Originally Posted by
Jughed
Typically, my faster road tires are worn out by the end of October & I put on my tougher Armadillos in for the winter months. Roads are typically wetter, more crap/salt... last thing I want to do is try and swap a tube with cold hands, getting GP5000's on the rim is tough enough to begin with.
It works out well, I get one warm season out of the GPs, and two winters out the Armadillos. I've never had a flat with the winter tires...
And swapping back to a fresh set of faster tires in the spring is a nice change.
Huh. I hadn't thought about it from that perspective.
Originally I read the OP and thought "what nonsense", since it rarely snows in central NC and there's rarely any need for winter-specific tires (i.e. knobbies or studs for fresh snow and studs for packed snow and ice). I mean, I live in SE NY and have cycled through the winter with my regular tires for 25 years (obviously skipping rides and doing something else when the roads are snowy/icy - which they usually are only for short periods of time).
But, you make a good case for using tires with more flat protection during the winter. Though, in my case, I can't recall ever getting a flat during the winter, probably because (a) I'm going more slowly so I can see/avoid road hazards more easily, and (b) because the cr@p gets pushed off the road when the snowplows go through. I think I will use a tire with flat protection the next time I change tires near the winter months, though, since now you're made me paranoid about flats in the cold. (JK about the "paranoid" part, of course, it's just a point to consider.)