rumrunn6

so I made my winter virgin 13 mile commute in today and encountered some snow and ice. not much and I anticipate most of any remaining winter commuting to be in good weather - but it appears I am becoming somewhat of a die-hard. I've been thinking I might switch out my 700 x 28 c specialized all-condition smooth armadillos back to the old meaty gnarly hybrid tires, but maybe I should go directly to a kick-ass studded tire? is there a nice 700 x 28 studded tire out there that actually rolls well on dry pavement?

tjspiel

I don't believe there's anything that small. There's a Nokian A10 that they list at 700 X 32 but's actually closer to 700 X 30. You might be able to fit them. They're not the most aggressive studded tires in the world so keep that in mind. They were not adequate for the conditions I was riding in last year.

I think studded tires get a worse rap for rolling resistance than they deserve. Under similar conditions I lose 1 to 2 mph going from 23 mm slicks to 35 mm studs. There's a lot of other things slowing you down in the winter.

rumrunn6

anyone use these:

Schwalbe Marathon Winter Studded Tire 700 x 35

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/pscoi...00_x_35/pp.htm

tjspiel

Yes. A very nice tire. Low Rolling Resistance for a studded tire. Reflective Strip. Lots of studs so it's good on ice. It's downside is that it's not so great on fresh snow.

The Nokian W106 is also a tire commonly used by commuters. A little more rolling resistance that the Marathon Winter but it feels (to me at least) a lot better on snow. Not quite as good on ice but still pretty good.

Peter White has a fairly extensive article on studded tires you might want to check. My experiences don't entirely match his but it's definitely worth a look

irclean

I installed these tires on my Schwinn and so far I am very impressed. No real snow here yet but it's been cold enough for ice and the tires seem to grip very well on frozen surfaces. I didn't experience any appreciable increase in rolling resistance (at least not at 80 psi - I will likely reduce the pressure for snowy weather.) The noise threw me off - sounds like frying bacon! I was tentative going around corners at first because I was afraid the studs would cause the tires to slip out from under me on dry pavement, but that hasn't been the case. We'll see how they handle the snow when it finally comes for real - just a dusting today and the tires were fine.

rumrunn6

I think these (Marathons) are going to be hard to find - seems to be out of stock most places I've looked.
... just for the record ... i eventually found them and also setup a MTB with 26" ice spikers which performed well yesterday on 26 miles after a 3" snowfall. looking forward to riding the Marathons soon in other conditions