winter compound tyres

[mig]

i have a pair of continental winter contact II tyres fitted onto the winter bike. they're good if a little heavy. that's the price paid i suppose.

does anyone know of other brands that do a tyre specifically for colder temperatures? ie one with a compound that stays soft as the mercury drops.

i'm never sure if the spiked ones are 'normal' rubber compound or not.

[beardy]

It says here that they are made from "Winter" compound.

http://www.schwalbe.com/en/spike-reader ... inter.html

How different it actually is, who knows?

[interestedcp]

My Nokian (now "Suomi Tyres" I believe) Hakkapeliitta W106 (106 carbide steel studs) have a special winter rubber compound so they remain soft even when it is freezing.
The Continental 4-Season are also optimized for lower temperatures.

I think all major brands like Continental, Schwalbe, Nokian/Suomi that makes winter tyres, also uses a special winter compound for such tyres.

I just bought a Continental "Top CONTACT Winter II Premium" tyre to see if it fits my bike. It is roughly half the weight of my Hakka W106. The Hakka's are really wonderful on ice, but they are heavy rolling and noisy on asphalt. So I hope the Winter II's are are more fun to use in freeze-thaw periods when the winter is mild.

[CliveyT]

My Nokian (now "Suomi Tyres" I believe) Hakkapeliitta W106 (106 carbide steel studs) have a special winter rubber compound so they remain soft even when it is freezing.
The Continental 4-Season are also optimized for lower temperatures.

I think all major brands like Continental, Schwalbe, Nokian/Suomi that makes winter tyres, also uses a special winter compound for such tyres.

I just bought a Continental "Top CONTACT Winter II Premium" tyre to see if it fits my bike. It is roughly half the weight of my Hakka W106. The Hakka's are really wonderful on ice, but they are heavy rolling and noisy on asphalt. So I hope the Winter II's are are more fun to use in freeze-thaw periods when the winter is mild.

Have you trried the Top Contacts yet? I've also got a set of Nokians that are really showing their age (I got them when I left Finland 2001 and despite only light use since they are now old) and I'm looking for a decent replacement

Regarding the original Q, I know all the decent car winter tyres are special compound (even when studded/ridged as well) so I would hope bike tyres marketed the same are as well. Has anyone tried using them in the height of summer? And if so did you leave half the rubber coating th eroad?

[meic]

This thread from two years ago may be of interest.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=70034&hilit=winter+tyres

I did fit my car with a pair of winter tyres at the time of that thread and drove over to Cardiff the next weekend without incident when the roads were declared impassable and it was a national transport disaster, I didnt have a slip even.
Then I rode around Cardiff with my studded tyres on the bike.

The tyres have been on my car for two years now but I do put them on the rear when the weather warms up and so no excessive wear during the summer months.

[ChrisButch]

The point which some replies are missing is that the examples they quote are studded; but the question referred to tyres (like the Conti Top Contact winter) which have a tread optimised for low temps/wet but without studs. These are much more useful in average winter conditions in the UK than studded tyres designed specifically for snow/ice - hence the wide availability (and growing use here) of car tyres with this type of tread compound. Perversely, however, there are a lot fewer of them to choose from. In particular, there's still a big gap between the 37 minimum of the Top Contact and 23/25 tyres like the Michelin Pro4 Grip. Every year I look for something to appear in the 28/30/32 range (which I guess many if not most of us use in the winter), but there still seems to be nothing.

[Valbrona]

? ie one with a compound that stays soft as the mercury drops.

No.1/ I am not sure if the above is the definer of a 'winter compound'.

No.2/ And do we get much of a winter in the UK with climate change? Not like your winters in Scandanavia or the Continental interior and where you could perhaps get a hardening of rubber compound with sub zero temperatures.

[interestedcp]

Have you trried the Top Contacts yet? I've also got a set of Nokians that are really showing their age (I got them when I left Finland 2001 and despite only light use since they are now old) and I'm looking for a decent replacement

Haven't tried the Winter II's yet. Too little time too much to do, and the weather seems so clement at the moment, so....

