Studded tyre warning

[levad]

I am currently riding a Giant hybrid shod with Marathon Winters 700Cx38. I think they are fantastic, I got them last Christmas and used them through all the snow earlier this year and Tuesday and Wednesday this week in the snow and ice of West Oxfordshire.

Last night on the way home I found myself going too fast on an off cambered hill and hitting the deck!

I looked at my GPS recording when I got home and found I had been doing 21 mph. The tyres were at 60psi.

I guess I had got too confident and lost respect for the conditions. I was able to have a "controlled" crash in that I new the bike was going down and I could decide on which part of me to land on, I decided to come off the saddle backwards and have a bruised coccyx rather than risk a broken collerbone!

It may also have been karma as I was still enjoying the fact that I had pedalled past a car that was not getting up a previous hill

 

[BentMikey]

Awesome! If you're not crashing you're not exploring the limits.

 

[fossyant]

Doh.................

I assume it was snow on tarmac then..........keep the speed down. Snow on rough stuff, then give it some welly............

 

[Piemaster]

Only 'moments' I've had has been with roads where the compacted ice/snow is starting to thaw, bits of ice breaking off and shearing to the side. I've found its actually easier on untreated when its frozen solid and shiney.

 

[jig-sore]

yeah, only time mine have felt "twitchy" is on a road with camber and/or ruts at the edge !!!!

 

[wesa]

I used my Marathon Winters in anger today. Your warning is duly noted. I could feel my confidence rising with each mile covered. At one point I was contemplating overtaking a car, he was doing about 10-15mph (my speedo is broken) on packed snow.

I was actually getting a bit worried that a driver would try going round a corner at the same speed as me.

When I arrived at work I had the biggest grin on my face. It is just a shame that my only colleague that was in that early is also a cyclist so my gloating was quite limited.

 

[Black Sheep]

my personal preference when crashing is to slide it out motorbike style

 

[al78]

I have been using my mountain bike with Marathon Winters as well.

I must admit I have not found them quite as good as I was hoping. I found that when I got onto the snow covered roads they were twitching all over the place, at times enough to send me into the side of the road and having to stop and get going again. It seems that the snow was sticking to the tyre and effectively undoing the work of the tread and studs so it was like riding on slicks. I just didn't have the confidence to go above 10 mph and on roads where the snow was any depth it was pretty hopeless, so had to stick to the vehicle ruts. Coming back home from work today late afternoon I had four miles of fear before I reached the nearest main road which was fine. One thing I will say, if the snow/ice is flat and free from ruts then they are excellent, even going up moderate hills I didn't lose traction. It is just any sort of groove in the compacted snow or adverse camber in the road and the back wheel would be squirming sideways.

I'm not sure if that is par for the course or whether my technique is wrong. I'm sure other people in much colder climates have better succes than me.

I am running the tyres at 40psi at the moment.

 

[ufkacbln]

I was delayed on my way to work this morning by a car park.

Careless leaving all that perfect smooth and un trampled snow in front of a recumbent trike, just asking for a few tracks, and spins.

Unfortunately with the snow tyres what would have been a 360 slide would stop at about 180 - these tyres are not good for playing!

 

[fossyant]

I have been using my mountain bike with Marathon Winters as well.

I must admit I have not found them quite as good as I was hoping.

The Winters are better on ice. Snow studs work in 'snow' like it says on the tin, but have half the studs the winters have.....

I did fly past a chap on Manchester Road in traffic this morning - I'd just come off the riverside track and he was gingerly cycling along the road with one leg down.....must have been icy.............

 

[andharwheel]

Studded tyres work best on pure ice or hard packed snow. When the snow is loose they are not much better tehan normal tyres. Some of the streets around me have snow with a consistency of sand. I wouldnt be without by Conti ice claws at this time of year. This is our tenth day of snow here in Aberdeen.
I was back and forward to work twice today as I forgotten something, I am just waiting for all the folk at my work complaing about how bad it is.

 

[Ravenbait]

I have Nokians. Still recovering from the flu so not allowed on the bike, but I have to say the Schwalbe snow studs look good.

Frood is currently riding to work on cross tyres. The roads are more slush than ice. Last year I was on Schwalbe Marathon Plus all winter without too much trouble.

Sam

 

[gb155]

The Winters are better on ice. Snow studs work in 'snow' like it says on the tin, but have half the studs the winters have.....

I did fly past a chap on Manchester Road in traffic this morning - I'd just come off the riverside track and he was gingerly cycling along the road with one leg down.....must have been icy.............

I couldn't help but LOL when I read that mate.

 

[Brandane]

I thought I would be ok on my mountain bike with the standard Schwalbe Smart Sams fitted. Fine on the snow; I survived an 18 mile ride mainly on snowy paths, but then let my guard down about 100 yards from home. On an icey tarmac road, it slid from under me. Probably about 10/12 mph. Still managed to bruise a rib or two, and have had to take 4 days off work . I won't be using any bike in this weather again; ever!

 

[Piemaster]

Horses for courses really.
I've got the marathon winters. Went for them as I regard icy roads as more of a danger than snow. It's easy to see a where the snow and ruts are, so I'll slow down and be more prepared for the bike to be squirming about and dabbing a foot if necessary. Ice is a different matter.
On local streets its been hardest going where cars have chosen multiple routes leaving an uneven (now partially thawing) rutted surface. Other ones nearby have been easier as cars are forced to follow a track between parked cars leaving an icy hard packed surface where the tyres are - ideal for the marathon Winters.