Jon George
Mamil and couldn't care less
- Location
- Suffolk an' Good
Using studded tyres
- Thread starter Pale Rider
- Start date
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Jon George
Mamil and couldn't care less
- Location
- Suffolk an' Good
Well, 8 miles of 'running-in', two puzzled pedestrians and a quizzical dog later, and I am back. It was like the sound of a wood fire being lit. 
OP
OP
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
Good news and bad news.
Tyres arrived and I was able to fit the rear without tyre levers.
Unfortunately, the tyre scrapes the underside of the mudguard when on the bike.
The wheel was fully home in the dropouts and could still be turned.
So I'm fairly certain I will have enough clearance with the rear mudguard removed.
Problem there is the rear light cable.
The bike has a front dynohub, and the cable for the rear light is routed under the mudguard - you can see it in the pic.
The cable goes through a hole in the mudguard near the chainstay brace, along the mudguard's underside, and pops through again to reach the rear light which is bolted on the carrier.
No connections I can see, so I suspect the bike is built by threading the cable and then connecting it to the rear light.
It might be possible to disconnect and unthread it, but there would still be a roll of cable to tidy away near the chainstay brace.
Seems a shame to snip it both ends, but that would do the job.
Any bright ideas?
Tyres arrived and I was able to fit the rear without tyre levers.
Unfortunately, the tyre scrapes the underside of the mudguard when on the bike.
The wheel was fully home in the dropouts and could still be turned.
So I'm fairly certain I will have enough clearance with the rear mudguard removed.
Problem there is the rear light cable.
The bike has a front dynohub, and the cable for the rear light is routed under the mudguard - you can see it in the pic.
The cable goes through a hole in the mudguard near the chainstay brace, along the mudguard's underside, and pops through again to reach the rear light which is bolted on the carrier.
No connections I can see, so I suspect the bike is built by threading the cable and then connecting it to the rear light.
It might be possible to disconnect and unthread it, but there would still be a roll of cable to tidy away near the chainstay brace.
Seems a shame to snip it both ends, but that would do the job.
Any bright ideas?
- Location
- Glasgow
@Pale Rider you should have measured clearance first.
Now what you have to do, is to get a cheap MB to fit the tyres on
Now what you have to do, is to get a cheap MB to fit the tyres on
OP
OP
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
@Pale Rider you should have measured clearance first.
Now what you have to do, is to get a cheap MB to fit the tyres on
Don't you just love people who are wise after the event?
Clearance did occur to me, but the only way to test that is to get the tyres and offer them up.
I'm not too downhearted - there are plenty worse cycling calamities - and I am formulating a plan...
- Location
- Glasgow
Let us know your solution.
My ice bike has the wide plastic clip on guards.
My ice bike has the wide plastic clip on guards.
summerdays
Cycling in the sun
- Location
- Bristol
I must admit I normally live with the occasional scrape of the mudguard as its not continual. I think mine was better when slightly under inflated but I can't remember, I need the forecast of cold weather to get around to putting them on. For ice the lack of mudguard doesn't matter, but for snow it can stop it being flicked up your back, as long as it doesn't jam in the mudguard.
potsy
Rambler
- Location
- My Armchair
Maybe if you took all the studs out they would fit a bit better?
Mine go on my CX bike with full guard, tight but they fit, just.
Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
Take the mudguard off and re route the cable along the rack? Plenty of cable ties should do the trick
OP
OP
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
The bike is a Rose trekking bike and I've decided - even ignoring the rear light - I don't want to run without mudguards,
It won't take a rear flinger because the carrier supports are wrapped around the outside of the mudguard, and in any case the carrier itself is in the way.
So it's plan B, which involves putting Marathon Winters on my other Bosch ebike, a 20" wheel AVE MH7.
They really ought to fit, the bike has 2" wide balloon tyres and the 20" Winters are 1.6".
It could make a better ice bike for me because the low crossbar means I can fall off it more tidily.
Lots of toe clearance - a problem on the Rose - and Brompton-like shopping trolley steering makes it a much easier bike on which to make swift turning corrections.
I've also ordered some new Marathon Pluses for the Rose, no point in refitting worn tyres.
Which leaves the 29er Winters.
I could return them, but one never knows what's around the cycling corner.
They would fit my Cannondale MTB, so that might be a possibility for next winter, or someone in my cycling group might want them, or my local bike shop could put them on their Schwalbe display and possibly sell them.
It won't take a rear flinger because the carrier supports are wrapped around the outside of the mudguard, and in any case the carrier itself is in the way.
So it's plan B, which involves putting Marathon Winters on my other Bosch ebike, a 20" wheel AVE MH7.
They really ought to fit, the bike has 2" wide balloon tyres and the 20" Winters are 1.6".
It could make a better ice bike for me because the low crossbar means I can fall off it more tidily.
Lots of toe clearance - a problem on the Rose - and Brompton-like shopping trolley steering makes it a much easier bike on which to make swift turning corrections.
I've also ordered some new Marathon Pluses for the Rose, no point in refitting worn tyres.
