Lossy

I was riding home with the newly installed Kenda 700x35. Its after dark and the superflash is goin'. Everything is fine until I get to the apartment parking lot. I slow way down and coast on the ice. After about 4 feet I go down hard. I got my feet out but it wasn't enough. I hurt my left knee my right wrist and hand. I hope it feels better by morning.

Time to invest in studs.

It was all snow pack that had melted and iced over. I thought it was going to be soft still. After that I still thought I would try again. It was very very wobbly so I road on what little pavement I could find where oncoming traffic would be.

Could be worse.

RomSpaceKnight

I ride MTB with big knobs. Studs are ssllooww and wear fast on pavement. If going down on ice, DO NOT put out hands. This is how collarbones are broken. Take the hit on shoulder. It's like a Judo land and roll. I can't imagine riding 700C's on snow let alone chance of ice. I go down on black ice or highly polished snow a couple of times a year. Outdoor outfitter in my town has strap on bungie type traction aids for shoes that I am going to try this winter. https://www.schnees.com/catalog/women...cessories.html Some MTB shoes have cleats in toes. I usually get off and walk over the bumpy melted and froze again ice in parking lots.

DoB

I went down today too, my own stupidity really. I wasn't hurt at all. I just checked the weather....18F and a few flurries (usually means no accumulation) so I jumped on the 700c CX bike and left my Nokian equipped hybrid home.

Flurries turned into snow by 3:00, and the roads were glazed with compact snow and ice in no time. Still clinging to stupidity I didn't call my wife to pick me up and tried to ride home. I made it three very slow, very careful miles (on pace to die of old age before getting home over the whole 12 miles) before I went down. Tire got caught on an uneven expansion gap and lacked the traction to climb it. I went down pretty slow and somehow wound up unclipped lying on the side of the road. Then I called the wife and got a ride.

The hybrid is all set for tomorrow.

Lossy

These tires are knobbies. Where can I buy good studded tires?

DataJunkie

I fall every time I ride on snow and ice. All low speed time overs.
Maybe I should get off my arse and purchase a cheap wheelset and stick some wide old knobbies on them. Touring bike + 700X28mm semi slicks = oops

CrosseyedCrickt

airbomb.com or aebike.com has nokian tires for a decent price
I like my nashbar.com studded tires though, and the price is very reasonable

I only have one studded tire on right now and rode thru the same crap that DoB did and I held up fine.

DoB sorry to hear you had a fall, I'd outright laugh at you if you werent local and able to hunt me down

chipcom 

I heard the Nashbars are actually Kendas. I just ordered a pair of Kenda Klondikes to try em out on the new winter bike. Now if I was a betting man I'd bet that the snow is gonna hit here before the tires arrive, and I'll prolly fall down and go boom myself.

Lossy

Hey Chip. I saw on icebike that the nashbar are kendas. Where did you order your Kenda's from?

CrosseyedCrickt

The nashbar studded tires definately ARE Kenta tires rebranded, in fact, they have "Kenda" molded right on the side of them
But nashbar had their branded tires on sale for cheaper than I could get the Kendas for... go figure.

Lossy

No love for the 700c! The only places I can see reliable ones are on peterwhitecycles and harriscycle.

chipcom 

My LBS, Century Cycles - even though I get some stuff online, I like to give them my business whenever I can. They take real good care of me.

DoB

Winter is not bing good to me so far. First I ride the studded tires....and it rains and I about die of hypothermia. Then I ride the road tires and it snows and I fall down.

I think my wife has the best advice....she says if it's below freezing I should always take the studded tires. And she says if it's below 40F and pouring rain I should drive the car.

CrosseyedCrickt

I will not drive (read: refuse to) unless it is absolutely, physically impossible for me to ride my bicycle 90% of the way.
We have the same weather, and aparently the same distance, so I'll ofer up what I have done this year.
To everyone else reading this, go away, this doesn't pertain to you

DoB: I tossed on my studded tires when the weather got to the point where we were more likely to have ice than not, meaning 3 out of my 4 work days were forecasted to be colder than 32F and higher than 20% chance of precipitation.
The way I see it, tires are cheap. Buy them in the summer when they can be had on ebay for $30.00 a pair or on nashbar for $25.00 each plus coupon.
In the above mentioned conditions I'll ride with just a front studded tire. That way I can preserve the integrity of my other tire that I will be mounting later.
I rode my current front studded tire for about 250 miles on dry pavement before I ever hit a patch of ice with it. Am I worried about the studs wearing out? Not really. When that point arrives then this tire will become my dedicated rear studded/knobby tire and I'll use a fresh(er) studded tire for the front. If I have to purchase only one studded tire a year then I don't care, it's less money than renting a movie and ordering a pizza one night.
In the future I plan on having dedicated rims for my studded tires to make things easier, and even leaving one at work just in case I make a bad decision.

