Originally Posted by jrickards

My brain hurts!!!

Originally Posted by no1mad

Check out the Winter Cycling forum here. I think that there is a sticky where Sixty-fiver gives tips on doing some DIY studded tires.

Originally Posted by dynaryder

You could get away with just one studded tire on the front,if cost is that much of an issue. Remember,you only run studs in the snow,so you're not going to wear through them as often as regular tires. My studded tires are several years old.

When I first started commuting,it was winter,and my first few snow rides were on regular tires. Studs/knobbies help alot,but regular tires are doable as long as you're careful. It would also help to run Kool Stop Salmon pads on at least your front brakes.



I wouldn't recommend this. First,if you get a flat,you have to cut all those zip ties to remove the tire. Second,plastic zip ties aren't going to come anywhere close to steel or carbide studs in traction.

Originally Posted by chaadster

Literarychic,

What type of tread pattern do your tires have now? You may not need a winter-specific tire at all, and certainly studded tires would be overkill for all but 2% of the riding conditions we see around here, and have significant penalties for the other 98%. I'd probably advise against them, in fact.

Riding in snowy conditions is not that hard-- and we scarcely get snow anymore-- but since we use salt so heavily anyway, the roads are usually clear within hours of a snowfall, and mostly just slushy. Most of the winter, the roads are dry. You may encounter icy conditions on neighborhood streets for a day or two after a snow, but generally the treacherous spots are few. A little practice, good technique, and little bit of tread will get you through some frightful looking conditions pretty easily; the inexperienced are quite surprised by what cyclists seem to ride through, but the reality is that it's just not as difficult as they think it would be.

I've had great success with cyclocross tires for Ann Arbor winters, and am pretty delighted with Kenda Kwicks in particular, now on my second set and probably 5th winter with those tires. I wouldn't necessarily recommend them for you-- a little more tread would probably give a little more sure-footedness in the worst conditions-- but I mention them to underscore the fact that one just doesn't need a big, heavy, gnarly tire to ride the winter. In a winter tire, I prioritize fast rolling in the dry, and low weight (I don't want to strain when I'm hoisting the bike to hang it in the garage; I've got enough junk on my bike already!) as much as I do traction.

The short of it is, having ridden virtually every winter in Ann Arbor since '87-- I had a five year interlude while at MSU-- it's pretty easy to get around town on the roads here, and even the sidewalks, particularly around campus and on designated bike route sidewalks, are clear the bulk of the time and don't really require anything too particular in the tire department. A little tread'll do ya!

EDIT: Oh yeah, if you can afford a second wheel set, that really changes the equations a bit, and reduces the downsides to selecting winter tires for the worst conditions.

Originally Posted by meyers66

Hi,
Thanks for the interesting discussion that shines a light on tire size.
I'm currently using Conti Touring tires with a flat bead and a grooved (side?) Size 700x32. My rims are WTB 22?, Tiagra hubs, that came stock when I bought the bike in 2007.

I'm interested in exploring the idea, or buying a new set of wheels, so I can ride my Volpe (cycle cross) bike on dirt roads that can be slippery when wet. I'm interested in exploring some tea field farmer roads. My idea is to have a second set of wheels I can simply swap out for riding off road in a size like 700x38.

If it matters: My brakes are Cane Creek cantilever. My STI shifters are Tiagra triple with front crank sizes 28,38,48.

What are your thoughts on this? Is it better to buy a mountain bike for this purpose? (I doubt I will do any single track here.)

Originally Posted by jrickards

My 700Cx35 Schwalbe Marathon has an ERTO of 37-622 which suggests that the 35mm tire (700Cx35) is actually 37mm tall (ERTO 37-622) which is apparent when you look at the tire because it has a slight aero-shape whereas my Michelin Pilot Sport (700Cx32) appears round and the ERTO bears it out, 32-622.