Studded/spiked tires

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AndyPeace

Guest
Location
Worcestershire
In the current flurry of glorious weather I've run Marathon Winters. Great on roads were there's patches of ice, pretty rubbish on more than a 1cm of snow. I found even compacted snow on country lanes/briddleways too much for the marathons. what tire's do other people run in these conditions?
 

mcshroom

Bionic Subsonic
Schwalbe Snow studs for me - not that I seem to be getting the conditions to use them in this year. Also if it's fresh snow then CX/MTB knobbly tyres work well
 

MrJamie

Oaf on a Bike
I've gone for Marathon Plus Tour 700*40, on hybrid and 26*2.00 (51mm?) on MTB, the width and knobblies seems to make them a fair bit better on snow than the 35mm M+ I recall from last year, but like anything without studs, grip on ice is minimal. I went for them as an all purpose tyre for winter months with puncture protection as even now there's still lots of underpasses with no snow and broken glass. Quite pleased with them :smile:
 
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AndyPeace

AndyPeace

Guest
Location
Worcestershire
I'm thinking Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro but at over £120 a set I'm thinking quite slowly ;) But then again they'd last me a while, as I'd only be using them in full on snow.. I know they do a steel bead version which is much cheaper, but it'd be my intent to travel a reasonable distance so I'd like to keep the rolling weight down.
Despite their limitations I like my winter marathons which suffice for selected routes to work, it's just I'd rather be riding out into the sticks to visit family, friends and enjoying the countryside. Have I convinced myself yet? even though the likleyhood of more snow this winter is low... still I'd be ready for next winter and it's not something you go get the day before the weather changes is it?
 

wheres_my_beard

Über Member
Location
Norwich
I've been using Marathon Winter tyres, at minimum pressure (35psi) and have found them perfect for my commutes so far, but I haven't been in deep snow, just on slick and black ice, which seems to suit them well. I havent exactly been flying around on them, but thats probably more to do with my confidence rather than the tyres capabilities.
 

Peteaud

Veteran
Location
South Somerset
I'm thinking Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro but at over £120 a set I'm thinking quite slowly ;) But then again they'd last me a while, as I'd only be using them in full on snow.. I know they do a steel bead version which is much cheaper, but it'd be my intent to travel a reasonable distance so I'd like to keep the rolling weight down.
Despite their limitations I like my winter marathons which suffice for selected routes to work, it's just I'd rather be riding out into the sticks to visit family, friends and enjoying the countryside. Have I convinced myself yet? even though the likleyhood of more snow this winter is low... still I'd be ready for next winter and it's not something you go get the day before the weather changes is it?

Nice and almost certainly brilliant but £126.00 a set, i cant justify that.
 
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AndyPeace

AndyPeace

Guest
Location
Worcestershire
I've been using Marathon Winter tyres, at minimum pressure (35psi) and have found them perfect for my commutes so far, but I haven't been in deep snow, just on slick and black ice, which seems to suit them well. I havent exactly been flying around on them, but thats probably more to do with my confidence rather than the tyres capabilities.

Yeah, Marathon winters are great tires! I think I had less success with them this time around as it's the first time I put clipless pedals on with studded tires, gone with flats in the past but had a nutty moment when I thought riding fixed in the snow was a good idea. I think my tire pressure has been too high for what I tackeled, I'm pretty lighweight and have been running 45psi.
 

Pat "5mph"

A kilogrammicaly challenged woman
Moderator
Location
Glasgow
I'm thinking Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro but at over £120 a set I'm thinking quite slowly ;) But then again they'd last me a while, as I'd only be using them in full on snow.. I know they do a steel bead version which is much cheaper, but it'd be my intent to travel a reasonable distance so I'd like to keep the rolling weight down.
Despite their limitations I like my winter marathons which suffice for selected routes to work, it's just I'd rather be riding out into the sticks to visit family, friends and enjoying the countryside. Have I convinced myself yet? even though the likleyhood of more snow this winter is low... still I'd be ready for next winter and it's not something you go get the day before the weather changes is it?
A wee bit cheaper here
Delivery is a fiver. Normally within 3 days for the slower service. The more expensive courier takes the same time, but delivers on a saturday too.
 

BSRU

A Human Being
Location
Swindon
I use the non folding Schwalbe Ice Spikers, great in snow and ice.
Cost me 90 quid but the MTB there on only cost me a fiver(needed some TLC).

I have Marathon Winters but they are really only suitable for ice or compacted(frozen) snow.
 

Pat "5mph"

A kilogrammicaly challenged woman
Moderator
Location
Glasgow
I use the non folding Schwalbe Ice Spikers, great in snow and ice.
Cost me 90 quid but the MTB there on only cost me a fiver(needed some TLC).

I have Marathon Winters but they are really only suitable for ice or compacted(frozen) snow.
Same here: I ended up with winters AND ice spikers after an iffy commute in light snow with the winters.
Really the ice spikers are a good all round winter tyre: speed is not an issue with me ^_^
 
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AndyPeace

AndyPeace

Guest
Location
Worcestershire
A wee bit cheaper here
Delivery is a fiver. Normally within 3 days for the slower service. The more expensive courier takes the same time, but delivers on a saturday too.
£80 for a set of ice spike pro's, folding bead... nice! (I did read it right?) that's £40 cheaper! You've used this outlet before? I am always a bit skeptical about ordering from abroad... the last time I ordered something from Germany it took the shop (not this outlet) 6 months to send anything and when they did they put a different address on it and no name at all! luckily the invoice inside the parcel had my name/address and the person who received the parcel brought it to my house! To boot they hadn't even filled the order... was a real hassle.
 

Mallory

Guest
i had a 11km pootle today on my marathon winters. 60psi approx and rode on all conditions. (slush,ice,snow,deep snow on sodden grass) No issues whatsoever apart from the sodden grass where obviously their was wheel slip. Mind you it was the slowest ive ever ridden. Avg 15kph :eek: Not helped by fingers almost falling off :cold:
 
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