Winter (snow) Commuting

[rusky]

For my commute, I ride a hybrid but when it snowed last year I used my hard tail mtb.

This year I'm considering getting some studded tyres for the mtb but not convinced I really need them.

 

[HJ]

I managed with slicks last year...

 

[longers]

They could come in handy for going and playing silly buggers of an evening or at the weekend if the weather is right.

I'd have liked some for that last year but didn't have the time to use them even if I'd had them.

 

[BSRU]

As far as I know studs are for ice, for snow you need big knobbly tyres and lots of mudguard space.

 

[skudupnorth]

As far as I know studs are for ice, for snow you need big knobbly tyres and lots of mudguard space.

Mudguards ???? Looked on Wiggle for studded Schalbes,they are back-ordered till late December so i might just buy new big knobblies seeing as i survived last year on just standard off-road tyres with no real issues or off's.

 

[fossyant]

Schwalbe do a snow stud Tyre, a mtb Tyre with studs in the knobbles, good for off road and icy roads, and for the long way hone to ar$e about. Mine will go on again shortly.

 

[MacB]

As far as I know studs are for ice, for snow you need big knobbly tyres and lots of mudguard space.

that would be my take on it, you can combine the two but it makes for a very specific ride. I used the Marathon Winters and they were superb for ice and hard pack, deep snow it was quicker to push. The only real negative was when things started to thaw, you had the looser slushy layer on top. I found that the tyre would get a bit of bite then the slush would give way and you'd slide a bit. Never came off but it made for interesting pedalling at times. Not sure what would work in those conditions though.

I got them for riding on the road and not coming off on unexpected ice...they do that job perfectly

 

[RedBike]

Last year I rode along un-gritted cyclepaths.

I had three bikes to go at.
A cyclo-x bike fitted with studded tyres.
A MTB fitted with wide aggressive tread off-road tyres
and a fixed wheel road bike fitted with slick 25mm tyres.

The CX bike with the studded tyres was fantastic. There was loads of grip on compacted snow and even 'some' grip on black ice (Ice was still lethal!). The only problem was my cheap studded tyres fell apart within days.

The MTB was twitchy on the compacted snow but there was just enough grip to enourage you to keep the speed up. The problem was the moment you hit a patch of ice there was no grip what so ever and 9/10 times I would loose the front wheel. I think I fell off the MTB almost every single time I rode it, thank heavens for body armour!

The fixie / slick tyres had no grip what so ever on anything that even looked icy. Irronically because I was expecting the bike to slide I rode appropriately and therefore never came off this bike once. Sadly riding appropriately did mean walking plenty of hills and going around some bends at 2mph.

 

[BSRU]

Mudguards ???? Looked on Wiggle for studded Schalbes,they are back-ordered till late December so i might just buy new big knobblies seeing as i survived last year on just standard off-road tyres with no real issues or off's.

I should have added, if you have mudguards on and do not want to take them off.

 

[biking_fox]

Need = very much depends on what roads you ride on. As an urban commuter I had no need of studs at all, my slicks gave plenty of grip because all the roads got cleared very quickly. Some side streets required a bit of care, but even then only for a couple of days.



Want = your monaey do what you like. You may enjoy studs if you take it out for a spin. Always assuming we do get a load of snow.

 

[BSRU]

Need = very much depends on what roads you ride on. As an urban commuter I had no need of studs at all, my slicks gave plenty of grip because all the roads got cleared very quickly. Some side streets required a bit of care, but even then only for a couple of days.



Want = your monaey do what you like. You may enjoy studs if you take it out for a spin. Always assuming we do get a load of snow.

I think the need depends on how icy the roads are, some of the roads I use I know will always be gritted but the majority will not and cycling early in the morning means less traffic to spread the grit. Plus it is one less excuse for jumping into a nice warm boring car.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

For mudguards, I got one of these for less than a fiver

Cheap and cheerful, perfect for chopping and tie-wrapping to the rear rack that I fitted when using the MTB for commuting last winter - worked better there than in it's intended seat-post fitting, and slighhtly better in appearance to the old "strap a bit of cardboard to the rack" trick

 

[palinurus]

For fresh snow I just use my 'cross bike (or MTB when I had one) with a knobbly tyre and low tyre pressure, have done for over 20 years. On compacted snow I've, up to last winter, done the same- mostly* without problem. last year I used Schwalbe snow studs on the 'cross bike- main reason was because I figured they'd be better on horrible re-frozen snow, the conditions I find most challenging are when rutted snow freezes and fresh snow falls on top- it's hard to tell when the front tyre is trying to climb out of a frozen rut.

However I didn't actually encounter these conditions last winter, mostly just shiny compacted snow.

*Once, when I did encounter the conditions described above, I fell off three times in a single commute. Comical falling-off rather than painful falling off though, I'd dropped my saddle right down so I could easily dab a foot down- otherwise I think I would've come off a few more times.

 

[palinurus]

And it does depend on the roads you ride, most of my commute route gets cleared pretty quick and always gets the grit.

If I had to take to the lanes there could be proper sheet ice to contend with.

 

[Matthames]

Once winter starts to properly bite, I will be using studded tyres because the council never bother to grit in my nearby area. One particularly bad winter a bus nearly demolished somebodies house So now if it is bad, the bus company reroutes the buses away from my area.