Ice Season

[Mike Beganyi]

Came a bit early this year! We were expecting temps in the 40s to do the Devil's Washbowl loop and a few miles in climbing a short rise I noticed my rear wheel slipping when I stood to climb. A few seconds later it happened again, and the whole bike got squirmy. The further we went, the worse it got, until we ran out of crunchy road - we were trying to climb on the shoulder and the area with texture. Going down the other side was interesting, slow, and sketch.  

We made our way along the route for a few more miles and diverted to pavement... Time to mount up the studs..!

[Christian Bratina]

Christian Bratina Litchfield, CT 06759 860/361-9163

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[Christian Bratina]

What studded tires do you recommend?  I have the Nokian Extreme 294's on my mountain bike, and have still slid out on ice.  Have you tried the Continental Top Contact Winter II studless tire?

Christian Bratina Litchfield, CT 06759 860/361-9163

 

 

 

On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 11:18 AM, Mike Beganyi wrote:

 

 

[Rod Holland]

I've had good results with Nokian W240s (the 26" version). I tried running Continental Top Contact Winter IIs on a 700c bike last season; the verdict was meh, plus one fall. The Winter II conundrum is that they are markedly inferior to studded tires in freezing weather, and become so grippy as to be nearly unridable on the nice days when the temperature goes up a bit. Super high rolling resistance at 40degF. Still, there were one or two rides when I was glad to have them, as opposed to normal tires, but would probably have been better served by studs.

Although it's probably coals to Newcastle, here's a link to Peter White's excellent page on studded bicycle tires: http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp.

rod

[Mike Beganyi]

I have the 294s in 29r. They are pretty worn and I had a couple of sketch moments and 1 fall last year.

For my IF of I pull the fenders I can run Nokian 35s. Got them from Peter white when I ran them on my fixed cross check. They are in far better shape than my 294s - so I'm going to run them this year.

[Mike Beganyi]

Just saw these at the local LBS... 

The 29r version looks really nice. My Suomo 294s are worn, so these might replace them.

If / when the 35s I have wear out I'd entertain the narrow ones.

http://45nrth.com/products/tires

Nicotine is the 29r, Gradval and Xerxes are the more commuting / road style / sized.

-Mike