andrelam
Yesterday was the worst weather I've encountered the entire winter. I've ridden through wind and snow for the last few weeks, but the freezing rain yesterday was not fun. The roads were covered with a solid 1/4" layer of ice. Walking on this stuff was near impossible.
Due to a bead failure on one of my Innova Studded winter tires (700Cx35) I had bought a replacement Nokia W106 as Peter White had them in stock and shipping from NH to NY is two days or less. Yesterday is the first day I could actually feel a difference between the tires, and now by body will feel it for the next few days.
While going around a sharp bend I had slowed down so that I could make a very gentle turn. As I started to turn the Nokia tires were able to keep their grip, but the rear Innova's lost their grip and the bike did an abrupt 180 and the bike slipped out from under me. I hit the pavement with my elbow and passed a nice jolt into my shoulder. Clearly the studds on the Nokia stay out beyond the outer layer of the tire as these are hardend carbite. The steel studds in the Innova grind level with the tire, and in all other conditions this year that has been sufficient. With real ice on the road, this difference is enough to have made me crash. My shoulder will be feeling that difference for a while:(
In short on ice the Nokia tires are clearly supperior to the Innova tires. On all the wother snowy wintery conditions, the Innovas have appeared to work equally well to the Nokias.
Happy riding,
André
Due to a bead failure on one of my Innova Studded winter tires (700Cx35) I had bought a replacement Nokia W106 as Peter White had them in stock and shipping from NH to NY is two days or less. Yesterday is the first day I could actually feel a difference between the tires, and now by body will feel it for the next few days.
While going around a sharp bend I had slowed down so that I could make a very gentle turn. As I started to turn the Nokia tires were able to keep their grip, but the rear Innova's lost their grip and the bike did an abrupt 180 and the bike slipped out from under me. I hit the pavement with my elbow and passed a nice jolt into my shoulder. Clearly the studds on the Nokia stay out beyond the outer layer of the tire as these are hardend carbite. The steel studds in the Innova grind level with the tire, and in all other conditions this year that has been sufficient. With real ice on the road, this difference is enough to have made me crash. My shoulder will be feeling that difference for a while:(
In short on ice the Nokia tires are clearly supperior to the Innova tires. On all the wother snowy wintery conditions, the Innovas have appeared to work equally well to the Nokias.
Happy riding,
André