Okay, enough of that, on to the rain.
I'll ride in 33F rain if it calls for it, and I think I have this year already.
My rain gear is the J7G non breathable pants and jacket from bicycleclothing.com and it works great! the most I have had to wear under it is a midweight fleece shirt and lightweight mts tights and that was just a few weeks ago when it was 36F and raining. I actually got a little too warm but I'd rather be too warm that too cold in the rain. I also bought a neoprene facemask and enlarged the brathing holes. I wear this on the sub 40 rainy days too. Other than waterproof hiking shoes, wool socks, and get this, a plastic bag over my Trek Anatomy gloves, I wore nothing special.

On my way home this morning it was 19F with 15mph winds in my face and I used my rain jacket as a shell and it worked perfectly!
but then again I am a fat man and tend to be warmer than others

don't give in man or i'll chase you down on my old raleigh mountain bike and let the air out of your cars tires

i need to stop typing now, my fingers hurt

ax0n

Meh. My cheapo knobbies kept me upright without studs. It got squirrelly on the skating-rink-smooth stuff, but if you're expecting it, it's not hard to navigate ice. I also don't click in, so when I suspect ice, I usually stand on my right pedal and kneel down a bit to allow my left foot to stay close to the pavement. The only time I ate it so far was when I hit a stretch of silty mud with my slicks on.

I can't see how studs would be a benefit unless you had glass-smooth ice to ride on for more than half your commute.

Bikepacker67

The Klondikes are 'da bomb'.

We got about 6 inches that is now a compact 'white ice' all over the place, and these tires just chew right thru.

They are slow, and they are loud on the clean pavement, but just turn up the volume on the mp3 player.

chipcom 

What pressure are you running on snow and on clean pavement? How are they on rutted trails?

Bikepacker67

About 45psi all the time.
As for rutted trails - do you mean with frozen footsteps covered with a layer of snow?

That's a tough one. January 1st of this year, this happened on a rutted footpath.

And this was the result.

I was stupidly clipped in though, and couldn't get out fast enough (cleats were packed solid with snow).
So... basically you have to be careful on uneven ice.

chipcom 

I'd heard that 45 was about the safe low limit, despite the mfgr's published 50. Also that they roll much better when maxed out - duhh.

I put my old 324 pedals back into service on this bike - spd on one side, platform on the other, for exactly the reasons you experienced. When the going gets sketchy, the sketchy unclip!

Bikepacker67

And that little 'wreck' is also warning that you don't need to be going at speed to get a big boo-boo. Hell I was barely doing 5mph in that clip. But the jagged ice I fell on acted just like a blade.

CrosseyedCrickt

I see you've never been to michigan
lake effect is disasterous

TMB

Unseasonable weather, too much snow and cold temps have resulted in a lot of ice around here.

This is really the only bike I have ridden in a little over two weeks.

It has been called the "Battle Trek"

CBBaron

This morning was a good test of the Pugsley winter commuter (The Pugs is usually an all season off-road bike). The conditions were 6 inches of unexpected lake effect snow during the early commute. The road crews were caught completely off-guard. My commute is well traveled so the snow was rutted and mixed up into a dirty mess or car snot. I know my 700c studded tires would have been most ineffective.
I started out on side roads with the tires pumped to 30psi expecting that the main roads would be clear as normal. At 30psi the Pugs rolls pretty well. However while making a turn in rutted intersection I went down slow.
When I got to the main roads the conditions were worse. So I got off and lowerd the pressure to 10-12 psi. I imediately noticed an improvement in my traction. I was now seldom slipping and I was able to change tire tracks when I needed to. However the effort to pedal the bike increased considerably. The rest of the ride went uneventfully and the ride on the virgin snow on the MUP was wonderful.
I say bring on the snow.
Ofcourse now I will have to pump the tire using a portable pump before heading home on roads that will most likely be clear.
Craig

jeff-o

Makes me glad I ride a trike. Be careful out there, boys and girls!

ghettocruiser

Studs don't wear much and they aren't that slow. Maybe add eight minutes to a one-hour ride. Slowing down on slippery sections with regular tires cost me more time.

ollo_ollo

I fell on ice a few Winters ago riding my Centurion ProTour & bent the non-drive side crank arm. My LBS guy looked at it, said he had a tool to straighten it & thought it would be ok. Only cost me $5 & I was back in business. Just sold the bike last week. It was closing in on 39,000 miles & the crank was still doing its job. Be careful out there, ice can take you down anytime. Don