Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
Good tip, but in my experience, I have not found that necessary. I prefer the reduced rolling resistance of my Marathon Winters at higher pressure, about 65 psi, but I take riding on ice carefully. A good description I have read is that the traction of studded tires is like walking on sanded ice.
You might disagree with me, but I do not agree. I find it to be the opposite of what people would assume - sheer ice is great like 80% the traction of dry grippy pavement (with studs). Packed snow is fine to.
What I treat like walking on sanded ice is a thin layer of snow on top of ice, slushy half frozen snow, or deep snow. Those have all caused me problems - whereas sheer ice is just fine. I mean I'm definitely not doing crazy mountain bike tricks on sheer ice, just riding across it, but I don't find sheer ice takes to many precautionary measure. Tire studs are really effective at gripping into it.