Changing from StarGrip to Gravdal
 

Today I changed out the Michelin StarGrip winter tires for a set of 45NRTH Gravdals. Slushy conditions today provided some motivation, because the Gravdals just barely sneak under my fenders. Today was fender weather for sure.

Got in a 13 mile ride. Rode through a mix of conditions from pavement to slush to mixed slush and ice.

The Gravdals are surprisingly decent on pavement. For a studded tire, they rolled well. They are more rounded than the StarGrips. See the second photo below.

The Gravdals did brilliantly in the packed-down slush that you see in the first photo. In fact, that photo shows my favorite surface conditions today. I enjoyed maybe three miles of those conditions.

Nearer home, the streets are a mix of loose slush a couple inches deep with occasional bits that are still sort of frozen. I got knocked around a lot in that. Not sure any other tire would have done better.

Today was 39 F. Temps will freeze overnight, and tomorrow I'll try and motivate myself to get up early and find some smooth ice. Today was really more about tread, but tomorrow the studs should come into play.

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Very nice bike :ride: !
...what was this thread about? :D


How deep is the tread on the Gravdals? Do they collect a lot of snow?

Had to run downstairs for my caliper. I measure my tread depth at 4 mm. I did notice any problem yesterday with snow being collected in the tread. Warm day though. But still, the tread does not look to me like the sort of tread that would accumulate snow.

The StarGrips though, do collect snow in the tread. Despite that, they work pretty well. I bought them on a whim because I was curious, and they are ok.

Got in another 10 miles today. Went through the back alleys, parking lots, and one of roads into the Lakeshore looking for ice. Rode all the iciest lines I could fine. The car wash parking lot was helpful, and the road in the Lakeshore had a modest downhill section with ice that let me kick it into high gear.

Complete confidence in the tires. I say that modulo the idea of still being watchful for ruts and careful about loose slush on top of packed snow. The tires inspire confidence.

I weigh 190, and I'm running the tires at 25/30 psi front/back. That's with tubes. I believe I can get away with 20/30, and might try 25/35 as well. The 5 psi spread that I'm currently running didn't seem enough to even out the tire sag.

Here a couple shots of the parking lot ice....

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Nice & thanks!

You might want to try some ice rinks, just for fun ;)

How do you find that belt drive? A guy at work bought a bike with one and found it would very reliably come off as soon as ant snow got on the cogs.

No issues at all with it. This is my second winter on that bike. Does your friend have the Gates Center Track design?

It's Gates, I think the original design. He's going to either convert to chain or sell the bike, it was going to cost more than he spent on the bike to put the new Gates on it.

A new CDX cog, belt, and chain wheel will run about $250 from Jenson. That's a lot, I agree. Kind of a downer that the parts are so expensive.

There's a CDN Urban line that is less expensive than Gates's CDX line. I can't find CDN parts for sale anywhere, but maybe Gates would make them available if asked.