Do people using spiked tyres leave them on all winter no matter what the conditions?

[andrew_s]

I've tried leaving then on long term (Marathon Winter), but I've come to the view that it's too much like hard work, so now I put them on only when needed. The rest of the winter I use Conti Top Contact Winter, which are still fairly reasonable for ice, but significantly less draggy.

Swapping tyres takes 15-20 minutes.

[mjr]

Just a small note that Schwalbe Snow Studs are the tyres I've seen with the studs only on the outsides so pumping them up removes the studs from the ground except when cornering. The sidewalls show two different pressure ranges for ice and not-ice.

Schwalbe Winter, especially the narrow ones, have the studs close enough to the centre line that over-hard tyres will still have the studs in contact with the ground.

If I only had one bike, I'd probably leave them fitted until the forecast said "no ice" for a week. Crashing sucks.

[hondated]

I think the ideal solution is to have a second bike, if you can manage it. Even a used hack is a good idea. if something happens to the main bike, you at least aren't without a bike. Also, winter is pretty hard on bikes, and I'd rather not use my 'nice' bike in salt and slush.

my problem with the old hack approach (which ive tried a number of times) is that it starts as an old hack then you just upgrade this little bit then that little bit, and before you know it you have two best bikes

So so true Si.

[scottg]

my problem with the old hack approach (which ive tried a number of times) is that it starts as an old hack then you just upgrade this little bit then that little bit, and before you know it you have two best bikes

Engineers call that "creeping elegance"

I've learned not to do that, just buy the nice one, you'll save a lot money.

To the question, I had two sets of wheels, "go fast" and touring,
in winter the touring wheels lost their fat tires and set of Hakkapelitias went on.
Finns know snow.

[hemo]

My 700c town, errand & commute bike I use them from Nov thru to April good for slippy Autumn leaves as well.
First time out it is recommended that they are run in at higher pressure for the first 50miles, to set the studs in otherwise likely to rip them out if used with low pressure. Even at 60psi the bike rides as if you are going over cornflakes or crisps until they bed in properly, my current set are on their 3rd winter and no punctures yet looks like they will do another 2 winters at least.

[gaz]

I picked up some second hand studded tyres for my commuter late into the Winter of 2013/14, Nokian Hakkapeliitta A10. They are harder work than my regular M+ but I feel much more confident riding on them in icy conditions.

I have one bike that serves for commuting. Spare wheels would be a faff, changing tyres every weekend even more so. Once on they stay on. They are not as puncture resistant as the M+, they are tighter fitting.

They went on late Jan 2013 and stayed on through Feb and March. Winter 2013/14 they went on Mid Nov, came off Feb/Mar, winter 2014/15, 15/16 and 16/17 were all similar. For most of the riding time over all those winters they have faced little worse than hard frost and frozen puddles. The very brief outing they had on actual ice early last year suggested the studs had worn but I may have simply been riding them over pressure.

That has persuaded me to leave the M+ on so far this locally mild winter. I recently took an opportunity on the forum to buy both more studded tyres and tyres with more studs.

Edit: Studs fitted today, next week's predicted cold spell will now not materialise.

[Si]

Wrt drag, i think that it may also depend on what speed you notmslly ride at. I dont go particularly fast and although i can feel the drag from studded tyres i dont find it that bad. But other people i know, who ride faster than me, do feel it is very noticeable. My main reason for not wanting to use them when its not icy is thst i dont want to wear the studs down.

[John_S]

Hi All,

Many thanks for all of your replies and advice which is much appreciated!

Although different people are taking different approaches I think that it seemed to be that the majority of people had spiked tyres fitted on spare bikes only to be used when the weather conditions were actually icy.

However before I go down the road of an additional bike for this I think I'm going to explore different approaches just to see if they can work for me from a practicality perspective. I'm not exactly prolific when it comes to buying bikes and despite cycling for over 30 years now the number of bikes that I've owned is not yet into double figures because I've made what I've had last as well as using what I have for multiple conditions. My current 2014 Genesis Day One Alfine 8 is only my fourth bike (ignoring a couple of kids ones) following on from my Raleigh Mustang MTB, Raleigh Apex MTB and then a Trek 7.1FX hybrid.

Following on from hemo's message I'm now not feeling quite so paranoid about leaving the studded tyres on my bike because it seems that there are others out there who leave them on their bikes for most of the winter without major issues. I've been using them this week and so I think that they'd be considered bedded in now but they've not been tested on ice yet. Most of this week the temperatures were +5 or so although on this mornings commute it was -1.5 Celsius. However it was just really misty and despite the air temperature there didn't seem to be any ice or frost and I'm not sure why that was but perhaps the air was too humid because of the thick mist (although I've no actual knowledge on this subject so my guess could be completely wrong).

Following Si's message about speed I'd have to say that I'm not really too worried about speed in the winter and as per mjr's message saying that "crashing sucks" I'd echo that and definitely prioritise staying upright over speed. During this week I'd say that although I might have been a tiny bit slower I've not noticed anything significant and it's always difficult to asses the effect of a single change, such as changing to studded tyres, when there are so many other factors on a daily commute such as the wind speed/direction, how many red lights you hit, how many junctions you have to stop & wait at and things like how tired you are & just how much energy you have in the tank either before or after work on any given day.

