Winter tyre choice..top contact or studded?

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti topcontactwinter.shtml

I like the look of these as I've found the schwable marathons to be heavy beasts and a bit shite in actual snow.

They'll be on 700 cx rims. I've got the car version and they're amazing but I wonder if the bike version is as good.

Any thoughts?

 

[KneesUp]

£50?! I only paid £70 a corner for new winter tyres for the car!

Can't put a price on safety though I guess.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

£50?! I only paid £70 a corner for new winter tyres for the car!

Can't put a price on safety though I guess.

I've already gotten a busted elbow, I don't fancy coming off - not for the sake of £100 and I might be able to get two seasons out of them.

 

[Twelve Spokes]

Marafun plus.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Marafun plus.

Total shite in colder weather, I commute over 450 metres and it can get wicked in winter.

 

[hennbell]

http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti topcontactwinter.shtml

I like the look of these as I've found the schwable marathons to be heavy beasts and a bit s***e in actual snow.

They'll be on 700 cx rims. I've got the car version and they're amazing but I wonder if the bike version is as good.

Any thoughts?

Really depends on the type of snow you are dealing with. These work great on a compact snow, but studs are better on ice.
If you only get snow and ice for a few days at a time these make more sense as tarmac/concrete wears the studs very quickly.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

Really depends on the type of snow you are dealing with. These work great on a compact snow, but studs are better on ice.
If you only get snow and ice for a few days at a time these make more sense as tarmac/concrete wears the studs very quickly.

The roads are gritted and cleared quite well to be fair, but early morning commutes in the past have learnt me that sometimes the gritters don't come till late morning.

I managed the worst winter in the last seven years on M+'s on my Brompton but it was really dodgy at times.

And some winters the local authority use some pretty weird grit which turns the sides of the roads in to what can only be described as being similar to slush puppies.

 

[Twelve Spokes]

Total s***e in colder weather, I commute over 450 metres and it can get wicked in winter.

I woz joshing?

 

[donnydave]

Total s***e in colder weather, I commute over 450 metres and it can get wicked in winter.

450 metres? You could walk that surely.......

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

I woz joshing?

Wooooossshhhhh!!!

 

[BSRU]

I would not risk riding in icy conditions on anything other than Marathon Winters.
They are a little heavy, slow and noisy but worth it to keep on riding instead of using the car.

 

[fossyant]

Those winter tyres will have you on your ar$e on ice. Only choice is studded. Marathon Winters aren't great in snow though. If you want all round, but slow, then Snow Studs. You ideally want studded tyres on spare wheels as a minimum, or a spare bike. Not much fun riding on them every day unless when essential.

 

[dhd.evans]

Marathons weren't good for me last year when it got glacial up here in Pictland. I'm also in the market for winter tyres for a road bike... thoughts folks? I've had my eyes on Scwalbe Luganos.

 

[Twelve Spokes]

Wooooossshhhhh!!!

Umm I was
Non compos mentis

last night.

Although I have used Gator Skins in the snow on the fixie.

Im going to have to get a special bike for this or miss a commute.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Marathon winters are what you need for ice. I did just over 1,400 miles on mine last winter, think I lost a couple of studs and had one puncture when one of the studs went through the tyre into the tube! I keep mine on spare wheels so was very easy to switch around. I only had one day of riding them in proper snow and it was probably the slowest ride I have ever done