The snowy season is coming up fast in Rochester, and I'm looking at tires. My ride to work often involves more than just ice and dustings of snow, so my question is this:

How well do Marathon Winters handle multiple inches of actual snow and slush?

I have two winters on 700x35 marathon winters. Let's just say there is a reason that the Eskimo have 13+ words for snow! It all depends on the type of snow your are riding through. If the snow is fresh with nothing involved, they'll do just fine. If you have frozen/refrozen ruts, then it's a whole different story. I wouldn't hesitate to ride to work though with them, it just makes it more fun.

In ice, there is nothing better.

-Barry-

The Marathon Winters are a nice tire but Nokians are better in the snow.

I have a set of marathon winters that I'd love to sell, specifically because they're horrible in snow. they're great on ice but as soon as you get wet snow more than about 2 inches deep, they wallow badly, and if you're on a road that's crowned much, every time you apply power to the rear wheel it will tend to slip sideways rapidly.

I had Nokian W106s before and I liked those better. In fact when I buy my next set of studded tires, I may go with Nokian W240s if I can fit them under my fenders. I have one W106 that's still pretty decent and last year I put that on the back wheel for most of the winter.

The Marathon Winters do have a lower rolling resistance. If you stick to bare pavement and ice, they're fine.

Seriously, I'll sell my set for 1/2 the new price if anyone wants them. I'll use the proceeds to buy one new Nokian.

I love my Marathon Winters but they don't have knobbies big enough to handle trampled slippery/slushy stuff. Fresh powder? They're fine in any depth as long as your legs are strong enough! If the snow has been trampled though, all bets are off. That's where I can only say, "It depends."

To be fair, they're not "horrible" in snow. I've ridden through 12-14 (exhausting) inches of snow with them and hadn't had troubles with wallowing. Depends on the condition of the snow.

Lowering the tire pressure in these helps immensely. I'll drop 20lbs out of the tires when we get dumped on here. They're not ideal in deep snow, but not that bad.

The only conditions that I've had a really difficult time with on my Marathon Winters is the snow that has the dreaded "mashed potato" consistency. It quickly fills up the spaces in the tread and turns the tires into slicks. In that case something with a more aggressive tread pattern would be better. That being said, for 95% of the winter riding that I've experienced the tires are excellent. Ideally I'd like to mount something like the Schwalbe Ice Spikers or Nokian Extremes on my MTB for the other 5%, but I just take the bus or get a ride instead.

What size?

I have a set, and I agree with irclean that they're nice about 95% of the time. Excellent on hard pack or ice, and they roll pretty well on bare asphalt too. The 5% of the time when they're not so good is when there's "mashed potato" snow on the road or ruts formed in fresh snow. For this winter, I bought another set of studded tires (Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pros) which will go on my mountain bike for weekend trail riding and the 5% days when the Winters don't cut it.

700c 35. The conditions of snow that I have trouble with is fresh, unplowed but very wet snow. It's miserable stuff and we invariably have several days of it per year. Also I have 4 miles of gravel road on my route that sometimes doesn't get plowed for as long as a day after the snow stops. And they can't use salt on gravel roads, so once it's plowed, it's a solid layer of ice all winter. That's where they're really nice.

Schwalbe Marathon Winters are not snow tires - they are for ice and dry roads. If there is a layer of ice on hard packed snow, ice under snow or icy ruts, they will grip OK. The studs don't provide any traction in snow, and the tread on the Marathon Winters does not provide any real traction in snow. I use the Marathon Winters, where there is refreezing at night and hardpacked ice/snow on MUPs that hangs around long after the roads are clear, particularly in shaded areas.

If you plan on riding in snow more than an inch or two, where your tires are not making contact with the pavement or ice, you'll need knobs for traction. Knobby studded tires are the best all around, but will be slow on bare pavement.

Thanks for the info everybody.

