rajman

I like the studs, some people don't. If you are riding on ice/snow/frozen lakes/hockey rinks, try both and decide for yourself. 'Nuff Said.

recursive

The only reason I don't have studs is they won't fit on my bike. (If someone knows of a studded 700x28 or less, let me know)

squeakywheel

Would you stop flossing your crotch already? Sheesh.

Shiznaz

haha I have had avatars turned off for over a year. I must be the only one who doesn't see it.

StokerPoker

well, after a little more riding this winter I had some moments that made me wonder how much better studded tires would be. one time I opted to go straight instead of removing my left hand from the bars to signal a right turn. When I got my new bike yesterday I had to get different tires anyway. I was not about to ride my brand new bike in this crap with 700x35c semi-slick street type tires. I bought a pair of Innova studded tires for it because I was curious, and I would only need aggressive tread for the winter anyway, so studs seemed like a reasonable choice. Now I wouldn't say studded tires are NEEDED for riding in the snow since I did reasonably well before, but WOW, what a difference. I just hope I don't get too confident and do something stupid. I wouldn't have bought them for my MTB, and probably still wouldn't, but I am happy I bought them for the new bike.

ghettocruiser

Friday AM the roads were dry, so I ran the slicks into work to save a bit of time in the cold air. Just in case, I rolled up the nokian with the folding bead and threw it in my pack.

Friday afternoon it's dumping snow right at rush hour, so I ride home with the studded tire on the front and a slick on the back.

Result: the back of the bike was dancing around in a most disconcerting way.

If I had slicks front and rear in that snow, I probably would have been reduced to riding at a walking speed on the sidewalk, and still probably would have fallen a few times.

G. Bucci

I use studs all winter but have seen guys on cross bikes/tires and road bikes/tires. To each his own I guess.
If I see someone riding in -29C good for them. This isn't a very bike friendly city in summer let alone winter so what ever people are comfortable with, they have my support.

Stay upright,

Winnipeg, Canada

digger

Studs add too much weight. Use 2 faced tape around each tire, works great! You stick to ice!

I used studs when I use to commute in winter. Truth be told, 90% of the time the roads where either dry or wet and occassionaly very icey BUT it only takes that one small patch that you don't see to drop you.

I recommend them in winter when the snow is on the roads, but if you don't wanna...yer choice.

blickblocks

Heavily rode slushy streets? Slicks. Icy driveways? Walk the bike.

jeff-o

I have three wheels. No need for studs, since I can't fall over. I do have slightly more aggressive tires than what I use in the summer though, so that I don't lose traction on ice and snow.

vrkelley

huuuuuuuh? Go out and get some fresh air

CrosseyedCrickt

I work nights, long nights, 13+ hours a night... and this keeps me (somewhat) sane during those long long nights

Cyclologist

Stephen Colbert, is that you? [refering to the original poster]

Gojohnnygo.

I used mtb knobs for my first two years of commuting. Then I found icebike and bikeforums. So I got a set of 294 Nokians. They where great on the hard packed snow and ice. They also slowed me down on the pavement. So I switch to a Nashbar/Kenda Klondike for the rear a year ago. I really like this set up 294 on the front and 168 on the rear. I have the hybrid set with a new set of 106 nokians just for those clear road days. I will never switch back to no studded tires in the winter unless I trying to float over snow.

workingbike

read your first post, thought , " thats an idea!" then saw this and thought "dammit!" Then thought " Hey! I'm going to disc!! Yahoo!"

I may try this at some point, what I'm aiming for this Winter is 1 bike with studs and 1 with Continental Top Contact Winter tires. I don't like studs on wet/sloppy tarmac. If I get enough money I may try 1 with Ktrak, I like the idea of turning up for work when all the car drivers stay home!

mander

Damn, i miss shiznaz

ax0n

26x1.95 Cheng Chin knobbies that came stock on my Diamondback Outlook, but mounted on my DB Sorrento (my foul weather and singletrack beater)

I don't have the experience to get into what's better than what else, but I can tell you that I never ate it on smooth skating-rink ice, icy boulders, snow, or slush unless I was intentionally goofing off and trying to slide around. I can also tell you that YES it was difficult and sometimes scary on rare occasion, but also incredibly fun most of the other times. Perhaps studded tires would make my ride even more sure-footed, but I don't feel like it held me back.

