andrelam

Yesterday was the worst weather I've encountered the entire winter. I've ridden through wind and snow for the last few weeks, but the freezing rain yesterday was not fun. The roads were covered with a solid 1/4" layer of ice. Walking on this stuff was near impossible.

Due to a bead failure on one of my Innova Studded winter tires (700Cx35) I had bought a replacement Nokia W106 as Peter White had them in stock and shipping from NH to NY is two days or less. Yesterday is the first day I could actually feel a difference between the tires, and now by body will feel it for the next few days.

While going around a sharp bend I had slowed down so that I could make a very gentle turn. As I started to turn the Nokia tires were able to keep their grip, but the rear Innova's lost their grip and the bike did an abrupt 180 and the bike slipped out from under me. I hit the pavement with my elbow and passed a nice jolt into my shoulder. Clearly the studds on the Nokia stay out beyond the outer layer of the tire as these are hardend carbite. The steel studds in the Innova grind level with the tire, and in all other conditions this year that has been sufficient. With real ice on the road, this difference is enough to have made me crash. My shoulder will be feeling that difference for a while

In short on ice the Nokia tires are clearly supperior to the Innova tires. On all the wother snowy wintery conditions, the Innovas have appeared to work equally well to the Nokias.

Happy riding,
André

Intheloonybin

Now imagine how much I like my 294 extremes.

Sorry to hear about your crash. Hope you feel better soon!

flipped4bikes

I'm surprised that Peter White didn't sell you two Nokians.

andrelam

I already had one nearly new winter tire so I realy didn't want to spend the extra money at the time. When I got the tires back in October I was not even sure how far I'd make it riding into the fall and found it hard to justify the extra money for the Nokias. Honestly I didn't think I'd be riding just about every day except for 5 days in the last 3 months. I subsequently had the bead fail on one of the tires wheile the bike was parked and needed to get one more Winter tire pronto. Peter had the tire in stock and therefore I do have two winter tires on the bike. I'd never try to ride without two winter tires here in Buffalo NY. Till now with all the snowy weather we've had both tires worked fine. This past Wednesday however the weather finally posed the first situation where the Nokias showed to be clearly better. My shoulder luckily is starting to feel better so Monday I'll be back on the bike. Next time there is solid ice outside I will call for a ride home I hate admitting that the weather can defeat me, but there are limit.

Happy riding,
André

Chris_F

Do they sell the 294 in 700C? I have the 294 for my mountain bike (26"?) and it's an awful wide tire. Don't know how many folks could use something that wide in a 700C.

sumguy

The W106 is the only studded Nokian for a 700c tire. This one factor makes me regret buying a hybrid with 700c tires.

jwbnyc

The Nokian A10 is a 700c studded tire.

balindamood

They do have a 29" 294 studded tire (700c), but at 52c in width, it will be a real tight fit for most hybids. I two wish they had a 240+ studded tire in a 35-40c range.

martianone

+1 for the Nokian W106, third season on mine- still going fine.

-1 for the Innova tire- studs wore out before end of second season;
their only advantage is they were- cheap.

sumguy

Could've swore last fall the W106 was my only Nokian option. Now it comes in 35mm and 45mm widths.
The W240 is 700x40 which is the same as my stock tire. I guess I have something to look forward to when my W106s are ready to go.