Would I need a pair or would I get away with using just one?? (front or back??)

You'd need a pair.

If you had one on the back only you'd lose the front within seconds and go down hard. Madness.

If you had one on the front you'd stay upright most of the time but struggle to get any traction.

Thanks was thinking one on the front only..but traction like you say would be a problem.... might get a pair when I get paid then ..cheers

[TimO]

I don't see it will be worth my while spending out £70 on studded tyres as I managed ok last year, just thought it'll be easier with studded tyres if I could get a cheap pair... Think I manage, usually the cars have worn a nice route on the roads!

Without winter tyres last year I would have had to have commuted by train 10 days.

The first road I need to go down looked like this: http://www.greenbank.org/misc/Image005.jpg (roughly 5% hill going down). It's about 1km before I get to roads that have enough traffic on them to clear them.

Given that the train is ~£3.50 a day I just need another 10 days and the tyres would have paid for themselves. (I could just work from home but where's the fun in that.)

The local roads around where I lived had enough traffic to ensure that the snow was packed down into a solid icy layer, but not enough for it to be gritted and for that ice to clear.

I did commute by public transport for a similar period of time, and it costs me just over £7 a day, so I would quite possibly pay for the tyres, plus I get more exercise and a smug feeling!

Would I need a pair or would I get away with using just one?? (front or back??)

You'd need a pair.

If you had one on the back only you'd lose the front within seconds and go down hard. Madness.

If you had one on the front you'd stay upright most of the time but struggle to get any traction.

That's pretty much what Peter White says in his studded tyres blurb (See the paragraphs about ²/₃rds of the way down "One Tire Only in Front?").  If you can only have one tyre you need it on the front, but you really need two tyres.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I don't see it will be worth my while spending out £70 on studded tyres as I managed ok last year, just thought it'll be easier with studded tyres if I could get a cheap pair... Think I manage, usually the cars have worn a nice route on the roads!

Without winter tyres last year I would have had to have commuted by train 10 days.

The first road I need to go down looked like this: http://www.greenbank.org/misc/Image005.jpg (roughly 5% hill going down). It's about 1km before I get to roads that have enough traffic on them to clear them.

hmm. I managed 55mile round trips on the roads last year, 15 miles of which was on roads like this: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Fcjv6BKmydU/THQ8-GFVzfI/AAAAAAAAAD8/ukjLsBg8n3g/s640/snow4.JPG

It was very hard work, mostly because of snow build-up on the tyres rubbing on mudguards. That was using GP4S tyres. The days I quite riding were the ones following the heavy snowfall, when cars had packed the snow to ice, then the top melted in the sun.

If things go well, I hope to have a more suitable bike running for extreme winter. Not sure I'll bother with studded tyres tho'.

[clarion]

When I couldn't ride, the trains had already given up at least the day before.  And the roads near me can be really bad, but it's not far to roads which are reasonably passable.  Slow, but possible.  And the roads get clearer and clearer into town, although I did see a few people go down on glassy ice near E&C last year (oh - and I did, too, going to help one of them )

I think I will get some Winters and see how it goes.

[TimO]

Another option is to use snow chains, but it looks like they're a bit noisy on anything other than significant snow, and pretty damned rare.

They're mentioned on some sites, like IceBike, but the Koolstop ones which they talk about don't seem to be available any more.

There are quite a few sites detailing how to make them, which would probably be a more sensible approach, and it looks a much more practical proposition if you're using a bike with disc brakes, since you don't have to worry about keeping the chains clear of the rims.

One of the few commercial chains I managed to find are Pit Bull Mountain Bike Tire Chains, but they're typically $60 to $70, plus postage to the UK, probably VAT, possibly duty, and whatever the delivery company charges to collect that VAT and duty (£8 for the PO, more for most others).  Studded tyres would work out cheaper, and they'll work far better on icy conditions, which the chains aren't really designed for.

[clarion]

Chains would be a PITA unless your ride was consistently snow/ice.  The great Wen is sufficiently warmer in the middle (and the passage of vehicles radiating waste heat passing over the roads) means that ain't the case for thee or me.

[mattc]

Would I need a pair or would I get away with using just one?? (front or back??)

You'd need a pair.

If you had one on the back only you'd lose the front within seconds and go down hard. Madness.

If you had one on the front you'd stay upright most of the time but struggle to get any traction.

Thanks was thinking one on the front only..but traction like you say would be a problem.... might get a pair when I get paid then ..cheers

I think it depends ... if your journey is flat enough, you don't need a lot of traction (and most roads just have ice on some bits, not all - the other bits being either dry, snow or slush). And front wheels are a lot quicker to swap.

[Greenbank]

With just a front wheel you still stand the chance of losing the back wheel whilst turning on unseen ice.

If it's icy enough to warrant studded tyres I'd want them on both.

[itsbruce]

I look at the title of this thread and think "Did it?  What does it do now?".  Only because I'm bored, mind.

[Palinurus]

Would I need a pair or would I get away with using just one?? (front or back??)

You'd need a pair.

If you had one on the back only you'd lose the front within seconds and go down hard. Madness.

If you had one on the front you'd stay upright most of the time but struggle to get any traction.

A pair makes sense, although on shiny compressed snow last year I found a cyclocross mud tyre run at a low pressure was giving me a fair bit of traction on the rear (very little slip at all if I kept my weight over the rear wheel- not dissimilar from riding in wet mud)- I doubt it would've worked so well if I'd had to negotiate a significant gradient on the same surface.

[Palinurus]

I haven't tried proper smooth ice with just a 'cross tyre on the rear though.

[Si]

I like riding on quiet, low traffic, country lanes - the kind that don't get gritted and don't even get much motor traffic to help clear ice.  As I've got older (and had a growing number of club-mates go over on black ice and break bones) I've felt less and less comfortable in going out in icy conditions.  I remember years ago doing a mid-winter, sub-zero, 40 mile journey where at least 2/3rds of the roads were sheet ice, I made it around by being very cautious and it was quite thrilling, but these days the thought of such a venture scares me to death.  I know I could stick to the main roads but I wouldn't enjoy that so much, plus I have to get to the main roads in the first place.  I'm sure that until I got my studded tyres that every other time I felt like a winter ride I changed my mind because of the worry about black ice patches.  Even when I did go out (pre-studs) I didn't enjoy it as much as I ought to have because of the worry about ice. 

So I don't see it as £70 spent on a pair of tyres, rather £70 spent to allow me to ride happily when and where I want throughout a 1/4 of the year.  Sure, the problem might have been as much in my head as on the road, but the studs fixed it and for that I think that they are a bargain.

They are slow and heavy, but as I pootle that doesn't make too much difference.  As for handling on dry, ice-free roads - never had a problem.