Thinking about getting snow wheels
11-04-03, 02:14 PM
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Thinking about getting snow wheels
https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?s...jTpzNWhMMi6awA
$60 (including skewers!) for a cheap 8spd built up wheel for winter biking. I'm thinking about getting some studded snow tires and these cheapo wheels for my winter commute. But since I'm in NJ, usually the snow is here and gone, at least the past 5 years we haven't really had any prolonged snow which would make full time snow tires not very practical. But these cheapo wheels might make it a handy dandy thing to have. I ride to work in the winter mostly off road on unplowed trails and there's hardly ever enough snow to make it real deep so I just need traction on icy parts and on the short road section I am on...
Jay
$60 (including skewers!) for a cheap 8spd built up wheel for winter biking. I'm thinking about getting some studded snow tires and these cheapo wheels for my winter commute. But since I'm in NJ, usually the snow is here and gone, at least the past 5 years we haven't really had any prolonged snow which would make full time snow tires not very practical. But these cheapo wheels might make it a handy dandy thing to have. I ride to work in the winter mostly off road on unplowed trails and there's hardly ever enough snow to make it real deep so I just need traction on icy parts and on the short road section I am on...
Jay
11-09-03, 08:25 PM
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I have the setup your thinking about. Not the same rims, but the same idea. I have two sets running for winter this year. Reason for this, the weather here in Wisconsin is so unpredictable, one day its ice and the next its melted off and nothing but pavement. Going from my nokian spikes to another tread with one set of wheels was crap. Paying 100+ for the nokians, Im not running those 20 miles on pavement, after having ice the day before. So this winter, I will have the nokians on and some other mid tread for the other rims, quick change, and Im happy. I have found, that I didnt use the nokians all that much. I found it was either lots of fluffy snow (the parts that I ride that are unplowed) or slush/pavement. Didnt have much problems with ice, just some spots, that were avoidable. If you think the spike tires work in all around conditions, ice, snow - thats not really true. I ran my nokians in fluffy/mild snow and had very little traction. So be thinking about a tire that has big ole nobs for the fluffy stuff!!
11-10-03, 04:13 AM
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well, maybe you already know this... but as i know there are basically 2 types of studded tires: 1) agressive studded tires for maximum traction on snow/ice with a large number of studs all over the tire -- but loud/slow on pavement and wear out quickly and 2) "commuter" studs as i call them which have fewer studs and only on the outer part of the tire -- this means with normal pressure on pavement the center patch w/o studs rides almost normal and the studs only contact when cornering (the most dangerous maneuver) -- then for snow/ice you reduce the pressure, increase the tire contact patch and the studs contact the ground.
i use the "commuter studs" as here in munich we get snow quite a few times per year, but it is not _SO_ much (usually max 2-3 weeks on the ground at a time) plus they plow/sand/salt the roads and bike paths, so i really never need the agressive studs. so i probably have 10 days a year where i reduce the pressure and then maybe a fews weeks where the is snow/ice but it's not bad --- the rest of the time i ride almost "normal" but ready at any moment for worse conditions (just let out some air) -- for me it is the perfect compromise between safety and convenience (agressive studs are noisy, slow , expensive and wear out quickly)
anyway, i mount mine some time around mid-november -- probably when out next cold-front comes (we had snow 2 weeks ago but since it's been warm) - and then keep until mid-April or so. ---- and this will be my 3rd season using the same studded tires (i average 100km/week in the winter - so quite a lot of miles --- approx 5 month/year for 2 years = 10 months x 4 weeks/month x 100km/week = 4000km and still lots of tread AND studs --- mine are from Schwalbe but almost identical to the more common Nokians with studs on the outer tread only)
i use the "commuter studs" as here in munich we get snow quite a few times per year, but it is not _SO_ much (usually max 2-3 weeks on the ground at a time) plus they plow/sand/salt the roads and bike paths, so i really never need the agressive studs. so i probably have 10 days a year where i reduce the pressure and then maybe a fews weeks where the is snow/ice but it's not bad --- the rest of the time i ride almost "normal" but ready at any moment for worse conditions (just let out some air) -- for me it is the perfect compromise between safety and convenience (agressive studs are noisy, slow , expensive and wear out quickly)
anyway, i mount mine some time around mid-november -- probably when out next cold-front comes (we had snow 2 weeks ago but since it's been warm) - and then keep until mid-April or so. ---- and this will be my 3rd season using the same studded tires (i average 100km/week in the winter - so quite a lot of miles --- approx 5 month/year for 2 years = 10 months x 4 weeks/month x 100km/week = 4000km and still lots of tread AND studs --- mine are from Schwalbe but almost identical to the more common Nokians with studs on the outer tread only)