Which leaves the 29er Winters.
I could return them, but one never knows what's around the cycling corner.
They would fit my Cannondale MTB, so that might be a possibility for next winter, or someone in my cycling group might want them, or my local bike shop could put them on their Schwalbe display and possibly sell them.
Last edited:
OP
OP
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
The first chapter of my winter tyre adventure is now concluded.
Twenty inch Marathon Winters fitted to my AVE bike.
New ordinary Marathon Pluses fitted to the Rose 29er.
Middle brother - whom I saw at Christmas - has taken the 29er Marathon Winters off me for £50.
All my tyre removal and fitting was done without levers, which rather gives the lie to the notion Marathons are hard to fit.
It could be simply that I'm well hard, but more likely both my sets of wheels have a tiny extra bit of clearance.
Chris in my local bike shop tells me the same tyre can be hard to fit on one wheel, but easier on another, so wheels of the same size do vary a tiny bit.
Just to prove there's always something else when working on a bicycle, the smaller profile of the winters means the bike's prop stand is too long, but happily that was fixed by a simple adjustment.
Most unlike me to go out at this time of night, but I've just returned from a 10 mile running in road test of the winters.
They roll surprisingly well, and I couldn't detect much difference in comfort from the Big Apple balloons they replaced.
You can see from the pic I now have lots of mudguard clearance - probably a good thing for general winter riding.
Twenty inch Marathon Winters fitted to my AVE bike.
New ordinary Marathon Pluses fitted to the Rose 29er.
Middle brother - whom I saw at Christmas - has taken the 29er Marathon Winters off me for £50.
All my tyre removal and fitting was done without levers, which rather gives the lie to the notion Marathons are hard to fit.
It could be simply that I'm well hard, but more likely both my sets of wheels have a tiny extra bit of clearance.
Chris in my local bike shop tells me the same tyre can be hard to fit on one wheel, but easier on another, so wheels of the same size do vary a tiny bit.
Just to prove there's always something else when working on a bicycle, the smaller profile of the winters means the bike's prop stand is too long, but happily that was fixed by a simple adjustment.
Most unlike me to go out at this time of night, but I've just returned from a 10 mile running in road test of the winters.
They roll surprisingly well, and I couldn't detect much difference in comfort from the Big Apple balloons they replaced.
You can see from the pic I now have lots of mudguard clearance - probably a good thing for general winter riding.
- Location
- Shrewsbury, Shropshire
That's great.
Fitting wise, I've found the standard Marathon and the Marathon winter no problem on my bikes. It's mainly the Marathon Plus that has the bad reputation.
Fitting wise, I've found the standard Marathon and the Marathon winter no problem on my bikes. It's mainly the Marathon Plus that has the bad reputation.
OP
OP
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
Thanks Phil.
It's always satisfying when even relatively minor bike fettling like this goes to plan.
Lots of people seem to have problems fitting Pluses, but the new ones went on my Rose bike easily enough.
They are 1.75", I wonder if the narrower Pluses have a slightly shallower sidewall - less to compress into the well of the wheel.
The 20" Winters were a bit harder to get on, but I would expect that due to the smaller diameter wheel.
It's always satisfying when even relatively minor bike fettling like this goes to plan.
Lots of people seem to have problems fitting Pluses, but the new ones went on my Rose bike easily enough.
They are 1.75", I wonder if the narrower Pluses have a slightly shallower sidewall - less to compress into the well of the wheel.
The 20" Winters were a bit harder to get on, but I would expect that due to the smaller diameter wheel.
OP
OP
Pale Rider
Legendary Member
...update...
I've now done 20+ frost free miles, so the Winters should be nicely bedded in.
Three reasons to be cheerful.
1. The tyres roll better than I was expecting - I couldn't detect much difference between them and the previous balloons.
2. They are more comfortable than I was expecting - the Winters are almost as comfortable as the balloons, although I did run those at fairly high pressure.
3. My now over-size mudguards work much better - my ride on Sunday was in heavy rain and the bike didn't get nearly as dirty as it would have done with the balloon tyres.
No significant downsides so far.
The Winters do track and squirm a tiny bit over minor imperfections, particularly the ridged tiles on some cycle paths around here.
Not a problem now that I'm used to it.
Weather forecast is for some frosty mornings next week, so I may get the chance to try the Winters on ice.
I've now done 20+ frost free miles, so the Winters should be nicely bedded in.
Three reasons to be cheerful.
1. The tyres roll better than I was expecting - I couldn't detect much difference between them and the previous balloons.
2. They are more comfortable than I was expecting - the Winters are almost as comfortable as the balloons, although I did run those at fairly high pressure.
3. My now over-size mudguards work much better - my ride on Sunday was in heavy rain and the bike didn't get nearly as dirty as it would have done with the balloon tyres.
No significant downsides so far.
The Winters do track and squirm a tiny bit over minor imperfections, particularly the ridged tiles on some cycle paths around here.
Not a problem now that I'm used to it.
Weather forecast is for some frosty mornings next week, so I may get the chance to try the Winters on ice.