I have nothing to compare my experience to. In Kansas City, I can get by with knobbies, or at least I did last year. This will be my second winter riding a bicycle as an adult. I'm using this winter to refine everything that I thought could use improvement. My choices in cold weather clothing could use some work, but I don't intend on switching to studded tires.

It's not an ego thing, but since I didn't have any problems with slipping and sliding last winter so I'm focusing on something other than the choice of tire this winter.

cerewa

This thread has a rather rude tone, maybe from both sides. I will try not to contribute to that.

Here's the deal. I lived in Alaska from age 1 to age 19 and in Montreal, Quebec from age 19 to 22. I've never owned a pair of studded tires. I have also never owned a bike that I would be able to sell for much more than the price of a new pair of brand-name studded tires.

I once fell hard riding my mountain bike with semi-slicks in montreal. It was in light traffic and I was near a moving automobile, and it was scary as heck. It was also in strong crosswinds, and on a patch of road that was as icy as i have ever seen a road in my life, for a stretch of about 100 feet. i was too poor/cheap to buy studs, but for 30 seconds of my life, I could have really, really benefited from them. (or from the good sense to walk my bike on the sidewalk past that spot.)

There were some other times where the bike slid around under me, mostly while I wasn't being as careful as I could have. On those occasions, (no crosswinds involved) i was able to put a foot down and keep my balance by holding a sliding foot on the ground.

Some time after that, I got my hands on a road bike with 27x1 1/4" slicks. What you have to realize about the roads I was riding on is that they typically have road salt put on them in anticipation of a snowfall, so that the bottom layer is usually wet slush even on very cold, very snowy days. The slicks will fall through slush so the rubber actually touches the asphalt. Perhaps studs work as well in those conditions as rubber-on-asphalt, but not better.

Now back when I rode to high school in Anchorage, AK, I rode on very-hard-packed snow a fair bit. With 26x1.75" knobbies, the knobs felt like they held on to the snow. I'd say there was some risk of the tires pulling snow with them on top of a layer of ice in order to slide, but I never felt that happen.

If you ride studs and there is ice (or possibly very-hard snow) that studs can bite into and that won't slide away when your tires push on it, the studs will be very worthwhile. If there isn't any of that sort of ice/hard snow for the studs to hold, they won't make a difference.

Crosseyedcrickt, you call it BS that people claim to use street slicks on snow. There are conditions where tire tread gets you a lot of purchase in snow, but consider the case of riding on an ice rink. You can use knobby tires, and that will mean you have only the ends of the knobs touching the ice. Or you can use slicks, which, if they were the same width and pressure, would allow 2 or 3 times as much rubber to touch the ice. Most roads are not like an ice rink but if there is a quarter-inch of snow above ice, and the snow tends to get pushed out from under your tires anyway, the tires that work best on plain ice will be the best anyway. I have actually ridden on an outdoor ice rink on road slicks. Acceleration, braking, and turning have to be done VERY slowly, but the bike is controllable.

I'm no "bigshot", just a young guy without a lot of money.

SDRider

Snow? What is this snow of which ye speak?

I commute on a full carbon race bike with 700x23c tires.

pj7

He wasn't being rude, that's just the way he spoke... plus he was likely drunk.
You'd have to know him...

kjmillig

Ummmm.......what snow and ice? Cold rain maybe, but I have fenders, jacket, and tights.

AStomper

Do the zip ties around the wheel really work? Do they wear out before season? How far apart do you put them? I think this is the best idea I've heard of yet. Do you use automotive (high quality) zip ties or will the dollar store ones cut it. You don't believe how excited I got when I just read that post, and now I'm going to have to take off my front brake, rarely used it anyhow, and in winter I never would.

EDIT: also, how wide of zip ties do you use and how tight do you make them?

Lazerus_Shade

I have a super bike asside from never falling under any conditions it makes me cofee in the mornings, and substitutes as a blow up doll...


On second thought ill bow out of this one i have yet to ride my bike in the winter. The tires look good enough good old moutain bike. But for now i just don't know for sure.