Studless Winter Tires for Chicago Commuting
 

I've been reading through a bunch of threads on winter tires trying to figure out what would work best for me...the opinions seem to range from "studded tires or dead" to "it is impossible for bike tires to hydroplane so slicks" and I am trying to find a middle ground.

I commuted everyday last year on some 28mm bonatrager tires with some tread (looked like the bonatrager h2) and they seemed to work ok, but I sold that bike and am trying to find a decent set of tires for my new bike. I don't thing it will fit much larger than 32's with fenders, so that's my max limit. It seems like a lot of the better studless winter tires are made only in larger sizes like 37-42mm.

I would go with a less aggressive cx tire like the small block 8's, but from what I have read the puncture protection is not great on most cx tires. My main two choices right now would be the Panaracer T-Serv's which seem to get good reviews but don't look like they have that much tread, or the Marathon hs420's. Panaracer also has some Crosstown and Tourguard tires which look like they would be better in slushy winter conditions than the T-servs, but I haven't found many reviews on them.

Does anyone have any experience with these in the winter? Are there 32mm cx tires with very good puncture protection that would work? Are HS 420's adequate?

I tried CX tires one winter, and they wiggliness drove me crazy. But I was living in suburban New Jersey, where there are only patches of snow here and there. Snow tires are probably not a good idea. Now I'm in New York City, and the climate is the same. We get some serious patches of slush here, and I don't think there's much we can do to improve traction on that. If I decide to brave the weather more this winter than last winter, I might lower my saddle and wear boots instead of cleats so I can put my foot down quickly.

I live in IA. Not perfect but if you want to go studless, I'd try the continental winter contact tires: Continental Bicycle -Top CONTACT Winter II

I would definitely go for the Conti Winter II's but they come in 37mm as the smallest size. I am pretty sure those will not fit on my bike. I'm not sure why all of the best winter tires only come in the largest sizes.

Wider tires are more practical in snowy conditions. You can run lower pressures and have better traction. What conditions are you going to ride in around here? You want to blast through 3" of snow on an unplowed street? Or ride the packed snow in the forest preserve trails? Use a mtn bike with wide tires. You want to ride plowed streets? A CX tire and some careful riding will do fine.

My commute is from a close by neighborhood in the city into downtown - all slushy mostly plowed and heavily salted roads, then a mile out in the burbs that includes a park path that is sometimes covered in 6" of fresh snow. I have an On One Pompetamine - basically a SS Disc CX bike. So I need something that will push out the slush but also has a little tread for heavier snow. And a 32mm max size. I would go with a lightly knobby CX tire, but I have heard that CX tires don't typically have the puncture resistance of the urban/commuting tires which is very important to me. I think the marathon hs 420 would be good, but I would like something with a little deeper/more knobby tread with the same puncture protection. The Marathon Mondial or Conti Winter II would be perfect if they made them in a 32.

put 3 wheels on the ground, ..