Medic Zero

Just like it says, riding in 13 miles to work tomorrow afternoon from Vancouver to Portland.

Been itchin' to try out my Hakkapelittas for a long time now!

dabac

If they're brand new, the recommendation is - or used to be - to ride gently for 50 km or so, preferably on bare ground, to let the studs settle properly before being put to the test.
What model is it?
The W106 tracks rather poorly in soft snow, and still require icy patches to be crossed with care. W160 tracks better and ice grip is moderately improved. Rolls heavier. W240 is where it begins to get good. WCX300 are impressive.
Studs bite better when tire pressure is fairly high, to give the casing some stability.
On bare ground you'll feel some vibration.
The noise can be an advantage, as pedestrians can hear you and spontaneously be inclined to give you some room.
Studs do help a lot on ice and hardpack, but doesn't make you invulnerable.
Pay particular attention to rutted ice, as even the high-count tires have a limited performance there.

Bike Gremlin

+1

And the most important advice - don't forget it's slippery before dismounting. Unless your shoes have studs as well.
Studs make it feel like there's no ice, so if you dismount regularly, like you're used to when there's no ice - it will be fun.

Jim from Boston

A nice tip I once read is ride as if on sanded ice.

Jim from Boston

There is some controversy about this; many cold-weather riders suggest a lower tire pressue to engage the studs on the pavement, I recently discussed this about 30 C tires on the Winter Cycling thread, "I put studded tires on a couple of my bikes - ready for snow."See also this thread

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archwhorides

I understand that the Schwalbe Winter 30c studded have two rows, compared to the larger sized Marathon Winter with 4 stud rows

There have been some nice recent discussions on this topic, including this one: https://www.bikeforums.net/winter-cyc...dded-tire.html

I've been running the Xerxes for the past week (ran them all 2014-2016), and am going to install a Gravdal 38c 4 row studded on the front wheel as soon as the snow flies, to improve my stability on the rutted ice and uneven pavement.

dabac

I don't see controversy. I see two different mechanisms in conflict.
Lower tire pressure = bigger contact patch = lower ground pressure = less force pushing the studs into the ice = less bite.
On top of that the casing gets kinda floppy. Even if you do get bite, the stud is more prone to lean and release as when compared to a firmer tire.

OTOH, if you are "geometrically challenged", your stud placement means you have to have a lower tire pressure to get the studs to meet the ground, well, then that's the option that you have.

I sidestep the issue by using tires with high enough stud count to have some in the contact patch regardless of tire pressure.

Do note that I'm not making any statements on what PSI that's "soft" or "firm. We might well agree in actual use.

rumrunn6

13 miles is a decent distance. what size are you using? 700x40? 26x1.95?

regardless, expect the trip to take longer than usual. regarding pressure, try full pressure & adjust only slightly as conditions warrant. keep in mind that the less air you use, the harder the effort and the longer the trip will take

Leebo

OP, exactly what tires do you have? I would absolutely disagree that high pressure equals more grip. Mt biker and 10 + year winter commuter here with 3 different studded commuter tires and 2 sets of mt bike tires. The idea is to get the studs in contact with the bumpy, rutted ice. Like with lower pressure that all mt bikers use off road, esp. in the winter. My nokians all have very thick and stiff casings. At 235 lbs, I use 30 -35 psi for my 26 and 29er tires, the 700 x 35 sees 40 -45 psi. Experiment on what works best for your roads and conditions. My advice is to start on the low side and go from there.

FrozenK

If I remember correctly the Xerxes don't have studs in the middle of the tire, just around the edges. Thus you need to lower pressure to engage them. Most other studded tires do have studs on the middle so they behave differently.

There is a balancing act between lowering pressure to engage more studs and having enough pressure for the studs to dig (bite) into the ice.

hockey

I lowered the air pressure 10 lbs from max and never had a problem. I would regularly ride across the lake and the studs worked perfectly. Not alot of fun on bare pavement but knowing that you are not going to slide out is a real plus when commuting to work.
Find a good icy patch in a parking lot and give it some practice. Bring along your pump and try the tires at various pressures to see what works best for you.

Medic Zero

.

Thanks everyone!

To answer your questions:

W106's, in 26 x 1.75"

I picked them up used off of CL, no idea how many miles they've seen, but I'm going to assume they've gotten their 50 mile break-in period done.

