M
Mark
Guest
vey wrote:
> I can't even imagine riding a bike on icy streets like that. How is that
> done? Studded tires? Do those work?
Slowly, yes, yes.
Studs works best on ice or hard-pack snow.
Riding in loose snow can be like riding in loose sand. This is
especially true when the snow is /mixed/ with sand from city sanding
trucks - traction is going to suffer no matter what, but it can be done
with wide MTB tires at low pressure.
On hard-pack snow with good studs on medium-width tires, you've got
almost the same control that you would on pavement with regular tires.
I've ridden on home-made studded tires, but it's easy to go to overkill
with home-mades, and sheet metal screws don't last that well. At least
you can tweak them to fit local snow conditions.
Now that I live in the Pacific NW where the local weather issue is
(rare) ice and freezing rain rather than snow, I've gone to Nokian
studded 700C's. They work great and the carbide studs last great also.
I built a second pair of wheels for them, so if ice threatens my
morning commute, it's a few minutes of work to mount them and have a
worry-free ride.
Mark J.
> I can't even imagine riding a bike on icy streets like that. How is that
> done? Studded tires? Do those work?
Slowly, yes, yes.
Studs works best on ice or hard-pack snow.
Riding in loose snow can be like riding in loose sand. This is
especially true when the snow is /mixed/ with sand from city sanding
trucks - traction is going to suffer no matter what, but it can be done
with wide MTB tires at low pressure.
On hard-pack snow with good studs on medium-width tires, you've got
almost the same control that you would on pavement with regular tires.
I've ridden on home-made studded tires, but it's easy to go to overkill
with home-mades, and sheet metal screws don't last that well. At least
you can tweak them to fit local snow conditions.
Now that I live in the Pacific NW where the local weather issue is
(rare) ice and freezing rain rather than snow, I've gone to Nokian
studded 700C's. They work great and the carbide studs last great also.
I built a second pair of wheels for them, so if ice threatens my
morning commute, it's a few minutes of work to mount them and have a
worry-free ride.
Mark J.