Winter Cycling - Tire suggestions for a newbie??

Hi everyone! I'm new here, and in fact I'm new to biking regularly. I'm living off campus and ride my bike to my classes every day. I end up biking 6-8 miles a day, Mon-Fri. It hasn't been too bad so far, but it's about that time for the Michigan weather to rear its ugly head.

I'm looking to get some studded tires for x-mas, but I know pretty much nothing about them. Maybe you guys could help? I have a MTB with 24 inch wheels, I believe. Normal snowfall would be around 1-3 inches, we always get a few days with large amounts though. Most commonly though we'll get a slight accumulation which melts and refreezes over the sidewalks. Of course, I will end up riding on dry pavement at times throughout the winter as well. Under $50 a tire would be ideal.

The cheapest usable studded tires are the Nashbar studded tires. They're usually listed under the Specialty Tires section but appear to be sold out currently. They're $40 a piece. Check Icebike for a rundown of good studded tires: http://www.icebike.com/Equipment/tires.htm

I've checked out icebike already, and it was pretty informative. When I started looking for tires though, I found a lot more options than the few covered by icebike. I was just curious if anyone could provide any specific reccomendations. Thanks for the confirmation on that though.

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp

Not many options in 24" wheels but if you have the much more common MTB size wheel of 26" there are a number of good choices.
Nokian tires are the best but tend to be expensive. Nashbar studded tires are cheap but of pretty decent quality. If you are going to be riding them every day and your roads are usually clear then the 250-300 studded tires are probably overkill. The tires with 100-150 studs usually roll better on dry pavement and cost less, however you may have to lower the pressure in the tires to get good traction on ice.
As listed above Peter White Cycles http://peterwhitecycles.com are a pretty good source of Nokian tires but your LBS should also be able to get some.
Craig

actually it is a 26". I had been riding on a 24" MTB (which I had had since I was 8!) until it was stolen recently and picked up this nice one from the campus bike impound.

I looked over peter's page, and am most interested in the 'mount & ground W160' and the 'hakkapelliitta W106'. The main difference as a deciding factor is the stud placement. the MG has them placed more towards the outside, while the 106 has them more centered. Would I have any problems with one as opposed to the other on dry pavement? I will most likely put them on and leave them on all winter, so there will definitely be periods of dry riding.

I made my own studded tires, and I've placed the studs toward the outside. They contact the ground unless the bike is absolutely perpendicular to the ground, so even the slightest slip or turn puts them in contact. I'm pretty happy with that setup and have not had any loss of control. Perhaps somone with studs toward the center can give their impressions. I would not want to change.

actually it is a 26". I had been riding on a 24" MTB (which I had had since I was 8!) until it was stolen recently and picked up this nice one from the campus bike impound.

I looked over peter's page, and am most interested in the 'mount & ground W160' and the 'hakkapelliitta W106'. The main difference as a deciding factor is the stud placement. the MG has them placed more towards the outside, while the 106 has them more centered. Would I have any problems with one as opposed to the other on dry pavement? I will most likely put them on and leave them on all winter, so there will definitely be periods of dry riding.

I have a set of 160s that I ride in Detroit, and they're actually fine on dry roads - though a bit noisy. They sound like you're riding on gravel over concrete - crackle, crackle.

I think they'll be great for your short commute in Lansing. Totally secure on ice, I just had mine out in the ice storm we had a few days ago.

hey guys!

I ended up getting the Nokian 160's. Funny story though. I took my bike to the shop just down the block to have them installed (along with a bookrack and other odds and ends) and while I was talking to the person they pointed out multiple problems with my bike and said if not fixed in a few weeks the bike would more or less fall apart.

So instead of just paying around $10 or $15 labor for installing a few parts I also ended up paying $45 labor on a tune up and $15 on parts. The rear wheel hub was very loose (it wobbled almost an inch out of line), my handlebar shaft was loose (the front wheel would try to stop and the rest of the bike would keep moving when using the front brake), and when I told him that there was something wrong with the gearing (when peddling in 5th and 6th gears the bike would often slip out of gear for a split second, not much but enough for me to nearly throw myself off the seat a few times when I'd be pushing hard and suddenly have no resistance whatsoever) he informed me that I had an 8 gear rear wheel on a 7 speed bike and they'd have to readjust the gears. Hooray random impound bike! haha! but now that I look at it, I only see seven gears on the wheel? it could just be my bicycle ingorance and not looking in the right place, but I definitely count only 7 cogs. This really has me stumped now, but whatever they did to it it works fine now.
Kinda funny, $80 in tires, $72 in repairs/work, $30 bike from the impound. But it's great and I love it and it's mine and I shall name it George!

Ahem, back to the tires. The morning of the day I got them put on there was a little snow/ice and I was excited to try them out, but by the time I got it back everything had already evaporated or melted except a few random small ice patches. Oh well, at least I don't have to yell 'On your left!' at the peds walking two abreast anymore, they hear the buzz of my studliness approaching halfway down the block and start looking around completely confused as to what could make such a noise. and then they see me behind them and they part, giving me bewildered looks as to why my bike is so loud as I roll by. :p

I'll let you all know how they are once it actually snows. as opposed to being almost 60 degrees like it was today.




Oh, one last thing. Should I worry about wearing down the studs in periods of no snow? Or can these nokians take a bit of wear? I could easily pick up a secondary bike freally cheap from the impound if it's a good idea.