I work shifts so my wife and I often MTB while the kids are in school. We had been enteraining the idea of getting some studded tires to allow us to ride all winter. I commute year round anyway and figured there was no reason we couldn't ride if we wanted to.

Well, there I was at the LBS yesterday when I saw that they had studed MTB tires. Anyone ever used the Panaracer Spike V's in 26 x 1.9? At $20 a tire I bought 4.

I work shifts so my wife and I often MTB while the kids are in school. We had been enteraining the idea of getting some studded tires to allow us to ride all winter. I commute year round anyway and figured there was no reason we couldn't ride if we wanted to.

Well, there I was at the LBS yesterday when I saw that they had studed MTB tires. Anyone ever used the Panaracer Spike V's in 26 x 1.9? At $20 a tire I bought 4.

If the tips aren't carbide, you'll need 4.

If the tips aren't carbide, you'll need 4.

At least. :beer:

I work shifts so my wife and I often MTB while the kids are in school. We had been enteraining the idea of getting some studded tires to allow us to ride all winter. I commute year round anyway and figured there was no reason we couldn't ride if we wanted to.

Well, there I was at the LBS yesterday when I saw that they had studed MTB tires. Anyone ever used the Panaracer Spike V's in 26 x 1.9? At $20 a tire I bought 4.

Read a lot of owner reviews here....

http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/oldertires/product_23399.shtml

Apparently they don't make them anymore and they wear very fast. Some one found them for $8 at Nashbar, but they are gone now.

According to the reviews they seem to perform OK off road in snow, ice, and mud which is what I'm going to use them for. Now if there is actually snow covering the roads I figure I could ride my snow tired, disc brake MTB to work instead of my commuter. Darn though, I thought $20 didn't seem like too bad of a deal, but apparently many people got them much cheaper.

Just wanted to add something for the record incase anyone comes across this thread while researching tires. These tires were a complete waste of money.

The first time I used them I lost 25 studs from my rear tire. It was 15F and we were riding on very tame MTB trails with about 2" of snow over partially frozen ground. We only ended up staying out for about 1/2 hour because my wife's feet got cold. So there you have it, 25 studs in 1/2 hour in conditions for which this tire should have been designed. I took the bike out for about 2hrs in 35F weather with wet snow on the trails, and now have only a handful of studs remaining in my rear tire. My front has lost about 2 dozen.

When these tires were made the designers had to know that they would not hold up for even one ride, yet they were sold anyway. I have a real problem with a company that would do this. I had been considering buying some Panaracer Fire XC tires in the spring, but I now will try another company's product.