Winter Cycling - Losing studs from winter Marathon

I'm running on bare tarmac with some black ice. I 'ran-in' the tyres doing about 40 gentle miles before faster riding.

I had a puncture today, and was horrified to discover that the rear tyre has lost 15 studs already. This tyre has done about 120miles. From what I've read on here, that's unusual.

Can I buy replacement studs?

You can buy Nokian studs and I wonder whether they would fit. They have a flat round head that dives underneath the rubber, overall ending up with a look of thumbtacks with a very thick stem. Nokian also sells an insertion tool for them but you should be able to push them in with more rudimentary means.

Well, this certainly makes me pause in thinking about getting Marathon Winters. I have been running Nokian Hakkapeliittas over many seasons now, including months of clear pavement and I might have lost maybe 3 studs in one tire that ended up treated more harshly than another.

I haven't put my Marathon Winters on yet this year, but I rode several hundred miles on them last year, and I don't think I lost a single stud. I also didn't even bother with a break-in period.

I've found a cycle blog with some very useful info on this.

replacement-studs-for-studded-tires (http://thegoldenwrench.blogspot.com/2010/11/replacement-studs-for-studded-tires.html)


It also seems that Schwalbe will send out replacements in small numbers. I've written to them, as losing 15 so quickly seems extreme (then again, the roads are in really bad condition).

How much you weigh? Are you abusing the tire? I haven't lost a stud in 3 years.

I've had no issues with my winters, seems odd.

it could be that you are just hard on the rear tire with trying to move forward.
Which studs are falling out? the center rows or the outer rows?

are you letting your wheel slip on bare pavement or only on ice and snow?
spinning the wheel on bare pavement is more likely to rip out studs.

Either way, only the outer rows matter for keeping up right.

I've lost a bunch of studs from a new set of Marathon Winters too. I haven't counted but it's maybe a dozen of the center studs. I only have about 15 miles of on these tires, all on city pavement. Maybe it's a bad batch? I'll probably end up buying the Nokian studs to replace them.

I don't weigh much. It's the centre studs that have gone - erm, I don't think I could possibly spin the rear wheel on bare pavement, I'm an ordinary mortal, not Thor or The Hulk.

Schwalbe UK are sending me replacements. They say it's probably due to the crap state of the roads I'm riding on. They are probably right - I regularly hit debris such as lumps of wood, stones the size of plums and rough broken surfaces.

I don't weigh much. It's the centre studs that have gone - erm, I don't think I could possibly spin the rear wheel on bare pavement, I'm an ordinary mortal, not Thor or The Hulk.



Neither is he:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYp4w_CAqy0

ARRRR! :)

I don't weigh much. It's the centre studs that have gone - erm, I don't think I could possibly spin the rear wheel on bare pavement, I'm an ordinary mortal, not Thor or The Hulk.

Schwalbe UK are sending me replacements. They say it's probably due to the crap state of the roads I'm riding on. They are probably right - I regularly hit debris such as lumps of wood, stones the size of plums and rough broken surfaces.

When I had problems with some other Schwalbe tires, they were also nice to me in the US, but they also argued that the problem was with the state of the roads. In the end, I had to move to different tires. I still ride plenty of Schwalbe, but avoid those that I burnt myself on. Under the circumstances, I will presumably avoid Marathon Winters - our roads here often look like after a fresh bombardment. Out of curiosity I looked on occasion whether I could find such bad roads in Eastern Europe and actually could not.

Must be a bad batch. I'm not even sure how many winters I have on mine. It must be 4 or 5. Never lost a single stud, and all the studs are still in good shape.
That said, as much as I like riding these tires on ice, they are pretty much useless in snow or slush. If I was to ride much in those conditions, i'd go for a more aggressive tread like the Schwalbe Snow stud.

Losing 15 studs in 120 miles is way beyond the normal range of acceptable. At that rate you'll have none soon. I would return them straight away.

4 years on my Nokian 106s not one lost stud. I would expect that from Schwalbe as well. I agree with the others, it must be a bad batch or even (gasp) fakes?

I haven't lost any studs yet and commuted all last winter on them. I am using them now as well. After a snow I have plowed streets but lots of melted slush and old frozen car tracks to deal with. I also run on a small bit of unpaved road and a patch of turf.

Just finished a gentle 40km on a new set of Marathon winter studs and lost 5 in the front and 19 in the rear. Running the front at 60 and the rear at 80 psi.

I don't weigh much. It's the centre studs that have gone - erm, I don't think I could possibly spin the rear wheel on bare pavement, I'm an ordinary mortal, not Thor or The Hulk.