I'm a pretty big Clyde, so I'm going to start out with full inflation (65 PSI) and see if I want to bring it down a bit from there. Might start out with the front a little lower.

13 miles is pretty far, I certainly preferred my old commute of about 9 miles, but I've been wanting to try these out and much prefer riding to driving, particularly with how poorly PDX seems to be handling a bit of snow. We'll see how I feel after my commute this afternoon and home tomorrow morning. I might end up walking the bike across the I-5 bridge over the Columbia River. I'm scared of going over the railing when the weather conditions are good!


.

fietsbob

25 years on my 1 pair of Suomi Nokian mount and ground Ws .. snow never got out to the coast, last night,

but getting over the Coast Range to get here is another story,

just got some walking traction to put over my shoes , fell on my butt, when hwy 26 rest area parking lot was coated in Ice.





..;.

dabac

W106 have the studs fairly close to the center line. Not great for ruts or enthusiastic cornering, but you certainly don't need to reduce pressure to keep the studs in contact.

Expect to hear a happy patter on dry ground.

Medic Zero

.

Thanks again everyone!

I definitely needed the studded tires for most of the commute. Only had one hairy moment where I hit chunk of solid ice lurking under some snow, other than that, smooth sailing on compact snow and ice for most of the commute, and bare and wet otherwise. Only added about 10 minutes to my commute. I'll get three more commutes on the snow bike, then we'll see what things look like Sunday, the rain that day may finally clear things up for my commute in that afternoon, but it's all 25-33 degrees between now and then.

Cheers!

cyccommute 

While an argument can be made about the effect tire pressure has on engaging the studs, there's another argument to be made for using lower tire pressure on uneven surfaces that trumps the previous argument. You are using too high a pressure for the conditions.

Running 65 psi on smooth pavement isn't a problem but once you start throwing chunks of anything, lower tire pressures allows the tire to roll over the ice rather than just bounce off. That's the reason that mountain bike riders use lower pressures. 65psi is a hard rubber ball that just rebounds when it hits something. A more reasonable tire pressure of around 45psi will roll over the ice patches better.

Assuming that you are riding a rigid bike, another improvement is the addition of front suspension. Rigid bikes get caught in ruts and bounce off obstacles which makes handling harder. Adding a front suspension allows the wheel to climb up ruts and roll over obstacles resulting in greater control. Even on "packed" snow, front suspension doesn't dig into soft spots and throw the bike off-line like a rigid bike can.

If you really want the bees knees, add rear suspension which aids traction. The act of pedaling an active rear suspension squats the rear wheel down on to the ground and grips better...at least momentarily. The suspension also allows the rear wheel to climb up and over obstacles like the front suspension.

rumrunn6

got to play on mine yesterday. was looking at them as they spun forward under me. I could barely make out the 2 rows of studs as silvery hairs above the blackness of the rest of the tire. would be fun to catch that on video somehow

Staypuft1652

Thanks! I'm down to one bike and invested in two studded tires but its a pain with the ruts. 26 × 2.1

Daniel4

Good luck. Just because you now have studded tires does not mean you are invincible. Ride carefully and maintain a healthy level of cautiousness.

Staypuft1652

Thank-you. I went the homemade front studded route last year, so I have a little experience. But as I'm sure most have, learned the hard way. Got an old giant atb with front suspension the other day and am now comfortable after getting psi right in front/back. Ride carefully, no sudden turns, unhook front brake :-p.

Medic Zero

Yeah, found that out the hard way. The bike I used for a snow bike this year is full rigid, and it did just fine in even, compact snow and ice, but the next time it snowed everything was wavy from thawing and refreezing and everyone driving over it with chains on. The bike bucked too much for me to feel safe and I ended up turning around after a little over a mile and driving in instead. :/ Now I have to decide if this "once every 25 years" extra snowy/icy season here is likely to repeat itself over the next 5-8 years I'm going to live here and if it makes sense for me to build up a snow bike that is going to get ridden even less than my mountain bike. :/


.

Staypuft1652

Thats what I was trying to say as well. My rigid bike was too unnerving to ride this winter (upper midwest) with the wavy, rutted, pot-holed deep ice this year. Just with front suspension, it became so so much more manageable. Thats why I wanted to thank cyccommute, I had gotten pretty disheartened about riding.

rumrunn6

not getting any bare pavement soon. this was the best I could find. hopefully it worked