Brick streets in winter?
 

This will be my first winter for bicycle commuting. I have bought a pair of studded tires (Nokian A10 700-32) to be ready.

My questions are about brick streets. I have one block on my commute route that is paved with brick. I love the street, because the brick is not too bad, and the rest of the length is nice asphalt. It's a residential street with little to no traffic. There are other brick streets here in Springfield, but that one block is the one I ride every day.

How bad will the brick be when icy?

More importantly, is brick any harder on studded tires than asphalt or concrete?

I don't want to tear the studs out of my tires if I can avoid it. There are alternates to the street I ride, but I really like it and would stay with it if it won't be a problem.

Anybody have experience riding brick streets in the winter??

Brick streets seem to be more slippery than asphalt. But with the studs it shouldn't be a problem. And no, brick won't be any harder on the studs than asphalt. Matter of fact, the brick is softer than asphalt. I hope the A10's do the job for you.

+1 on what scoatw said. Cobblestone streets can be slicker than asphalt in the winter, but they are also softer as far as studded tires are concerned....at least where I used to live they were like that.

Thanks, guys!

I'm going to stick with the same route and ride cautiously to see how the brick goes. I'll report back if I have any interesting observations (I know this whole question was kinda "out there" as far as being an infrequent occurrence).

Tonight I took the studded winter tires off of my bike and put summer tires on, so I figured I would wrap up this thread I started last fall, in case it benefits anyone searching for the topic in the future.

The brick pavements on two of the streets I ride were no issue at all for me this winter. I lost zero studs in 428 miles on Hakkapeliitta A10's. Although most of those miles were on asphalt or concrete, I did ride the brick streets, too, and experienced zero problems. They were not an issue either for losing studs or for being more/less slippery than asphalt or concrete. They were just bumpier and prettier.