I'm still debating whether or not to spend £65-70 on a pair of the Marathon Winter tyres,with last winter being my 1st one it was a shock how bad it was and I ended up missing nearly 5 weeks of commuting.
Question is what are the chances of it being that bad again? What is the average winter like for cycle commuting?
Can't say............ most recent winters have meant at worse 3-5 days I didn't ride...too icy............ I'm very careful about it these days......
Last Xmas...... 1st day back at work was sheet ice...I drove in....... looked at long term weather......freezing..... no way was I sitting off a bike for two weeks...... umm'ed at
Wiggle for a bit - just got last set of MTB Studded tyes.
Next day..........stupid amounts of snow - jumped on MTB with normal MTB tyres - OK - kept off any packed snow.
Managed that night to drive (just) to local depot and collected spiky tyres........
Snow now compacted and slippy............. not for studded tyres...... ended up using these for two weeks non-stop to get to work.......... hard, but I had an off road route, that was great.........(also pan flat)