Winter tyre reviews

[Mussels]

I've now tried what are probably the three winter tyres most easily available in the UK and I've been a bit surprised about the results considering the claims people have made about tungsten carbide studs.

Firstly I tried the Schwalbe Snow Stud, this has aggressive tread and a stud on each knobble. It worked well for a while but could have been a bit better on ice, unfortunately the studs wore out and recessed into the tyre fairly quickly but I don't know how much it affected performance. The Schwalbe website now says this is normal. I liked them but had little use for the aggressive tread, ice is my biggest problem. The aggressive tread was good in soft snow.

Next I tried Continental winters with micro spikes, these are losts of bits that look like broken glass embedded in the tyre (I dug some out at first as that's what I thought it was). I didn't have a lot of confidence in these but I didn't fall off and they were a good ride on normal roads. I don't remember riding in soft snow on these but I don't expect them to be good.

This year I went for what some reviews say is the best available, the Schwalbe Marathon winter. They felt very capable on rough ice and gave a good ride on normal roads, but after two weeks the studs looked knackered and after a month several of them have fallen out - not impressed. They were rubbish in soft snow and slipped about all over the place, unridable.

None of the tyres were good on polished ice, especially when wet. So a degree of caution is a must, I've ridden on normal tyres on ice and all of these are a big improvement but none are as good as I expected.
If I'm riding next winter then I'll probably go for the Continentals again, if I was somewhere with more snow than ice then I'd get the snow studs or find a Nokian supplier.

Any other experiences?

 

[Old Timer]

Well, talking about ice. During the very cold spell I went out to try to give at least a small path for the few services that call on us. We have a flint chip drive and usually with a small spade I can just drop it on the edges and walk back and because there is flint chip underneath it breaks away and gives a bit of clearance. Not this year, that ice was so solid that I had to give up and can imagine how anything like a tyre with studs of any make up would just have ridden on top.

 

[SimonC]

Any other experiences?

I can't offer the comparison that you have between tyres, but here's my experience with one set.

I put a set of Marathon Winters (700 x 40c) on my Raleigh Dover just as the cold spell was starting at the end of last year and I've cycled through the winter, commuting to work ten miles a day, five days a week, a mixture of cycle path and road (or the cart tracks that York City Council claim are roads). Well, OK, when it was minus double figures centigrade I tended to work at home

I've followed the regime of looking at the thermometer each morning and adjusting the tyre pressures according to the likelihood of icing conditions; if it's been up at 4C or above, I've pumped the tyres up to maximum. Below that temperature, I've chosen a lower pressure determined by apparent road conditions and a finger waved in the air.

Just inspecting the tyres half an hour ago, I find that I've lost five studs from the front tyre and ten from the rear; almost all of the remaining studs are in good condition (the one's that aren't appear to be badly seated in the rubber; the studs themselves show little or no wear).

As for their selling point, the tyres appear to be at their best when they're going over a surface that can support the weight of the bike (and me ). So, solid ice is fine; black ice patches are fine and I've even gone over a stretch of wet ice without incident - though, since I couldn't get any grip when I put my feet down, I wouldn't feel comfortable repeating that! They're ineffective going through half-compacted snow, where you break through the surface, and they seem OK on fresh snow. I did find myself wheeling the bike out of the estate side-roads where I live a few times when we had solid slush.

I think that the strong point, from my point of view, has been the grip offered in black icing conditions (which we've had on quite a few days). SWMBO has reported sliding around in the car on a couple of occasions when I've had no problems on the same patch of road. I've also seen other cyclists coming to grief ahead of me, whereas I've had no trouble.

They're a bit noisy (rather like having a fresh bowl of Rice Crispies attached to the bike) and they do cut my cruising speed down a fraction, but on the whole, I'm reassured by the security. They don't, however, offer a solution to everything that winter throws at you!

 

[Old Timer]

Well done, you are braver than me I just know how many people have broken a hip or similar with a light fall from a bike. My first wife fell over pushing the wheelie bin out for collection and broke a leg in three places and has been off of her feet for 6 weeks.
Of course I`ve just wound up my small business since my stent was fitted so have the luxury of deciding when I ride but if you still work then you have to bite the bullet and it sounds like those tyres help a lot.

 

[AndyOfTheSouth]

Continental Top Contact Winter II

Continental Bicycle -TopContact Winter II

The 'II' part seems important because the tread pattern is different from the TopContact Winter tyre. A very good all rounder. Runs smoothly, with good grip on a variety of surfaces. Reasonable even on my favourite steep downhill muddy path.

There is a snow flake symbol on the side wall. I presume this means the same as on car tyres, namely that it is made of a different type of rubber from ordinary tyres. This is designed to work well below 7deg C. Its performance is optimised generally for that temperature, not just for snow and ice.

 

[Mussels]

Continental Bicycle -TopContact Winter II

The 'II' part seems important because the tread pattern is different from the TopContact Winter tyre. A very good all rounder. Runs smoothly, with good grip on a variety of surfaces. Reasonable even on my favourite steep downhill muddy path.

There is a snow flake symbol on the side wall. I presume this means the same as on car tyres, namely that it is made of a different type of rubber from ordinary tyres. This is designed to work well below 7deg C. Its performance is optimised generally for that temperature, not just for snow and ice.

I like the look of that, I now have a fourth tyre to try if I'm riding next winter. The tread pattern looks the best so far for hard white stuff but performance on ice may not be so good, I can't see any mention of the grit that was in the original tyre.

Incidentally I notice they now have an ebike tyre very similar to the M+.

 

[Caph]

Ice Spiker Pro.

These things are grip like crazy. I wouldn't consider anything else.

In a previous thread I said I might settle for the Snow Studs because they are easier going in good weather but a couple of near falls taught me my lesson. These tyres love ice but like all bike tyres, they struggle on thick slush or heavily displaced snow.