Studded tires or fenders?
 

I have enough in the budget right now to pick up a studded tire OR a set of fenders. I was planning on getting the tire, but the ride in this morning was nasty!

So what say you -- studded tires or fenders?

Where do you live and in what conditions and distance do you ride?

Yeah, that's a good question but I'll offer my opinion because I'm too lazy to wait for an answer.

Studs help on ice, - they don't make much difference on snow. If you've got ice to deal with I'd opt for safety over cleanliness and get the studded tires. You CAN make studded tires and/or fenders if you really want both right away.

Though I got some fenders for xmas, I still haven't put them on my bike. It hasn't been that wet here, and a little slush on my booties don't bother me much.

I live in northern New York (almost to Canada). Ice is always a possibility, though the local road crews do a pretty good job. Sand and salt will be on the roads until April or so.

Not falling on ice sounds like a good thing. Not falling due to my chain getting cruddy and skipping sounds good too. Studded tires can only be used in the winter; fenders are good year-round.


It hasn't been that wet here, either, but it warmed up a bit this morning so all of the sand and salt that's been put down over the last few weeks was wet and slushy.


Also, I checked with my LBS: fenders don't cost as much as I thought, they quoted me about $15 per tire. So, although I can only realistically afford either the studded tire or the fenders, it won't necessarily be very long before I can pick up the other.

I'd go with fenders, personally, because I find that ice isn't that hard to avoid in my area

Two different tools for two different applications.

ime studs have a very limited application; if there's no ice on the ground the studs aren't doing you any good. Whereas fenders are almost never inapplicable, and are a downright godsend more often than not. If you must make a choice, chose fenders.

I dunno, maybe it's my age showing. Here in Rochester, at least along my commute, there's always ice that miraculously didn't get salted away.

I figure gunk washes off quickly and easily. Broken bones would keep me off the bike for weeks while they mend.

Exactly.

Limited application or not, on my commute I ride over residential streets, mups, and downtown streets. Only the downtown streets are clean most of the time during the winter. On either the mups, the residential streets or both there's a good chance I'll run across some ice on any given winter day.

Though you can use fenders year round, no studs means a lot of days that I wouldn't ride. I can ride any day without fenders, although it may be messier.

Days I haven't ridden due to ice this winter?
4 - Should have been 5 but instead I slid across the road after cresting a hill only to find the road covered in ice.

Days I haven't ridden due to lack of fenders ever?
Never

Yeah fenders are nice and I have them on half my bikes. Even had them in my bikes where it used to snow alot and they worked well. Didn't keep the chain completely snow free but it didn't lessen the coating on the rd and cassette a bit.

Also in the snow studded tires vrs knobbies and studden tires vrs slicks might make a difference as to whether studded tires make a difference, they definately do with ice patches and almost ice (slush)

safety vs. cleanliness

I've never crashed because i didn't have fenders.

It was a nice sunny day here so I thought that maybe a ride on my road bike would be nice.
Well it was great.
It is so good to get out and get some speed again.
But! I did encounter some ice.
Rubber and wet ice is not a great mixture. Very scary in places.
When ever the road went through the woods I was on ice or trying to ride around ice.
I do have a stripe on may jacket but it is not from blood or road/ice rash.
I will choose my sunny day routes better or take the bike with the spikes.
With the studs I can go any day and more or less without worry.

I had fenders first, because they came on my Raleigh One Way (primary winter bike).

I just bought and started using studded tires before the holidays.

In my area, I will encounter wet, rainy roads far more often than ice.

And as others have stated... I'd still buy studded first. If you really want to ride every day, fenders are a luxury, studded tires are a necessity.

One additional point: I disagree with the statements that fenders are only for cleanliness. Comfort is key. I prefer to stay dry(er) when riding in near freezing or lower temps. Fenders can keep me dryer and warmer for less money than the cost of investing in more and heavier clothing to compensate. Not to mention that with a rear fender I don't have to worry as much about trashing my expensive Tom Binh laptop backpack. <-- my bestest investment in bike commuting so far.

To me... the cost of a good set of fenders is a drop in the bucket compared to a good pair of Nokians. In other words, it seems like you could go with the tires for safety ($100-150), and not feel bad about spending an extra $30 on fenders (approximate cost of Planet Bike Cascadia or Hardcore).

There is also the Planet Bike throw-away -err- clip-on fenders for $10. They aren't the best but are good enough for a tight budget. I road with them for about a year, but am much more satisfied with the upgrade to the Hardcore.

Or Schwalbes.

But, yeah, they're nowhere near the same price point. Good winter tires are much much more expensive than fenders that will get the job done.

I was thinking about this yesterday as I was slogging home after we were dumped on by a major snow storm.

I wouldn't have been able to ride without my studded Nokian 106 tires, but I could have made it to work and back without fenders, although I would have been filthy by the time I arrived.

I got an old "Crazy Carpet", (kids are grown) cut out a piece 3" by about 18" and attached it with twine starting behind the bottom bracket, running up to below the seat post to keep the crud out of the changer etc.. I had to cut out sections to make it by the rear wheel downtubes, etc. Then I cut a piece to put in front of the front downtube to keep crud also from the same area.

Crazy Carpet is a plastic slider that kids slide down hills on snow.

I believe it's called a Krazy Karpet. The inventors were insane spelling anarchists.