Winter tyre choice..top contact or studded?

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sazzaa

Guest
Pointless,we are'nt living in Siberia or scandinavia,just a complete waste of money for a bit of light dusting which invariably is all a British winter amounts to plus no amount of grip is any good on icy conditions,waste of time

Hmm, we get a fair amount of snow and ice up here and can easily have weeks at a time where there's no thaw. I reckon I probably won't risk going out on my bike much unless the roads are clear and just use my car on snow days instead.
 
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Rohloff_Brompton_Rider

Rohloff_Brompton_Rider

Formerly just_fixed
@bromptonfb, Do you think that the premium (folding) version is worth the extra? I can get the top contact for 70, the premiums I can get for 110. It's a big difference to just save 100g over both tyres. Is there anything else they add?
Tbh I'm not sure, I haven't even looked at them for more than a minute. I just prefer folded over wire if I have the option.
 

Brandane

Legendary Member
Location
Costa Clyde
Pointless,we are'nt living in Siberia or scandinavia,just a complete waste of money for a bit of light dusting which invariably is all a British winter amounts to plus no amount of grip is any good on icy conditions,waste of time

You live in the south east corner of Britain then? Hardly representative of the rest of the country! Every winter up here in the west of Scotland, we get weeks on end where all the roads and cycle paths are covered in ice. With all the recent council cutbacks we're lucky if the bus routes get gritted. You wouldn't want to try and cycle on the surfaces we are faced with, without proper ice tyres. You WILL end up on your @rse, and in my case with injuries costing me £££ in time off work. Having learned my lesson, I invested in Schwalbe winter tyres with ice studs last year.
 

Origamist

Legendary Member
I'm going to get a pair of Marthon Winter tyres and keep them on a spare set of wheels for when the weather deteriorates. However, if the conditions are really bad, I'm not going to cycle as no amount of grip is going to help you if other road users are skidding towards you at speed on a country lane...
 

e-rider

Banned member
Location
South West
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.
if you are riding on actual snow, then the top contacts wouldn't be that good -you would need either a heavy studded tyre, or a standard knobbly tyre, however, the top contacts are great for more general winter commuting.
 

e-rider

Banned member
Location
South West
Pointless,we are'nt living in Siberia or scandinavia,just a complete waste of money for a bit of light dusting which invariably is all a British winter amounts to plus no amount of grip is any good on icy conditions,waste of time
ice spikers can be ridden with confidence on an ice rink - studded tyres are actually incredibly good in snow and ice and any fall can lead to broken bones so worth avoiding - however, many parts of this country do not get much snow so use would be very limited in these regions
 
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Rohloff_Brompton_Rider

Rohloff_Brompton_Rider

Formerly just_fixed
if you are riding on actual snow, then the top contacts wouldn't be that good -you would need either a heavy studded tyre, or a standard knobbly tyre, however, the top contacts are great for more general winter commuting.
Why would you say this? I've used marathon winters in snow and they were totally useless, the tread just fill with snow and essentially become slicks.

The conti's we have on the car are made from the same rubber as the bike tyres. The car ones are absolutely amazing and allow us to drive a heavy picasso in deep snow with no issues whatsoever.

I'm not even in the slightest bit worried about the capabilities in snow, it's just the usual slushy shite at the sides of the road, but not overly so.
 

MickL

Über Member
I am hoping to keep cycling down the canals this winter avoiding the roads, I know from some experience that the ground can remain frozen most of the winter so I think I might be ordering some
Schwalbe Ice Spikers (£34.99) on ebay at the moment.
 
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