Difference between "winter" tyres and studded tyres

[Si]

I think even with studded tyres, letting some air out puts more studs in contact with the ground and improves the grip. I ride with them pumped up fairly well when there is just a risk of ice, but ride with them on the minimum inflation pressure (or even a bit less) when it's actually icy or snowy.

Yes, I've found this to very much be so.....especially when they are few few years old.

[horizon]

I've read through the topic again but I'm not totally convinced by the argument that winter bicycle tyres play the same role as winter car tyres. When a car hits ice it still has two or even three other wheels on what may be OK ground. If it slides a bit then OK. So winter tyres on a car are quite an advantage if they mitigate cold, poor road surfaces and improve braking. When a bike hits ice there's not much contact and the bike may go over. Winter bike tyres either keep you upright on ice or they don't, even if they help in other conditions. And there may just be so narrow a gap between OK conditions (the usual UK wet, windy and mild winter) and ice - a road covered with hoar frost perhaps - that winter tyres are pretty much always either unnecessary or OTOH inadequate.

[karlt]

Some of the roads this morning were like sheets of, well, ice, because they were. I didn't feel safe and wimped down to the railway station. Do I worry unnecessarily when the world turns white with frost and the road goes all shiny? The bike slipped once when I was just pushing it. Or would studded/winter tyres work?

[beardy]

Studded tyres work fine while you are riding the bike on ice but not much use when you are pushing it or even just putting your foot down carelessly.

[pioneer]

As somebody who came off' badly on ice a few years ago, and ended up with a bust shoulder and six weeks off work, I won't ride on frost and ice now (not on the road I mean), no matter how good a tyre claims to be. But if I still really want to ride, then the singlespeed off-road bike comes out and I'll do some bridleways and tracks. But on tarmac, no chance.

[horizon]

Or would studded/winter tyres work?

That's the question - either or both.

[horizon]

Studded tyres work fine while you are riding the bike on ice but not much use when you are pushing it or even just putting your foot down carelessly.

I have a pair of these ready to go with my studded tyres for precisely the reason you state:

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/winter-essentials/ice-grips

[horizon]

As somebody who came off' badly on ice a few years ago, and ended up with a bust shoulder and six weeks off work, I won't ride on frost and ice now (not on the road I mean), no matter how good a tyre claims to be. But if I still really want to ride, then the singlespeed off-road bike comes out and I'll do some bridleways and tracks. But on tarmac, no chance.

pioneer: what tyres were you on? We need to know as that would make the case either for or against studded tyres. I came off on ice about 5 years ago, the only time I've come off a bike hence my interest in these tyres. I wasn't using studs at the time.

[Vorpal]

Some of the roads this morning were like sheets of, well, ice, because they were. I didn't feel safe and wimped down to the railway station. Do I worry unnecessarily when the world turns white with frost and the road goes all shiny? The bike slipped once when I was just pushing it. Or would studded/winter tyres work?

I have ridden my bike on ice that I couldn't walk on.

The thread I linked above included a picture from a couple of years ago of the mirror-like surface on an icy road that I rode on going to work viewtopic.php?f=5&t=70034&hilit=studded+tyres&start=60#p614087 should get you to the post.

Studded tyres are amazing.

[ChrisButch]

For several years this topic has come up at about this time. Every year I've made the same observation, which still holds true: that although there are narrow (x23 and x25) unstudded winter compound tyres, and also wide ones(x 37+), there's still a gap in the middle range, x28 - x32. For some reason there's still less choice with these tyres than there is with studded tyres, even though the latter are less suitable for UK average winter conditions, when temperatures are just above rather than below zero. And that gap in the middle still shows no sign of being filled - frustrating for the many of us who can't fit wider tyres on our frames, but want something beefier than x25.

[beardy]

There is now the Schwalbe Winter Spike in 30mm

[Bicycler]

Some of the roads this morning were like sheets of, well, ice, because they were. I didn't feel safe and wimped down to the railway station. Do I worry unnecessarily when the world turns white with frost and the road goes all shiny? The bike slipped once when I was just pushing it. Or would studded/winter tyres work?

I have ridden my bike on ice that I couldn't walk on.

The thread I linked above included a picture from a couple of years ago of the mirror-like surface on an icy road that I rode on going to work viewtopic.php?f=5&t=70034&hilit=studded+tyres&start=60#p614087 should get you to the post.

Studded tyres are amazing.

Ah, those are REAL spiked tyres. I have been trying to justify a pair of Conti Spike Claws (26in version of the Nordic Spike), Schwalbe Ice Spiker or Nokian Extreme for some time. They look so much fun. Problem is that those spikes come at a somewhat premium cost that seems hard to justify in the UK unless you happen to live somewhere really out in the sticks or we have another of those prolonged winters like the one we had a few years back. Maybe I'll come off my bike soon and they'll suddenly seem very cheap!

BTW, I'm currently running the much more lightly-studded Schwalbe Snow Stud (discontinued but still available: http://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/TYSCSNST/s ... wired-tyre) as my do it all dry tarmac, off road, Icy road and snow tyre. It's probably a bit of Jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none and I wouldn't ride them on sheet ice but an adequate compromise for a do-it-all mixed-terrain UK winter tyre.

[mig]

i have ridden marathon winters (with studs) in ice and snow many times. as long as you bear in mind that you shouldn't go bonkers in terms if steering input and braking then they 100% fine. not far short of normal tyres on damp tarmac.
i've also ridden continental winter contacts (non spiked) temperatures hovering around freezing. also excellent.
truth be told i bought them for the experience of giving them a go. i do enjoy trundling along on icy roads past lines of cars spinning their wheels. expensive but then again so are bus fares / injuries.

[CJ]

Even standard tyres have some grip on ice. Not much but some. And I've seldom, if ever, come off on ice except when I didn't even know it was icy. So from all that I've read here, winter tyres seem just the ticket for typical English winter conditions, when it might be icy, or might not, and neither everywhere nor all day, even when it is.

I bought a set of spiked tyres last winter, but it was never icy enough to put them on. I did though, and promptly took them off again. Like someone said, it's going to have to be a winter like 2010/11 before it's worth fitting those in UK!

Winter tyres I could use every year for several months, and be significantly safer on any icy patches I meet, especially the ones I don't see first!

Dear Santa...

[thirdcrank]

For anybody riding in urban conditions, which can still mean quite long commuting rides in some areas, gritting and the passage of heavy motor traffic tends to minimise the amount of ice, especially on main roads and bus routes. I know from experience that one exception is for anybody working shifts. Traffic levels throughout the night on some roads can be heavier than what used to be termed the rush hour only a few years ago, but if the gritters only go out towards the end of the night, cycling can be hairy before they do, especially if it's a bit hilly. I remember hills I've walked down as a precaution when riding to or from work in the dark and thought how good it would have been had studs been available.

I've read in a couple of motoring columns the advice that on cars, winter tyres are so much better in cold conditions that a front-wheel drive car fitted with them will have better grip than a four-wheel drive with standard tyres. If that's right, it sounds like a good argument for giving them a go on a bike.