Lost my nerve :(

[Crankarm]

Mine did not cost £80, more like £54 which is reasonable for a pair of tyres plus I did not wait until I needed them before attempting to buy them. I realise it is still money but planning ahead helps ease the financial pain.

Well if you can't work and pay your mortgage, bills, food, etc., because you are injured and in a lot of pain, have broken something plus your bike is broken, then £50 or even £80 for some winter tyres may suddenly seem money well spent imho . But that's just me.

 

[Crankarm]

Have you got studded tyres on your bike Crankarm?

Yes.

 

[Hip Priest]

Yes.

You kept that quiet.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Well if you can't work and pay your mortgage, bills, food, etc., because you are injured and in a lot of pain, have broken something plus your bike is broken, then £50 or even £80 for some winter tyres may suddenly seem money well spent imho . But that's just me.

The way I have looked at it is they are going to cost me circa £60 from Germany, I would spend that on fuel driving for a fortnight to and from work

 

[BSRU]

Well if you can't work and pay your mortgage, bills, food, etc., because you are injured and in a lot of pain, have broken something plus your bike is broken, then £50 or even £80 for some winter tyres may suddenly seem money well spent imho . But that's just me.

For me the pain of any injury and damage to my bike are reasons to use studded tyres. Trying to look for icy patches in the dark is a very unnerving experience, do not have to worry about it now.

 

[Drago]

It's a challenge. And we stare challenges right on the face and give 'em hell.

 

[Crankarm]

You kept that quiet.

 

[Bodhbh]

It would cost me 6 quid a day on the bus commuting, so the 53 quid is well spent imo on Marathon Winters - no days on the bus and no worrying myself to death about the off-chance of hitting black ice - you can just sit back and enjoy the ride in on icy days. If you can't afford them then that's it, but I don't see them as some OTT fad as some seem to imply.

As a side note: I am not a fast rider these days and 90% of the time I'm the victim of scalpings, but I comfotably dished out several yesterday morning - to faster regulars, I guess, worried sick about falling off.

Yes and you do need to watch out for very hard surfaces with the ice studs - they will skate around a bit on road iron and the like.

 

[vorsprung]

Winter tyres cheap? jog right on with that comment. I would love to be able to just throw 80 quid on a set of tyres, but can't. Thankfully I can avoid the worst of the weather with the times I travel in and out of work.

I don't commute at the moment. When I bought my ice tyres 2 years ago, cost of getting to work in a car was approx £8 a day
So the £65 (buy direct from .de) ice tyres have to be used 9 times before they pay for themselves

In fact for a couple of days the roads were impassible to cars, the only way to get to work was on the bike with ice tyres

The ice tyres are now in their third year of use. They aren't worn as they are only used for a few weeks a year.

Yes, they are a one off capital expense. no, they are not expensive

 

[cyberknight]

Mine did not cost £80, more like £54 which is reasonable for a pair of tyres plus I did not wait until I needed them before attempting to buy them. I realise it is still money but planning ahead helps ease the financial pain.

Yup planning ahead , work just announced more short time next year and some might fair worse than that ....
Convinced myself i cant afford the luxury of 3 bikes so looks like one will be for sale shortly .

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Well if you can't work and pay your mortgage, bills, food, etc., because you are injured and in a lot of pain, have broken something plus your bike is broken, then £50 or even £80 for some winter tyres may suddenly seem money well spent imho . But that's just me.

Totally agree with this: I don't get paid for being off, plus I live myself, break a limb how am I gonna go out buy cat food?
Could take public transport when it's icy, but between the time saved cycling to work and back, plus the taxis I would have to pay when I'm on shifts during the festive season and there's no public transport, the money spent on winter tyres that will last a few years is negligent.
Living in Scotland, icy roads can be expected from late October to at least early March.

 

[cyberknight]

So if someones got spare spare :0 otherwise i will have to risk it ....
No public transport either and no where i can get the money from for them .

 

[Tynan]

not much ice here in London but I wouldn't ride on it, falling is bad enough but falling and going under another vehicle is no joke

I had a hard fall on black ice early this year and there was no warning at all on an otherwise clear road, luckily it was a very very quiet road, granted ice tyres are worthwhile if there's more days of ice but it must still be dicey

 

[swansonj]

Came off my bike on slippy mud slide of a road three weeks ago. Hip still hurting although the surface bruising has gone. 5 more cyclists at work have come off on either mud or ice, one resulting in a fractured wrist, and even my die-hard cyclist friend, who normally rides all through the winter, has also come off. I've completely lost my nerve and it doesn't help that my die-hard cyclist friend has hung his bike up for the next week or so because of this weather .

If he's scared, what hope have I got ???

Buggi, you don't happen to work for the same company as me do you - our two wheeled user group has been reporting 6 accidents including one fracture this week, and Solihull/"Warwick office" is a bit suggestive...

 

[buggi]

It staggers me that at the onset of winter so few road users are prepared for the conditions car drivers as well as cyclists. It is not as if winter is unpredictable, it happens every year and still the same ignorance and foolishness takes place whether on bikes or in cars. Get the right kit for the conditions - winter tyres with studs in the case of bicylces and for cars winter tyres and chains if it snows. Simples. It is not as if any of this winter kit is hard to get or particularly expensive, it is not. People are basically muppets blaming the road conditions. The only thing they should blame is themselves. Fail to prepare and prepare to fail. Sorry to be blunt but it is true.

i was on my winter bike with winter tyres, and it was ice i came down on, it was mud all over the road, that had been ground down by the cars, and then rained on which basically created a mud slide. I have been told that it's the fault of some contractors at the local rural college who have been coming out without washing their wheels (which is apparently illegal for these very reasons). it wasn't just me that skidded. The car that came behind 30 seconds later ended up on the verge too.