Winter Tyres Again

[Flying_Monkey]

Following heavy snow falls over the last few days here, I've made an interesting discovery. My ice tyres, which are the bomb on, well, ice, are not really that helpful in fresh snow, of the combination of fresh snow and partly packed down and ploughed snow in the town right now. I am not sure how I managed not to notice this last year, I guess the snow was more gradual and we never had such a heavy single fall.

Anyway, it is making the commute very 'interesting'. Despite taking some of the pressure out of my tyres, I am finding that frequently I have no grip at all, which is fine in a car-free street (in fact it's quite a fun test of handling skills) but not so good when there's some massive SUV alongside you. Short of switching to much wider rims and snow tyres (which then wouldn't be much good on ice), I am not quite sure what I can do about this apart from swallowing my pride and, whisper it, getting off and walking, now and again.

 

[palinurus]

I use some knobbly cyclocross tyres in the snow, at a fairly low pressure. They work well in the sort of not-especially-deep snow I very occasionally have to deal with. They work quite well on compacted snow before it starts to get shiny. I've never tried them on deep snow.

 

[fossyant]

Ice spikers are ace in ice, but the tread don't help in snow. I eneded up with Snow Studs, which work well in both conditions.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Ice spikers are ace in ice, but the tread don't help in snow. I eneded up with Snow Studs, which work well in both conditions.

Hmm... I shall investigate. The thing is that the road clearers usually get things sorted out after a few days (except on my small street), and it has gone back to being bone-chillingly freezing and icy (-20 before wind chill today), so probably the ice tyres will do and I will just have to put up with the occasional difficult day. I suppose I could have a set of wheels for every possible occasion if I was totally made of money!