Originally Posted by
Steely Dan
i chose the right bike this morning: my dedicated winter beast with schwalbe marathon winters.
it was 27 degrees when i left, and we got a whole bunch of slush/snow on saturday that then froze into solid ice during yesterday's subsequent deep freeze.
knowing that temps stayed below zero all night and were still below zero when i left, the decision was a pretty easy one for me.
riding my winter beast with its studded tires maybe adds ~5 minutes to my 5 mile commute. that's a small price to pay for rolling over black ice/snow pack/frozen slush with confidence.
the first ride of the season on my winter beast is always kinda fun, but yeah, in a couple of weeks, i'll be whining about the damn studs too.
For my urban commute on promptly plowed roads with hardpack snow, and also the inevitable black ice, Marathon Winters are the best. I don't notice the increased rolling resistance complained about by those who use studded tires with more aggressive treads. On newly fallen snow, they're good for about 3-4 inches, though with the expected difficulty. On "mashed potato" snow (or whatever it's called) and frozen ruts, I would imagine any tires are going to find it tough.
I keep them on all winter long, as I have done for at least six winters, with no significant loss of studs, even though mostly ridden on wet or dry bare pavement.