Studded 29r tires

[Paul Lohnes]

Along the lines of Barry's thinking, sick of plodding my backup 26 inch bike with an old set of Conti studs. Looking to go with a set of 29r studs.

Opinion?

Nokian Gazza Extreme

Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro

at $105 bikes seems the Schwalbe would be the clear winner..wider, lighter, more studs, although I know previous iterations had some serious stud loss issues.

Thoughts welcome. Thanks

[Norm Collard]

Paul   Schwalbe ice pro spikers are serving me well with minimal loss of studs.  To limit the loss I followed recommendation to initially ride them on pavement for 15- 20 miles.  Traction on the schwalbes are impressive.   Significantly better than the nokians I had on my 26 wheels in the past.   

Norm Collard

cell 508.574.5225 

Sent from my Iphone

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[Warrenator]

No 29'er on the horizon for me, so I plopped down all of $40 for a lightly used set of Nokian Extreme 294's from a guy who had gone to the bigger wheel size and sold his 26" bike. While browsing through craigslist I noticed a few sets of the 29" studs(26" as well)of either the Schwalbe, Nokian, or Kenda variety.  Doubt they have been used much, so may be worth a look as they are pretty pricey for sure.

No basis of comparison for me, but I seriously doubt I could have ridden Horse Hill w/o those 294's the other day.

-W

[Barry Greenberg]

The problem with the 29” Nokians is weight and tire volume/flotation.

 

The Nokians we’ve been riding on our old 26ers are Nokian Extreme 294 26x2.1”. They have 294 solid tungsten-carbide steel studs and a steel wire bead.  They weigh 895 grams.

 

Nokian’s 29er tire is the Nokian Gazza Extreme 294 29x2.1.  Same number of solid tungsten-carbide steel studs spread over the larger 29” area.  Steel wire bead, not tubeless ready (though I read a comment from someone running them tubeless).  They weigh 1100 grams each.

 

 

Ice Spiker Pro 29 x 2.25” has 402 studs with tungsten-carbide cores surrounded by aluminum to save weight and a Kevlar, folding, tubeless-ready bead, which also saves weight.  890 grams. 

 

In addition to the weight savings, the Ice Spiker Pros are 2.25” wide, so they float better than the Nokians - we’ve seen the advantage fatties provide...

http://forums.mtbr.com/29er-components/29er-studded-tires-770085.html

Read the reviews and you will see several people who switched from 2.1” Nokians to the 2.25” Schwalbes, and they all say there is a big improvement in flotation and speed!

 

 

FYI, Nokian does make an Aluminum-clad, tungsten-carbide stud, folding Kevlar bead tire, the Nokian Hakka WXC300 26x2.1” which weighs 695 grams. But there is no 29” model.

 

 

Remember to break them in to avoid stud loss while riding rocky terrain.  Norm did a proper break-in and only lost a few studs on our snow-free Vietnam ride, which was impressive considering how much bare rock we rode!!

 

Break-in = 30-40km on asphalt with low enough pressure to allow the edge studs to touch the ground.  I.e., like 20 PSI.

 

bg