Winter Cycling - I need help with tires...

While it isn't exactly snowing, my town is being dumped on at the moment - and probably for another 5 months - and with all the leaves on the ground right now it has gotten rather slippery. In fact, I almost fell today :notamused: Any recommendations on a new set of tires? I feel like cyclocross tires might be a good idea, but has anyone here used them? Do you know of any extremely "grippy" road tires? Thanks!

Ask in Winter Cycling: http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php?53-Winter-Cycling

Bike Forums is bigger than SSFG.

Thanks, should I re post it or have someone move it?
Now that i think about it I can't imagine a bike being fixed having that much to do with the tires... oops.

And welcome to Winter Cycling. Depending on the room you have, look at studded tires, like the Nokians or other brands.

While it isn't exactly snowing, my town is being dumped on at the moment - and probably for another 5 months - and with all the leaves on the ground right now it has gotten rather slippery. In fact, I almost fell today :notamused: Any recommendations on a new set of tires? I feel like cyclocross tires might be a good idea, but has anyone here used them? Do you know of any extremely "grippy" road tires? Thanks!

Based on my experience on Sunday, Cross tires are not what you need for snow riding, at least not the ones I have....

I used to ride in the snow on my MTB with no issues, but it had full nobbies. My cross bike has Conti Speed Kings and they were almost worthless in the snow, not enough tread in the middle. Maybe ones with a more aggressive tread might work for you?

Any kind of icy surface, black ice or otherwise, or hard packed snow - studded tyres FTW. No tread can provide equal traction on ice compared to a good studded tyre. I ride Nokian W106s myself.

But if it's slippery for other reasons: mud, loose snow, leaves, whatever non icy stuff, a tyre with an aggressive tread is often a better choice. Sometimes it's difficult to tell looking from the top (and you only need that one patch of ice to go down hard), so I like to err on the safe side myself. When we begin to have freeze-thaw cycles and rain, I start riding the winter bike with studded tyres.

I can see I wrote it a little strangely, sorry for the confusion. We have no snow here, just rain, and often lots of it. So I don't think studded road tires are a good idea, if they even exist.

I guess you're in the GTA area if your town got dumped on in the 6th.
The snow should have melted mostly by now on the main roads, but if you want a good snow tire fast, then here you go: http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442243633&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302693791

Other options would be a mud specific tire with aggressive knobs.

if you want rain tires, then anything will do, really, be it slick or knobby. You just have to watch out for painted lines and metal surfaces, like manhole covers, because no tire grips them in the wet.

I can see I wrote it a little strangely, sorry for the confusion. We have no snow here, just rain, and often lots of it. So I don't think studded road tires are a good idea, if they even exist.

It's still a little unclear to me. You're in a place where it rains in winter, not snows? And you're slipping on fallen leaves?

The problem with wet leaves, at least in my experience, is that even if you get a tire that grips the leaves, the leaves skid across the road, taking the tire with them. The only solution is to avoid the leaves, or at least avoid turning while on them.

In plain wet weather, I've found Continental Grand-Prix 4-Seasons to be extremely grippy. I run the 28mm ones on my commuter in the three seasons, and the 25mm on my roadies.

And yes, if you can fit cyclocross tires on your bike, you can fit studded snow tires. I run the Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106 on my commuter.
http://www.brucew.com/gallery/albums/2008-jra/me_portland_snow_work.sized.jpg

I agree... just standard ol' road tires will work as well as anything. But if you are on wet leaves you are SOL (sadly out of luck) no matter the tire.
If you are in Toronto watch out ofr streetcar tracks in the rain - I never had a problem with them in dry conditions but they are certain death in the wet.

I agree... just standard ol' road tires will work as well as anything. But if you are on wet leaves you are SOL (sadly out of luck) no matter the tire.
If you are in Toronto watch out ofr streetcar tracks in the rain - I never had a problem with them in dry conditions but they are certain death in the wet.

I remember sliding my front wheel about 5 metres and getting very sideways before my front jumped out of the slip and I saved myself from getting drenched while going over the tracks.

"grippy tires" are going to depend on the road conditions you ride. Usually being cautious with the tires you have may be a better alternative to getting new tires.