As gregoryoftours has mentioned the completely unexpected benefit of studded tyres is pedestrian awareness. I've definitely noticed people looking up & around to try and figure out what the noise is coming down the road and this is an effect that I'd not even considered. Hopefully the added bonus of this is to lessen the chance of pedestrians stepping off the curb in front of you and this is a nice unexpected bonus.

Also following gregoryoftours message about getting a cheap second hand wheel to put the studded tyre I will look into this to see how cheaply I can do it however I'd still want to have a dynamo hub because I've got so used to it and really like the dynamo lighting as a set up. If I do end up going down the route of having a spare wheel for the bike with the studded tyre on I think that I'll only do this for the front. The reason is because my bike has an Alfine Internal Gear Hub and buying a second one of them would also be extra expense. As a result I might follow the example of andrew_s and get a Continental Top Contact Winter tyre for the rear which will then stay on all winter and if I get a spare wheel the studded tyre will just go on when the weather conditions are bad enough.

However for now I'm just going to continue on with the studded tyres fitted and see how I go for a little while. Therefore with the way these things sometimes pan out perhaps I can look forward to mild conditions with no ice or snow for a while and then if I get to a point of taking the studded tyre off that's bound to be the point at which a winter storm will arrive immediately.

Thanks again for all of the help & advice.

John

[andrew_s]

I would comment that Schwalbe and Nokian use tungsten carbide studs, which are up to riding on tarmac all winter without excessive wear, but that Continental use hardened steel studs (or did when I last looked), which probably wear faster.

[John_S]

Hi andrew_s,

Thanks for the extra info about the spikes on the Schwalbe winter tyres and hopefully they should be up to withstanding a fair bit of ice on tarmac.

Cheers,

John

[John_S]

Hi All,

Following on from the above if I did go down the route of a separate spare front wheel with the spiked tyre on for use just when the conditions dictate I would want to keep the costs down if possible.

Therefore I just wondered if anyone has any experience of the cheaper wheels from Rose in Germany? I was just having a look at these which appeal because I use a dynamo light and so I'd also want my spare front wheel to have a dynamo hub.

https://www.rosebikes.co.uk/article/rose-hybrid-front-wheel-28700c-dt-swiss-545d-disc--shimano-deore-dh-3d37-disc-hub-dynamo/aid:2698429

It's a DT swiss 545D Disc, 32 hole rim with a Shimano Deore DH-3D37 Disc hub dynamo, 32 hole, Centerlock and it has DT Swiss Champion spokes. As far as I can see the wheel comes built and all I'd need to do add is rim tape and a disc rotor.

However is the price too good to be true and are there any potential negatives & drawbacks to buying this? Or does it offer good value for money if I want a spare front wheel that I can keep the spiked tyre on for use when conditions are bad?

It'll be going on this bike and the current Alex rims are silver so from an aesthetic point of view having a black rim isn't great but there isn't a silver option at this price point and for the purpose of trying to keep safe & upright I can live with the look of black when the priority is having the spiked tyre for grip.

2014 Genesis Day One Alfine 8:-

http://www.thebikelist.co.uk/genesis/day-one-alfine-8-2014

Thanks for any thoughts & advice!

John

[hemo]

My spiked Scwalbes are as I mentioned are on their 3rd winter, tread is still good on both though rear wears as expected more so then front but get rotated to even the wear. Ride lower PSI in slippy conditions and higher in better conditions. Spikes still sitting pround and only lost a couple on one of the tyres though replacements are sourceable or save old worn tyres for the spikes.

Also use front and rear and just not front for grip. On a pre xmas ride on another bike with normal tyres I lost the back end on sheet ice at low speed.

[Vorpal]

I have DT Swiss 545 (not disc), 32 spoke wheels my commuter, and I really like them. Mine are hand built, but I've heard good things about Rose bikes' wheels. Not being a wheel builder, myself, I might take them to a shop or wheel builder, and have them check them over and stress relieve them, if needed. Factory wheels are not always stress relieved correctly.

I'm sure that Brucey or someone on here who does their own wheel building may have some sggestions.

[Raph]

Haven't read the whole thread but just to respond to one point made - about having a spare pair of wheels with studded tyres and the fact that the chain will have had a year's wear by the time you next put your ice wheels on...

A new chain skips on a worn cassette, similarly on worn chainrings, but I've never had a worn chain skip on new cogs, it just grinds a bit if very mismatched and smooths off within a few miles. I often swap wheels on various bikes according to conditions, I do get a bit of mismatch between chain and block, but as the chain stays on the bike it's always more worn than the block.

I've just put a different cassette on my road bike to change ratios, at first I could feel a bit of grittiness through the pedals, did 30 miles yesterday and it's now back to totally smooth.

[delap]

John_s asked about cheap dyna wheels from Rose for GBP60.

Last time my Shimano dynahub died I priced up building a new one only to find Rose were selling a built wheel using the components I was looking at for less than the cost of the components (even from Rose). The wheel is still true after around 8000k of commuting.

It occurred to me to share the dyna-wheel with my backup bike to save on battery lights but then I noticed Decathlon selling a 700c dynahub wheel for GBP30 (also in 26") which seems hard to beat for a backup. Obviously it is a low end dynamo and the wheel doesn't come with a skewer or the plastic dynamo connector plug but still..