Recommendations for 28/32 Fall/Winter Tire
 

Rode Marathon Plus last Winter in 28 and they did nice job - but so heavy. Been riding GP4000s in 28 this summer and loving them. Would like to try a different 28 or 32 on a Soma ES for this coming winter... no fenders although considering them.

Winter... where?

It's hard to recommend anything 28-32mm on snow or ice.

this is true it all depends on where you are riding!

For a few months, I've been riding Vittoria Voyager Hyper tires, formerly called Rando Hyper. They are not so heavy for their size. Tread is pretty minimal. Flexibility and perceived speed is quite good. They feel lighter than they are, and they aren't all that heavy, either. They have some kind of flat protection, which was not a selling point for me, but I'm glad to have the benefit, as it doesn't seem to make the ride worse, not that I've done a side-by-side comparison. They also have a reflective sidewall on each side, which really is a plus. I highly recommend these, except that they don't look good for snow or mud. I think you really need a different tire for the sloppy stuff in winter.

I strongly prefer tires from one of the big tire makers, as they are on the cutting edge of R&D. Vittoria is one of those companies. Schwalbe is, too, but they charge a premium for their tires, and it's not worth it to me. Plus a lot of Schwalbe tires get bad reviews for the way they ride.

I don't think the tires with all the puncture resistance features are too heavy

because I dont want to have to take the Wheel off and fix a Flat Tire in a Downpour.

Sorry - Chicago city streets - I usually only ride when plows/salt trucks have been out. So only snow/ice in patches and usually only above 20/30 F.

Ah. ;)

That zone around 30°F is actually my least favorite for riding a bike, as the stuff on the ground could be dry and frozen, or wet and slick thanks to the salt. I pretty much stick to studs when any part of the forecast goes that low.

None of my road bikes will fit tires over 30mm, but if I had one with the clearance for it (and wanted to ride it all winter instead of the MTB with 1.95" studded tires :D) I'd look into the 700x32 Nokian A10s, a little less than halfway down this page: Studded Bicycle Tires

Studded tires are expensive and unnecessary unless you live in a place where snow will remain on the ground six months of the year.

+1

But they don't hurt - of one can afford.

The Nokian A10s recommended by [MENTION=251447]ThermionicScott[/MENTION] seem like a good choice for the type of riding it seems like you will be doing. I used to think that studded tires were expensive and unnecessary until I got a set about 10 years ago. Now I think they are essential. FWIW I ride an early 90's rigid mountain bike with fenders and marathon winter tires from November/December to March/April in Chicago's north suburbs.

Definitely disagree, good ones make black ice rideable (for less $$ than a bus pass or car maintenance).

Not a fan of those nokian a10s, the rubber is awful, they have less traction (studs and all) in the wet parts of the black ice zone (30-35F say) than non-studded marathon supremes. I use 35mm marathon winters for black ice season.

I have a friend who is a municipal fleet manager and he swears by nokians for the winter for his rigs.

Ice doesn't care how long snow is on the ground, it's still ice, and rubber still won't grip on it (though studs will).

A single visit to the doctor costs more than a pair of studded tires. That's just for a "ow my leg hurts, doctor says it's fine" visit. The cost of breaking a bone is exponentially larger.

The skinniest studded tire I know of is the 45nrth Xerces at 30c:
45NRTH | Unparalleled Cold Weather Performance

I believe it's designed so that at full pressure the studs don't come into contact with the ground unless you start turning or your wheel starts slipping, so you can adjust by adding or removing air from the tire without removing the tire.

People can certainly do what they want, worse case they're not hurting anyone else. But I just don't see a reason to risk going down on ice when good studded tires are available.

P.S. I guess Schwalbe makes a Winter HS 396 that's 30c as well:
Winter HS 396 | Schwalbe North America

I figure if my studded tires save me from going down even once, the cost (and increased rolling resistance) was well worth it.

That's hilarious. The studs aren't for snow anyway.

Snow is irrelevant. Worst case scenario is that I can hop off my bike and carry it.

Studs are for ice. They keep you from falling when the wheel slips out sideways from beneath you.

I live in a city that gets snow for four months, and daily in January and most of February. All that practice makes it one of the best and most efficient at clearing the streets, and there's always ice somewhere that doesn’t get salted away.

Studs cost considerably less than even the deductible for an ER visit. You go down fast and hard on ice. In traffic? Well, that bus behind you also has to try to stop on the same patch of ice that threw you down. It ain't like taking a tumble in the dirt on your MTB.

Further, good studs--carbide--last almost forever on a bike. Mine are entering their tenth (that's right, 10th) winter this year with no end in sight. So my $90 expenditure is now down to $9 per year. My income is measured as a percent of the Federal Poverty Level, and even I can afford that.

Makes sense where you live. I was thinking about lower latitudes where snow and ice last a few days and are quickly gone.

If you live further north though, I concur studded tires are a good safety investment for the winter.

Exactly. I have 2 sets of wheel, so I don't need to swap tyres. We get snow, then it melts in 2 days. And that happens about 4-5 times during the whole winter. So I just put front studded tyre just in case - but I rode years without one. Roads are salted, so even when it is sub zero, there is very little ice.

Though I'd rather not risk a sudden front wheel slipping for the cost of a studded tyre.

Studded tires are not a matter of degrees. It's not like asking whether it's worth it to pay more for a lighter bike.

Studded tires change your tire from sliding down on ice, to gripping on ice about 2/3rds as well as dry pavement.