I have no idea about them being able to replace my studded Hakka's when the roads are ice glazed. I don't think so, at least according to the reviews I have read, so I will still keep my studded tyres for harsh winters.

[interestedcp]

No.2/ And do we get much of a winter in the UK with climate change? Not like your winters in Scandanavia or the Continental interior and where you could perhaps get a hardening of rubber compound with sub zero temperatures.

As I understand it, the winter weather may oscillate more in Northern Europe (including the UK) between mild winters and extreme winters because of the accelerating climate change. The point is that the extra warm weather may increase the number and the duration of "blocking events" over the Atlantic, so that winter weather systems may stall over Northern Europa, leading to long spells of frost and snow.

IIRC, the winter 2009-2010 was really cold in Northern Europe because of such a blocking event, while some parts of Greenland was experiencing a "heat wave" with summer temperatures.

While blocking events are natural, they do seem to occur with higher and higher frequency that are hard to explain with anything else than climate change; so more stalled weather systems seems to be the future.

[Bicycler]

? ie one with a compound that stays soft as the mercury drops.

No.1/ I am not sure if the above is the definer of a 'winter compound'.

No.2/ And do we get much of a winter in the UK with climate change? Not like your winters in Scandanavia or the Continental interior and where you could perhaps get a hardening of rubber compound with sub zero temperatures.

It's usually stated for car tyres that winter tyre compounds perform better once you get below 7 degrees Celsius, so there's a decent amount of time every year where winter tyres offer at least a theoretical benefit.

Do we have enough winter weather to justify winter tyres? In most winters for the average cyclist - no. For the leisure cyclist - no. For many whose riding is entirely urban, again probably not. For the commuter who needs to get to work and particularly those who commute at night or early morning when it is colder or travel down untreated roads there may be a much greater case. Then there are atypical winters and we had a couple in a row a few years ago where we did get a prolonged winter worthy of fitting winter tyres.

Personally I don't go for the Conti Winters and keep the same tyres on the bikes the full year around. I do keep a set of Schwalbe Snow Studs to be used if necessary.

[mig]

yes i have read that 7 degrees is the cut off point below which the winter compounds are more grippy. this ,for me, as an early morning commuter is quite often - hence the top contacts. i too look for other similar tyres but have yet to find any. perhaps it is the perceived low volume of sales they would be likely to generate.

re. winter weather. has anyone yet heard any long term forecasts for december - february?

[redfacedbaldfatman]

Personally I don't go for the Conti Winters and keep the same tyres on the bikes the full year around. I do keep a set of Schwalbe Snow Studs to be used if necessary.

I'm not sure that's a good idea, the compound is very soft and I can imagine (like winter car tyres) would wear significantly more in warmer weather.

[TonyR]

I've got both the Conti's and Nokian A10 studded tyres. Personally I don't find the Conti's much use as a sole tyre. They still slip quite easily on ice and the sides of ruts but they are easier work on tarmac. The spikes give a lot more confidence but are harder work on tarmac and being thinner cut through fresh snow more easily than the fatter Conti's. My usual compromise therefore is the spikes on the front and Conti on the rear

[Bicycler]

Personally I don't go for the Conti Winters and keep the same tyres on the bikes the full year around. I do keep a set of Schwalbe Snow Studs to be used if necessary.

I'm not sure that's a good idea, the compound is very soft and I can imagine (like winter car tyres) would wear significantly more in warmer weather.

You misunderstand. I keep my non-winter tyres on all year round but have a set of treaded spiked tyres I can fit if I want to venture out in properly wintery conditions. I suspect that you may be right about winter tyres in the summer. The Contis are also pricey at around £40 a tyre (and they never seem to be on offer) so if I were to use them I would leave it until I was sure winter proper had started and remove them ASAP in the spring, or maybe even have them on a spare bike just for days when they might be useful. Then again, some people pay that kind of money for summer tyres so it probably doesn't make too much difference to them. I'm a cheapskate

[fastpedaller]

Is it possible to just use really cheap (some would say poor quality) tyres? Many years ago I bought a cheap 'supermarket' tyre because it was readily available, and it was a very soft compound. Times/product may have changed though!