Update on the Dovercourt case... Well, not much of an update but the only new story I've seen on it thus far.

hey guys im fairly new to this community, although i have been lurking for a couple months

i commute everyday to work, from downtown to the keele and lawrence area on my ****ty niskiki conversion. Its a kind of hilly ride with a TON of pot holes and im curious what recommendations you guys have on tires for the winter...

thanks in advance!

Hey Ryan, welcome. I just picked up a set of Schwalbe Marathons and should be installing them tonight or on the weekend so I'll be sure to let you (y'all) know how they are. Generally speaking, I like 25s in the winter but they had 28s and the price was right so I took 'em. I picked them up on the recommendation of a good friend who messengered on them through the entire winter last year and swears by them if that's any help at all.

I think most people here just stick with 23c road tires through the Winter. There's kinda two schools of thought:

1) stick with a narrow road tire that will slice through the crud to the pavement beneath
2) go with something bigger knobbier that will have a larger contact patch and that you can ride at lower pressure.

I think #1 is probably the better option 85% of the time, although if it's icy (and you don't have dedicated studded winter mtb tires) it probably makes more sense to have a larger contact patch, but you'll obviously be slower. Not that that's a bad thing if the potential of meeting the ground is high. :)

I'm getting winter marathons tomorrow... will post a report once I've had some time on them.

I'm just going to keep chuggin' along on my Ritchie Speedmax Comps (700x32) ... so far, so good.

Hey Ryan, welcome... I'm another running 23s, mixed brands right now as I went through my Vredestein on the back in pretty quick fashion. Vredestein Fortezza SE on the front and a Vittoria Rubino Pro on the back (after having run Continental Ultra Sport kevlars, I ripped two on two different blow outs so decided to switch away from the cheap rubber). The conti's had/have a LOT of grip, but I've never ridden them on my fixed bike in the snow, so no comment.

Based on last night and this morning, my bike is pretty skittish on the packed/icey junk, but that's expected. Otherwise, it rides just fine - I was riding at my normal pace until I got onto the few side street sections - as Stuart rightly posted in the main SSFG forum, just ride appropriately for the ground conditions. I aim to keep my setup as-is unless it looks like we'll have lasting ice-pack on a bunch of my major ride-routes, then I might get some CX tyres, or even studs.

Also, I ride up Keele a lot of late, as our customers site is just by York University (Canarctic) so I know the roads up here can be a little hair-raising with the potholes. My advice in the current goop is just to steer clear (if need be, take the sidewalk or wait for the traffic rush to go) - heading south particularly around Lawrence is pretty horrible pavement. My 23s survive that (I take the whole lane going down the hill past that hospital (Ingram Dr?) toward Eglinton - as that's a fast/shaky section and I'd rather not risk a spill).

Which route do you take? I'm close to Keele (Queen/Roncesvalles) so I go north up Lansdowne to St. Clair W. then meander over to Keele just north of Rogers Rd via some side streets and Old Weston Road.

Neat. Interested to hear what you think of those. I like the bit in the description on their website that suggests running them at low pressure when it's especially nasty, but at high-pressure the studs don't contact the asphalt much, so they're still quiet/etc. You got the 26x1.75, I assume?

I'm a big fan of the Conti Contacts, I ride the 28c's on my 6-speed. They're smooth enough to not drastically dimish speed but grippy enough for winter riding. As a bonus they come with a reflective strip along the sidewalls and also offer kevlar lined puncture protection. I rode Vittoria Rubino Pro 23c's last winter on my fixed and found those to be fine, plowing through snowbanks and hopping hidding streetcar tracks. Usually you can get away with thinner balder tires on a fixie.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/images/conti%20contact%2003.jpg

I run 20s all year round but Queen West is my route and there are no potholes there...lol, what a sec, what am I talking about? QW is one entire pothole and yeah, it sucks regarldess of what tire you run, I just make sure the pressure is pretty high, about 110psi and I am okayish, bleagh.

i use conti contacts on my winter bike as well, but my commute tends to not get plowed properly and is not well traveled when i leave for work, so i am going to pick up schwable snow studs and put them on my mountain bike for icey days, days after a snow fall where the roads are chunky and icey, etc

even if i only ride the snow studs a dozen times it'll be worth it, i fell infront of my office 4 times last year

skinny tires are definitely fine for any well traveled road

I run 23's, usually Rubino Pros or whatever I might have on hand. As I'm moving to Ottawa, I may end up running studded a bit more, we'll see, but I'm hoping 23's will do fine there too. They did great last winter with the big snow dumps and I felt much more in touch than I did with the CX tires I ran for one day.