In some areas you get snow but don't really get ice. In some areas you only get ice 1-3 times per year and you just drive instead. Sometimes the roads are so dangerous because of cars slipping around you wouldn't want to bike on the road anyways during rare times there are ice no matter what your own traction is.

I just don't see it as a "did I use it enough" issue. Just not being slammed into pavement 1 time because of ice makes it worth the cost in my opinion.

[MENTION=131376]PaulRivers[/MENTION], last winter, I decided I'd buy studded tires for this winter. I've been riding a kinda-sorta cyclo-cross bike for commuting. Do you think that's good enough, or am I better off on a mountain bike? The current bike has 35mm tires and fenders, so there's a fair bit of room. It has drop handlebars.

I ride year round with 28mm slicks (driving when it is actively snowing). Just don't ride in the snowy/icy parts of the road and you'll be fine. If you have to go through some slush daily, then any knobby mountain bike tire would be fine. I wouldn't get studs unless I was riding on ice or packed snow.

If it's worked well for you I don't see any reason to switch.

(Other than style or comfort) the only reason to switch to flat bars is because the terrain you're riding over gets to lump and wider bars give you more control. The same reason mountain bikes had flat bars while road bikes have curly bars. My winter bike has flat bars, but that's because a lot of the trails I'm on are lumpily plowed. Or at least they were when I bought my winter bike.

I don't know that it's worth the money to switch. Of course you'd have more experience with how that's worked for you than I...

No it didn't work at all. I couldn't stay up on the ice. That's why I'm open to various suggestions. I'm building a bike with 700c wheels and probably north road bars, so maybe that's a good candidate for winter tires. Fenders or no fenders? Probably yes fenders.

our last two winters have been bad enough that I rode my fat bike a lot. With studded tires. And before and after that, I was riding my regular 26" commuter with a studded tire on the front. Probably didn't need it many days, but around here we might get ice for the evening commute when the morning looks good. In fact, that's a really common pattern. I have a wheel with a studded tire for the back, but I just didn't put it on last year because the fat bike got me through the worst of winter.

You can also use poagies with flat bars. Warm hands is a pretty significant comfort advantage in my experience.

Oh right. How quickly I forget the challenges of winter riding! This is another reason north road bars may prove to be a good choice for the bike I'm building.

There are a lot of delivery people in NYC on bikes. Many of them make their own pogies by just putting several plastic bags on their grips.

Ugh, ouch. How did it go back? If you have sheer ice studded tires stick to it no problem, but on roads you often have a lot of crap - snow that slides around, ruts on the road, etc.

I'd go with fenders if I could because that nasty black stuff you get on the road in the winter - that's nasty to get thrown up onto clothes.

In my experience - and people have disagreed with me and I don't feel that I have the experience to say I'm sure they're wrong - but in my experience there's been 2 types of bikes that are good for winter riding (in a northern climate like minnesota or illinois).

1. 700c bike with thin fulled studded tires like Schwalbe Marathon Winter's. I prefer straight bars, because it's easier to handle bumps and stuff (same reason mountain bikes have straight bars). If your roads are all well plowed and you only ride when the road are cleared curly bars might be fine to.

I tried fatter studded tires - like I said others have disagreed with me and I don't have a ton of experience with - but I did buy 2" studded tires and personally wasn't a fan. In snow they slide around a lot more (the skinnier 35c cuts through to the road surface). They didn't really handle more snow any better ime. Maybe they're better over rutted roads, but I didn't get much of a chance to test them with that before I went back to the 35c's.

2. Fat Bike / Pugsely / etc. In my limited experience this tire was fat enough to make a difference. Still floats on snow, but it's so fat it floats around slowly and is easier to control. I rode one on sheer ice (no studs) and while it did not stay upright on sheer ice, when it would start to fall over it was a slow enough fall that I could easily get a foot down (impossible with skinny tires on ice, when it goes down it's down).

I see a ton of fat bikes in the winter here in MN, and I can see why. A Pugsley still can't handle more than 6"-12" of loose snow, but it can handle most everything else.

That's my 2 cents...

[MENTION=131376]PaulRivers[/MENTION], thank you! You made me feel better about my current design. You may not have seen the thread I started last winter. I revived it yesterday.

[h=2]Teach me how to ride in snow[/h]
Now, what 32mm or 35mm studded tire do you recommend? Browsing Amazon, I see Nokian has one called Hakkapelliitta, and I had tires of that name (also made by Nokian) on my car many years ago. The price is more attractive than Schwalbe's. I see there is a tire called Innova. Never heard of it.

You just need ice, common in most of the US were they have winter. I like the nokian 700 x 35, and 26 x 1.95 for my winter commuters. YRMV.

MA rider chiming in here. NYC correct? The 700 x35's should do you fine. I'm assuming the snow and ice are occasional with lots of melting. I use the nokian hakkapelitta( sp) in 700 x 35 on one of my dedicated winter commuters. Works well. They have tungsten carbide studs, that's what you want. I currently have 4 and 6 years on 2 sets of studs. The Innova are junk, plain steel and throw away after a year. The Hakkas are heavy, like 900 grams, sort of like pedaling in wet tar, but work very well. The advantage of a mt bike with say 2" tires and a front sus fork would be rutted and bumpy bike paths. I switch out the bikes depending on my freeze thaw cycles and snow fall. Also play with the psi some, less air for more ice. @ 235 lbs, I run between 30 and 45 psi. The side walls are very beefy, like a downhill type tire.