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When Ice Spiker Pros are not enough...

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When Ice Spiker Pros are not enough...

Old 07-23-18, 08:04 AM
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canuckjgc
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When Ice Spiker Pros are not enough...

I found last winter that 29X2.25 Ice Spikers were not great in the brown sugar, which unfortunately is predominantly at intersections and entrances to bike lanes. I've ordered 29X2.5 Maxxis Minions DHF/DHR that I'll run tubeless and add GripStuds. Hoping the bigger volumes and bigger lugs will help. Thoughts? Anyone try studding a DH tire for commuting?
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Old 07-23-18, 10:42 AM
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PaulRivers
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I personally think 2" tires for winter commuting are the worst of everything. The only use I see for them is that in conditions where a fat bike would be ideal it's a cheaper and less capable substitute.

My experience trying different tires sizes was:
30c-40c: Cuts through snow to the road. However, if they can't cut through it, they lose grip entirely. If you only have a section of two where this happens it might be worth it to get off the bike and walk through it rather than taking the performance penalty of huge tires.
Fat Bikes (4" tires and larger): You need a tire this size to float over washy stuff like sand and snow.

Even 3" tires can't handle riding through sand, you need a genuine fat bike to ride on the beach.
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Old 07-23-18, 12:47 PM
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Problem here is that there is no road to cut down to. Just brown sugar, frozen ruts, slop, and sheer ice - all in one ride. Skinny tires can't make any progress. Fat tires would be useful in some circumstances, but the performance penalty would be much greater than a 2.5" tire.

Originally Posted by PaulRivers
I personally think 2" tires for winter commuting are the worst of everything. The only use I see for them is that in conditions where a fat bike would be ideal it's a cheaper and less capable substitute.

My experience trying different tires sizes was:
30c-40c: Cuts through snow to the road. However, if they can't cut through it, they lose grip entirely. If you only have a section of two where this happens it might be worth it to get off the bike and walk through it rather than taking the performance penalty of huge tires.
Fat Bikes (4" tires and larger): You need a tire this size to float over washy stuff like sand and snow.

Even 3" tires can't handle riding through sand, you need a genuine fat bike to ride on the beach.
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Old 07-24-18, 09:23 AM
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Originally Posted by canuckjgc
Problem here is that there is no road to cut down to. Just brown sugar, frozen ruts, slop, and sheer ice - all in one ride. Skinny tires can't make any progress. Fat tires would be useful in some circumstances, but the performance penalty would be much greater than a 2.5" tire.
Yeah, that's why I mentioned you lose grip entirely if they can't do it, we've definitely had some winters like that here in Mn. My experience is that fat bike tires are the only things good at making it through that stuff. Of course people make tradeoffs for speed/efficiency vs handling, I stick with a 40c or less size tire despite some handling drawbacks because the speed hit above that is so significant.
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Old 07-24-18, 05:23 PM
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try a narrower tire which should be able to dig down to pavement. sometimes wider tires just act like skis so you float & slide
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Old 07-25-18, 12:44 AM
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Old 07-28-18, 12:41 PM
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I've had similar problems with the Ice Spikers. I've found that on ice or hard-compacted snow they're utterly fantastic! But once you get into loose snow or even slush, they don't work nearly as well unless you can get down to the ground below. It's a bit of a slippery ride in those less than ideal conditions! The only substitute that I've found that works are fat tire bikes and while I don't personally own a fat tire bike, I did borrow one from a friend to test last winter and it was a better ride overall, imo. As far as the performance loss goes, personally I think it's quite the workout either way, but the benefit of having an actual fat tire is that you're not having to fight to stay upright in less than ideal road conditions. It's a more stable ride on the whole.

So I'd say that if it's going to be a workout either way, then go with some aggressive fat tire's for the most ideal ride, just know that nothing will be perfect in all likelihood. You're always going to be trading something and you'll likely never have a "perfect ride" simply due to the nature of snow and ice. Your legs will adjust to the performance loss with the fatties, though! The same can't be said with thinner tires.
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Old 07-28-18, 04:48 PM
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I never liked the ice spikers. too crappy handling on all surfaces.
try nokians instead. My fav is the w240 in 35 and 40ish. i think they make them 2,0 too. these are really good imo. also nokian has several more hardcore tires. I'd look into those if you want real snow ultra performance. From people i have spoken too. fat/dh tires will not be better than nokian high ends in the snow/slush. not even close.
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Old 08-03-18, 02:57 PM
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WRC and motorcycle ice racing has really long sharp spike studs.. and lots of them..

it rarely snows on the coast at sea level .. but when it does its bare pavement and ice, mixed,

Have Suomi Nokian tires for then


gravel spread on surfaces , not salt..



...
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