Winter tyres

[Timtrain]

As the name implies. What is the general concencus of opinion as to a good set of 700c winter tyres.

 

[Globalti]

Do you mean tyres with a tread?

 

[Timtrain]

Do you mean tyres with a tread?

Apologies, yes I mean with tread.

 

[Globalti]

There are plenty of discussions on here about tyres with treads and how a grooved tyre is a waste of your money because a bike tyre can't aquaplane. So buy a smooth tyre and forget grooves, they are just there to make you feel good.

But I do believe some tyres are better in cold wet slippery conditions; I use Veloflex Open Corsas, which have a file pattern and quite a soft compound. They wear fast and the tread pattern wears out but even worn smooth they still grip well; it's a trade-off between grip and wear, same as with most friction materials. I have ridden in snowy icy conditions with these tyres and felt confident where my fellow riders on smoother harder compound tyres were nervous. The same applies in car winter tyres, which have a high silicon content so are softer but they are amazing on snow. The Veloflex only lasts 1000 miles or less on a rear wheel but I don't mind paying around £55 for a pair if they save me falling off my bike.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

The winter tyre section is good

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/catalog...upload/PDF/Kataloge/2015/TechInfo-2015_GB.pdf

I have a set of Kenda Klondikes. Spikey.

 

[Fab Foodie]

For the tread to have aany value on mud or wet leaves then it needs to be deep. For that and general indestructabilty then Marathons/Marathon plus, but you pay a weight penalty and some sluggishness.
There are many more options without appreciable tread. My recent faves are Continental 4 Seasons. Light enough, fast enough, comfortable enough and P*ncture resistant enough for my needs.

 

[Jimidh]

I keep the same tyres, Conti GP4000s on both road bikes all year round - if it’s icy or sleety the MTB comes out.

 

[Tin Pot]

Tread on tarmac reduces grip.

 

[Thorn Sherpa]

For the tread to have aany value on mud or wet leaves then it needs to be deep. For that and general indestructabilty then Marathons/Marathon plus, but you pay a weight penalty and some sluggishness.
There are many more options without appreciable tread. My recent faves are Continental 4 Seasons. Light enough, fast enough, comfortable enough and P*ncture resistant enough for my needs.

I can vouch for the marathons very durable and cope well when the winter weather is at its worst, not had any difficulty getting about on them

 

[si_c]

Unless Icy, the same tyres I would use normally. Had good results with the Bontrager AW tyres, and also with Vittoria Rubinos.

Take your pick of any of the decent brands really.

 

[Racing roadkill]

In the winter, there will be more pointy stuff all over the place, you're more likely to hit it, because it will be hidden in puddles / by leaf litter, and if you ride in the dark ( more likely in winter ) you stand even less chance of seeing it. Add in the fact you'll probably be riding in lower temperatures, standing around fixing punctures, isn't a good prospect. Go for a tyre with a high TPI ( threads per square inch ) rating, and / or a protection belt. Personally I would steer clear of anything made by Continental, in the winter months. I've found the ideal tyres for me, during the winter, are the airless Korean numbers. What you lose in drag, you gain by not having inner tubes with metal valves in them, and you won't be stuck in the cold and dark, trying to sort a puncture out, which is a massive bonus. You also don't need inflators / levers / pumps, which means you're lugging less kit around. If you want a recommendation of a pneumatic tyre, for winter, I'd say the Schwalbe Durano + or DD are pretty good, and the Marathon+ has proven to be absolutely bullet proof, which if you're on a long expedition type ride, is worth its weight in gold.

I've been riding with these on a couple of my bikes recently.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/resist-5-protect-road-bike-tyre-twin-pack-700x25-id_8367524.html

Really surprisingly good, and cheap as chips. You do have to be wary of pushing too hard on slippery uphill bits ( they have a propensity to over rotate) but overall, I like them.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Tread on tarmac reduces grip.

No it doesn't.

 

[Fonze]

Continental 4 seasons were recommended to me, I've had them on for a couple of months now and are good for me especially in the wet ..

 

[Ajax Bay]

Tread on tarmac reduces grip.

No it doesn't.

Let the carnival begin!

For the same rubber and tarmac surface, the frictional force available (ie grip) is the same (same load) and is not dependent on the area (of the rubber) in contact. So in theory the tread doesn't reduce grip nor does it increase it, but there may be boundary issues (ie in the contact area a treaded tyre has more rubber/void steps)
Thread (20 pages) in June
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/tyres-on-the-wrong-way-for-over-two-years.219604/page-6 et seq

 

[Randomnerd]

As the name implies. What is the general concencus of opinion as to a good set of 700c winter tyres.

Wish you'd just used the Search function. That would have saved us all the potential for the same long science-rants about macadam coefficients and skid diffusion integers.