Originally Posted by
bhdavis1978
Hey tjspiel,
I don't have snow tire, so I'm definitely unprepared. I've got a touring bike (Jamis Aurora Elite) with Vitorria Randonneur tires. I'm going to be really sad in 4-6 weeks when it becomes too snowy / icy to keep commuting to and from work by bike. Should I consider switching to grippier tires now, even if I'm not planning on commuting once it gets snowy? Do you think it is reasonable to commute to and from work during the winter on it if I get winter snow tires for it? I'm asking cause we both live in the Twin Cities, and you seem like a pretty seasoned winter bike commuter. There are big chunks of my commute that don't have "Share the road" signs, let alone marked off bike lanes. I'm a bit nervous about it, and I don't think my wife will be entirely supportive of the idea of commuting all winter. I think I'm probably going to switch back to taking the bus once we get much snow on the ground. *sigh*. And approximately when do you think it'll warm up enough again in the spring to allow bike commuting again (i.e. snow and ice free roads)?
Until there's snow and/or ice on the roads plain old slicks are still your best bet but be careful of wet leaves.
Even wet snow isn't much of a problem as long as your tires can cut through to pavement.
Conditions vary so much from year to year. We've had Decembers with almost no snow at all. Last year the snow was gone from the roads in early March and never really came back. Generally I expect that I'll be using studded tires from about December 1st through the end of March. Typically though the last weeks of March don't really require studs except for maybe a couple of days here and there. Snow storms are definitely possible in April but so is 80 degree weather.
Studded tires make a huge difference on ice and hard-packed snow. They really work well. On fresh snow that's been driven over and pushed around by cars, not so much. That stuff can be really treacherous.
As far a not having bikes lanes go that's not a real disadvantage in winter because most of them are kind of useless that time of year. As the winter wears on and stuff accumulates on the road cars can't park as close to the curb and they end up half in the bike lanes. Besides that, it tends to get more icy and uneven towards the sides of the road where the bike lanes are.
In Winter you're often best off riding in the right tire track because that's where the road is going to be the clearest. Obviously if you're on a highway with the traffic moving at 45+ mph, that's not going to be a lot of fun but on narrow, snowy roads cars aren't going that fast anyway.