I've never been a big fan of Contacts. It may have been the pair I had but they were a bugger to get on and off the rim. That plus cold weather on the fingers made me hate them irrevocably.

And here I am taking the cross knobbies off my commuter for 23c slicks *shrug*

Anyone know how much a cross-check frameset should cost locally?

(I think) I get the whole cutting through the snow/slop to the asphalt underneath rationale for running slicks, but how are they at all effective when there's a packed base of snow, like on side streets or even pre-plowed major streets when it's coming down? At that point maybe it's a wash and nothing really works.

Any frame prep being done? Facing/chasing/checking & fixing the alignment/etc.? Probably a 5-number for just the frameset, maybe more if it's being worked on before you take it. for sub $500 the store wouldn't be making much (at all) after shipping fees so you'd probably need a friend discount or some good haggling skills.

Yep. Just keep your chin up and your eyes open for really slick parts. My mantra for today was "slow and steady" plus I stick to the majors when it is really nuts out.

This was my strategy this morning, though I did use the one shortcut that was still caked in wheel-packed crap which was slippy, I just went slowly there (read: VERY slowly and unclipped :p)

I definitely underestimated how wet it got and didn't put my booties on much to my feets eventual disappointment, my one shoe took a bunch of water at some point I don't remember and I had wet cold toes :mad:

I just took the regular majors though, steered clear of the puddle zone as much as I could as I don't have the pothole-map memorized, and some of those stretches on Keele are brutal - almost wiped out at the 401 squeezing down between the curb and a car in some slippy crap and the road surface gets all uneven without me noticing.. :)

Ride home was clear but for a wee bit on the side streets in my immediate neighbourhood which made for fun seated skids :D Said -2 but GD it felt colder tonight for some reason.

I've been working on my Armadillo 25s, and except for the spill I took right outside my door this morning they've held up just fine so far. I wasn't a courier last year so daily winter riding regardless of conditions is new to me.

Pre-plowed is awesome. If the fools in their cars get their first, it gets hairier, but is still do-able. Like Jet, slow and steady and you're fine. The worst for me is about 6 inches of pack with mega car ruts. The ruts seem to want to steer me, sort of like front wheel drive.

I took the marathons out tonight for a little spin... found a couple super icy patches and tried my hands at stopping on them at speed... a little hairy but i stayed upright. there were a couple of spots where there was relatively hard packed snow and the tires handled very well on those.

overall they feel like they handle well on pavement and on the rough stuff... obviously they have yet to be put to any real test but so far they seem pretty decent...

it took a bit of fudging to get them to clear the fenders but that probably has more to do with my setup than the tires - the fenders are rated for 28s max and these are 28s... both on a frame that wasn't reeeeeeeally designed with fenders in mind.

Later on in winter when I've got cabin fever I'm going to wander out with a few sets of tires and try to settle this for myself once and for all.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2...tech-bell.html <-- Throttling not illegal.

Edit: At least currently, for Bell --> wholesalers (TekSavvy, etc.) ... another inquirey is on the way to look at it from a more broad perspective. Hopefully that'll shut down throttling across the board.

anyone know much about the conti twisters?

im thinking of running one on the front at low psi (maybe toss some wood screws in there for ****s and giggles) and keeping the gatorskin out back...


and i'll run the misfit when we get a big dump (700x52 just seems like the perfect size for tobogganing)

new favorite beer: Mill St.Wit beer

Does anyone else here find that riding has directly affected their driving habits? I was driving back from a funeral in Montreal yesterday with my sister, and we caught that storm right outside of Coburg. Immediately, I drop down to 75~80km/h while people are blasting by at 110~120, whilst unable to see the lanes! Lo and behold, tons of accidents: spinning out, landing in the ditch, etc... people should be forced to ride through Canadian winters on a bicycle to teach them some basic handling skills for poor road conditions. Jet is completely right: slow & steady.

I must acquire a cross frameset and winter boots asap. Boots must come first.