Schwalbe UK are sending me replacements. They say it's probably due to the crap state of the roads I'm riding on. They are probably right - I regularly hit debris such as lumps of wood, stones the size of plums and rough broken surfaces.

Hitting stuff like wood shouldn't be that bad. But if you are on trails and trying to climb some small bumps with roots, that's
where you can pull out studs. If you loose traction a little on the roots and the stud catches the root it can easily pull out.

Just finished a gentle 40km on a new set of Marathon winter studs and lost 5 in the front and 19 in the rear. Running the front at 60 and the rear at 80 psi.

I thought the psi was

Schwalbe marathon winter
26" version: ETRTO, 47-559, 200 studs 30 psi to 70 psi, our part number SWL11136448.
If that's your tire?

Just finished a gentle 40km on a new set of Marathon winter studs and lost 5 in the front and 19 in the rear. Running the front at 60 and the rear at 80 psi.

That's appalling and doesn't tally with other people's experiences in the past. I wonder if Schwalbe have changed manufacturers or something?

Just checked mine, 1 25 mile commute on them. 1 lost in front, 5 in back. My commute is on recently paved bike trails, so poor roads aren't a factor. I do climb hills (~400 ft) on each end of the ride, would that tear studs out?

Also, I bought mine this October. For people who are losing studs, were yours also purchased this year?

Man, I was a little peeved when I lost 1 stud in the back of my Nokian mount and grounds. That was in the first week of riding.
I haven't lost any since then and that was 3 years ago. And that was supporting 275-300lbs of bike and rider.

On my 700 x 35 the max psi is 85.



I thought the psi was

Schwalbe marathon winter
26" version: ETRTO, 47-559, 200 studs 30 psi to 70 psi, our part number SWL11136448.
If that's your tire?

When I went back to the dealer who I bought them from, thinking that they would assist me as the Schwalbe rep is local, they told me to get replacements from an auto store. Meanwhile, I have emailed the manufacturer directly.



That's appalling and doesn't tally with other people's experiences in the past. I wonder if Schwalbe have changed manufacturers or something?

Also, I bought mine this October. For people who are losing studs, were yours also purchased this year?

I got mine this August. For the record, I've lost 9 studs up front and 6 in the rear. All but one were from the two center rows. I'm running 60 or 65 PSI on the 26" tires.

Over 100 miles on the Nokian Extreme 294s. Not a single stud missing.

I bought my tyres this year. I've never had studded tyres before, so have no idea if this is unusual in these conditions. I've only be riding on dry (no snow yet) tarmac with these tyres.
Schwalbe UK have sent about 50 replacement studs.

I've run Extreme 294s for 3 winters without losing a single stud. IMO, Schwalbe should replace the tires, not just the studs.

Got my Marathon Winters last year and rode them 200 miles before the snow came and didn't lose a single stud. I then rode them all winter in the snow. When I took them off in the spring, I noticed that quite a few studs were missing. I'll need to look and count again, but I know I lost at least 6. I'll replace the missing studs after this winter.
This is on a single speed bike with 150lb rider. Tire is 26 x 1.75

It would be helpful to include the tire size as i suspect many people are losing these studs on the narrower tires, 700x35.

Not in my case. 26x1.75

In my contact email to Schwalbe I suggested that maybe the tyres were defective. The response was very fast (less than one hour), denying that they could be defective and offering replacement studs.

After "running in" the tires (Schwalbe Marathon Winter 700c 35mm) per the manufacturer's recommendations, I didn't lose any studs in 2 years until I made an emergency skid (dry pavement) on the rear tire--lost about 6 studs.

It would be helpful to include the tire size as i suspect many people are losing these studs on the narrower tires, 700x35.

as far as I'm aware, marathon winter only comes in one width per tire size.

Man, I was a little peeved when I lost 1 stud in the back of my Nokian mount and grounds. That was in the first week of riding.
I haven't lost any since then and that was 3 years ago. And that was supporting 275-300lbs of bike and rider.

With my first set of M&G's I lost about 4 or 5 studs on my first ride. It was my fault though. I did some hard riding on dry pavement. I don't remember where I got the replacement studs from, but I do remember that they were on backorder for quite some time. The studs were replaced by working them into the cavities with a pair of needle nose pliers. Recommended tire pressure is 45 psi max. I inflated the tires to about 50 psi then rode them for 30 miles. Haven't lost a stud since.

as far as I'm aware, marathon winter only comes in one width per tire size.

