Slick or Specialized LK fast track for snow?

[139NI]

Hi all.

just want to ask if it makes any difference in terms of traction/grip to have a knobbly tyre instead of a semi- slick tyre when riding in snow/slight icy conditions. I have Continental Travel contacts at the moment and i am thinking of putting on some knoblies

what the general opinion?

 

[yashicamat]

If it is ice then I would say rubber compound is more important than if the tyre is knobbly or not, although I'm not sure which of those two is softer. If you start mixing in snow and slush, I'd say that you want a good tread to bite into the surface then.

 

[palinurus]

On the road I find a wider, knobbly tyre best in snow- expecially once it's been driven over (in really fresh snow even thin tyres work pretty well- but it never lasts long enough). I've been riding 32 mm cyclocross tyres intended for mud, they've felt pretty secure.

Ice is another matter.

 

[ChrisKH]

I have just swapped out my Continentals for some cheap Panaracer 26 x 1.5 urban commuting tyres and I'm glad I did. Definitely makes a difference in terms of the width of the tyre and contact with the road. I'm not doing any great distances, but if I was I would have invested in a narrower cyclocross tyre as Palinurus has.

 

[Fiona N]

I've just got some Geax something-or-other mud extreme tyres - 1.7inch with smallish, well spaced knobbles. They've been fantastic on everything including sugary snow in ruts, fresh snow on the road margins (small enough X-section that they're not a huge effort to push), semi-melted slush in villages and compacted-snow-turned-to-solid-ice of which there's a lot around here still. The widely spaced knobbles seem to get a grip on pretty much everything but shed snow to keep the traction too. They've got lateral stability too - the knobbles stopping sideways slippage on the edges of ruts and ice hillocks.
I reckon they'll be too slow for normal usage (I'll swop back to Schwalbe slicks) but just at the moment they're a good confident ride on everything.

 

[buddha]

On the road I find a wider, knobbly tyre best in snow- expecially once it's been driven over (in really fresh snow even thin tyres work pretty well- but it never lasts long enough). I've been riding 32 mm cyclocross tyres intended for mud, they've felt pretty secure.

Ice is another matter.

+1 to that. Conti. Twisters seem a good compromise between full on knobblies and something that is ridable on cleared roads.