Unfortunately, I have to ride on a little bit of everything. Sometimes in the same day. The road out of my apartment complex often has mashed-potato-consistency slush, there are places where I'm liable to be riding in icy ruts, the main roads are usually relatively clear, and there is a MUP that's usually relatively clear, but sometimes has fresh snow on it.

Which means I probably need something knobbier that Marathon Winters.

Then you probably want the Nokian W240s.

Oh yeah, the other catch is that I can't run much wider than 35mm without removing my front fender. I guess I could just take it off....

Edit: And actually, if I'm going to do that, I can probably use the same tires I used last year (on a different bike).

After about 7 winters and trying 5 different studded tires, I've settled on the 240 as the best one for me for most of the winter. They're a reasonable compromise for the various conditions I run across but I'm not going to win any races with them.

I saved one Marathon Winter and one Nokian 106 that I use in combination for the beginning/end of winter when I'm mostly worried about ice and minor snowfalls.

Yeah, I've spent a lot on studded tires but I learned a few years ago that one LBS has a buy one/get one free sale on their studded tires at the end of the season (April). This has let me experiment and sell the tires I don't want (in season) for nearly as much as I paid for them.

I did find that the Marathon Winter is not quite as tall as the Nokian W106 so if clearance is an issue, your hand may be forced. The tread is significantly deeper on the W106s.

I rode last winter in Rochester with Marathon Winters. They were great on ice, powder, consistent hard packed snow, and okay on wet slush, which are most of the conditions I see on East Ave, Clover, Monroe, Winton, and the old rail bed east of 590. They are not very good, but rideable, on the inconsistently packed snow on the Canal path, nor are they very good on the deeper messier stuff I used to see downtown. Where exactly will you be riding?

any reasons?

Not sure what Jeff's reasons are but I like them because they have a ton of studs, shed snow pretty well, and they're somewhat in between a narrow and a really fat tire.

My main concern is staying upright but I don't want to spend an hour each way on the road which is what keeps from getting an even more aggressive tire. The 240s are plenty enough work for me.

a 35 tire needs to get thru snow, to the underlying ground , so following the snowplough will be better than
a foot of rutted unploughed road, where the rut will steer your wheel.

Because I think the W240 is probably the best "all rounder" if you have severe winters. A good compromise between speed and control. No studded tire will be perfect in everything. It all depends on the snow conditions and your intended use. The W240s are good in a wide variety of situations, though, wider than the Winters. However, the Winters are great on hard stuff, so if you live where it doesn't snow a lot, but does freeze often, they're ideal. They're also really good if you have a long commute because they roll reasonably well. They're not great in slush, but that's the trade off. The W240s are better in soft stuff, but probably won't ride as fast as the Winters. Peter White has a very good page which explains the differences between studded tires. If you don't have studded tires yet, but want to buy some, I'd recommend reading it.

Down near RIT. Specifically, some side-streets, Bailey, the Lehigh Valley Trail along John St., and on the RIT campus proper.

Ideally, yes. That's not always possible on my route, however.

W106s then. They're not too bad. I'd prefer W240s on mashed potatoes, but the W106s will do.

+1 on the Peter White link. Great info.

I have very limited winter riding experience. I have only ridden the Nokkians on pavement, not proper snow / ice -- they are slower / noisier than the Schwalbes, but I think worth it. I absolutely love my Schwalbe Marathon Winters on ice, am amazed at how well they do, much better than what I expected -- which may have been an artificial expectation anyway. I use them for those days when there will be icy & hardpack spots and/or black ice on my rail trail commute. But was very disappointed at their performance in deep snow, I did better with non-studded knobbies than with the studded but less knobby Marathons. For me, that's only a few days a year, so I'm sticking with what I've got. OP, it sounds like you need the Nokkians.

Amazing how much work biking through snow is.

they are great, get the studs! on dry pavement pump them up then use your discretion for letting some air out when there's snow on the ground, not a lot just let a little out for stability

Thanks, but I'm looking for some 26 inchers. Good luck!