Ah, the 700c is offered in at least two sizes... more in europe iirc.

Last winter I bought a pair of Schwalbe Ice Spiker 26"x2.1 and used them (straight on ice and snow - did not break them in). Did not lost any stud.

This autumn I bought a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Winter 26"x1.75. I put them on the bike I use in town. I inflated both at maximum pressure (5bar/70psi) and went for a quick ride around the house (on dry pavement). I used the brakes to test the behavior, but not aggressively. Next day, when I took the bike from the garage, some studs droped to the ground. I recovered 6 studs and checked the wheels. 7 studs were missing from the front wheel (back wheel had all the studs). I reinserted those 6 studs on the front wheel and lowered the pressure on both wheels (3bar/40psi). Since then, in the next 40km (on dry roads) I lost 2 more studs, both from front wheel. Once I had to make a sudden brake - maybe then I lost those 2 studs. Two studs are missing from the center rows and one from the lateral row.

i've got a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Winters 700x35, purchased in fall 2001 from biketiresdirect.com

i put them on january 1, 2012. since then i've got about 500 miles on the tires. i inspected the tires this morning. i stud missing up front, 1 stud missing on the back.

now that i know that nokian studs can be used as replacements, i'm much less concerned about losing studs.

I can confirm other posters suspicions - have lost 7 studs in clusters from a new front tire with under 300km. Source was chain reaction cycles in the UK, time frame is fall 2011, the tire's size is 700x35. Tire was properly run in. This is the 4th studded tire i've bought from schwalbe, the others are intact so something has happened to the reliability of their work.

I can confirm other posters suspicions - have lost 7 studs in clusters from a new front tire with under 300km. Source was chain reaction cycles in the UK, time frame is fall 2011, the tire's size is 700x35. Tire was properly run in. This is the 4th studded tire i've bought from schwalbe, the others are intact so something has happened to the reliability of their work.

I have a pair of US sourced 700X35 marathon winters, and the front tire is missing at least ten studs. Haven't looked at the rear too hard, because it's more work. Wonder if it's just this model and size that's having problems?

I have a pair of US sourced 700X35 marathon winters, and the front tire is missing at least ten studs. Haven't looked at the rear too hard, because it's more work. Wonder if it's just this model and size that's having problems?

Dismounted the tires today. Total carnage: 10 missing in the front, five in the rear. That's for maybe 300 miles of use over the winter, mostly on dry pavement (seventh warmest winter on record here, and much less snowy than normal).

I have a pair of US sourced 700X35 marathon winters, and the front tire is missing at least ten studs. Haven't looked at the rear too hard, because it's more work. Wonder if it's just this model and size that's having problems?

I don't know... but I have a suspicion these new studs don't hold up to braking very well.... do you have disc brakes?

Dismounted the tires today. Total carnage: 10 missing in the front, five in the rear. That's for maybe 300 miles of use over the winter, mostly on dry pavement (seventh warmest winter on record here, and much less snowy than normal).

I bought some barely used Nokian WXC 300's (super aggressive 300 studs/tire), you could still see the little rubber nibs on the center tread so I believed the guy when he said they had less than
a 100 miles on them, but he did say they lost a few studs. But I got both for $85 shipped so that's way better than the $190 + taxes each I'd have to pay up here.
When I got them they were missing 1 in the front AND 20 in the rear. I was a little worried and asked if he had run them in on dry pavement and he said he didn't know he had to do that.

Any way I got 25 replacement studs and the tool from bikeman an replaced the missing studs. I ran them in for 20-30 miles on dry pavement and after 5-600 miles I haven't lost any.
I do try to avoid pavement now and try to run only on ice and snow, more for preserving the knobs than loosing studs.
I do still hit a few miles of pavement every ride but I just slow it down over that. I don't think pavement should be bad, it's more slippery roots where the wood can grab a stud and rip it out.

For more pavement riding I have the Nokian Mount and Ground tires and have only lost 1 rear stud in 1000+ miles.

I seem to have read that Innova's and Marathon's lose a lot of studs. The WXC's once had a reputation for it as well but they say it was fixed
and I seem to be doing fine.

I would probably call Schwalbe, I thought I read somewhere where some one did and they sent him some free studs.

They already sent him some, as said on #25..

Schwalbe UK have sent about 50 replacement studs.
FWIW,
still have the 160 studs my Nokian Mount and ground Winter pair came with,
20 years ago.

only icy a week or 2 a year, the bike stays as is when it thaws .
it just gets parked.