Chalupa102

I wanna get some 700 series winter tires that aren't wider than 35. I did a search, but have no idea if i should get studded or what brand. I want tires with good grip in snow that won't slow me down too much on a 19 mile commute and that are flat resistant for the most part. I ride a good amount of side streets will a lot of hills, some pretty steep. They do a decent job plowing the main roads using salt and sand, but usually there's slush and soft snow on the side streets and shoulders until it melts after a few days of above freezing temps. What tires/brand would be the best?

jefferee

Studs won't help in snow, but sure help you on ice. I've ridden in winter without them, but it's much nicer to have studs, especially with all the melt/freeze cycles we tend to see in my area (and yours seems similar). Studs don't help you in snow--you need an aggressive lugged tread pattern for that. Slush and snow that have been tracked around by cars are a nightmare no matter what kind of tires you have, at least in my experience.

Schwalbe and Nokian brand studded tires have carbide studs, which will last quite a long time even if you ride on a lot of bare pavement. A lot of other brands have studs made of hardened steel, and they tend to wear down more quickly.

The best description of some of the higher-quality tires is here, with a pretty good selection guide: https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp

For what you describe, I'd be looking at the Nokian W106, or the Schwalbe Marathon Winter. The Nokian apparently has a more aggressive tread, performs better in snow, and has higher rolling resistance. I have a set of 40 mm Marathon Winters that I've been pretty happy with so far this year, but there hasn't been tons of deep snow (apparently, I live too far to the north!)

PaulRivers

Yeah - I was going to write exactly what this guy said, lol.

RobertFrapples

I love my Schwalbe Marathon Winters on the roads with ice, mush, and up to a few inches of snow. They are pretty bad off-road or with more than a few inches of snow.

I bought them from Peter White Cycles; I could have gotten them cheaper somewhere else but I am glad to support them for the effort they put into their web page on studded tires.

Sixty Fiver

I have heard nothing but good things about the Marathon winter tyres and if you spending most of your time on dry roads you will want a tire that still rolls relatively quickly... the Marathon has studs that are slightly off centre which helps when you are dry roads.

There is no need for centre studs unless you are riding on ice all the time... running studs on hard pavement just wears them out and can make the bike a little sketchy in the handling department.

I run three bikes in the winter so will use whatever is best suited for the conditions... the hybrid has 700:35 cross tyres (no studs) which are good for everything but black ice and is my preferred ride when the roads are clear and dry and it handles hard pack exremely well. The narrower tyres cut through the slush like it's butter whereas a wider tyre will float more and make handling a little more challenging.

The fixed mtb used 26 by 2 semi slick tyres with an aggressive side lug which are great in snow, on hardpack, and anything but black ice... in extreme cold I like the reliability of the fixed drive and it offers excellent control.

The extracycle is my ice bike as it has 26 by 2 tyres with an aggressively studded front tyre and knobby tyres... the high volume tyres impart a really nice ride, the knobbies help when snow is deep, and the combination of a front studded tyre and a long wheelbase makes this the most stable winter bike I have ever used.

In most cases I have not fund a rear studded tyre to be as essential as a rear wheel skid is something you can deal with and if you can keep the front wheel tracking well the odds of this are much reduced.

On tyres... tread pattern and width are important but one thing people overlook is the actual tread compound. If a tyre can remain supple at lower temperatures it will ride better and get better traction. A slicker tyre will always have a greater contact area with the road than a knobby tyre and if that knobby tyre has a compound that gets rock hard at colder temps it will get lousy hook up on slicker surfaces.

Chalupa102

Thanks a lot for the info guys. This will definitely help me out.

irclean

I use the Schwalbe Marathon Winters, as well. I have the 700*35 tires and I have no complaints. True, there are tires out there with more aggresive tread that would likely work better in the deep snow and slop, but for the majority of my riding the Schwalbes are perfect. The carbide-tipped studs are just as sharp as the day I bought them and are showing no signs of wear despite my riding being done mostly on plowed pavement. Our winters here in SW Ontario are similar to those in Western MA (from what I understand - YMMV) and my city also does a commendable job of plowing/salting the roads (although I wish they'd use sand instead.) My LBS sourced them for me for $70 CAD a piece, so they weren't cheap, but at the risk of sounding cliché you can't put a price on safety. BTW all bikes and bike parts are more expensive for us north of the border - smaller market.

Closed Office

I'm still with 27 inch tires and just the cheap regular Cdn Tire, Walmart $8 tires are good in winter. I do have a couple of the more expensive MEC road tires and they are so thin and have so little thread that there is a problem going up hill in the snow with them. Start to spin once in awhile, but that's just a very minor problem, and this is a much steeper hill than most.

I use inch and a quarter wide, 32 mm in your sizes and it works really well. On roads narrow tires work better in the winter than wide ones do imo. If you do have to go through a few inches of snow you have less of it to push out of the way, so easier to pedal.

I don't use studs.

The only time fat tires are an advantage in snow is on a bike path that isn't cleared and is packed down by mtn bikes. Then the narrow tires are a disadvantage. The biggest fattest tires will have the easiest time.

Again, just my opinion. I still get mtn bikers telling me 'you need bigger tires!'