Biking in winter: which tires for a mtn. bike?

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Permalink Reply by Mark Newald on September 20, 2010 at 10:53am

I commuted last winter, but not when it snowed much. Up here in Michigan we get that wonderful Lake affect snow. I ride a Trek 1000. My question is, do you still lock in when you winter ride? I did last year, but had a couple of close calls. I wonder if I would be better off on my hybrid(which I normally am not that fond of).

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Permalink Reply by Dr. Doom on September 20, 2010 at 11:18am

You might be better off on the hybrid, at least sometimes. I always distinguish between cold and bad weather. Cold is annoying, but you once you get moving you're more or less alright, and clipping in is no problem at all. Truly bad weather with slushy snow is a lot rarer than it sometimes seem but really sucks to ride in, and there I think it's a good idea to have a cheap bike with flat pedals. If I have to get around on a bike when it's actually nasty out I like my English three-speed; it's SLOOOOOWWW, but—and this is crucial—the geometry allows me to Flintstone along on it if necessary without getting out of the saddle. I'm also not going to be terribly put out if it ends up getting some rust spots because I was lazy about maintaining it.

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Permalink Reply by Chris B on September 20, 2010 at 12:11pm

Just remember studs are for ice, knobs are for snow. So it depends where you will be riding.

I used Schwalbe Marathon Winters all winter, and never slipped on ice. Many people don't slip on ice without studs, but every time I was out someone would tell me a story "I wish I had those last week when I fell!" so YMMV. It's really the black ice on days when it's above freezing during the day where you get the problems.

The schwalbes are sticky but are very shallow treaded, which was sufficient unless it was actually snowing heavily that day and there was unplowed snow. Those were the only times I noticed a difference between them and my older knobby tires. (I noticed quite a big difference, plus on my unplowed alley which was the last 30 meters or so of my commute)

however sometimes I do wish I bought the nokians, for that added bit of safety if I hit some deep snow or rut. So I just took public transportation on really bad weather days, for other reasons too (I didn't feel safe when the cars were sliding around).

My friend that only commutes 1 mile each way just got cheaper steel studded tires which were fine for him, so you don't necessarily have to buy expensive ones.

So if you are on plowed streets, knobs are not so necessary since there won't be much unplowed snow on the ground.

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