Tandem Tom

Yesterday I put a pair of Mud Wrestlers on my hybrid and went out for a quick ride. The road had between 4-6" of fresh snow. I had great time! This AM after snowblowing the drive I was looking at the road and it is packed snow so this afternoon I will try it out. But thinking about studded tires so I can keep riding and prep for our cross country tour that starts in April.
So tell me what I can expect while using studded tires.
Thanks!!

North Coast Joe

No expert here, just mounted my first set of Innova 65psi carbide studded ties about three weeks ago. My formerly spry MTB is now an absolute pig. Ridden almost daily,and the studs needed for most rides due to local conditions. Used to be 15mph easy cruise, now an effort at 10mph.

That being said, I'm amazed at how sure-footed the bike is on ice or hard packed snow. Some slipping/skidding occurs in 4" of fresh snow over hardpack, but haven't lost it yet (knock wood). Bottom line is you'll get to where you want to go, but slowly.

I want a second bike standing by for the ice-free days. The studs make a nimble bike dull!

hyegeek

Studs are great for ice and hard packed snow. They do slow you down on dry pavement, but if you are going to hit ice, they are real nice to have.

Nothing works for slush. Even with aggressive knobby studded tires, slush is a problem. The other thing that's a problem for me is when rutted slush freezes. I've gone down more time that I care to remember due to not seeing frozen ruts that pull my wheels out from under me.

Wilfred Laurier

ironically
for slushy conditions
you generally want narrow tires
to cut through the slush
and contact the hard surface underneath

narrow studded tires are the cats pajamas for winter city riding
imho

peterw_diy

OP, go read https://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp

fietsbob

Have had the same pair of Nokian studded tires bought in 1991. mine are 26x1.9. inch.

the studs are set into a sturdy black casing, so wont be fast,

but on black Ice ,I'm still moving at a better rate than I would, walking,

particularly on an icy sidewalk... warmed up so I parked the bike with the studded tires, again.



Cold front we had here, has moved east, ... enjoy !

dabac

Well...
Basics:
- cheap ones have all-steel studs, which wear out fast on bare patches
- good ones have a carbide core surrounded by a softer material, and are pretty close to impossible to wear out. Steel/iron for commuter oriented tires and aluminium for race oriented tires.
- you can have different stud counts
- you can have treads that prioritize (soft) snow and ice or bare ground and ice.
- commuter-oriented ones have studs with spherical tips while race-oriented ones have pointy, conical tips.
Often coincides with aluminum sleeves and folding tires.

Studs will reduce traction a little on really smooth surfaces like concrete. Probably on tarmac too, but I don't push hard enough to notice.

I started out using Schwalbe Snow Stud, 100-something stud count. Two rows, fairly widely spaced. The theory being that on dry roads you kept the PSI high and rolled on rubber. When it got icy, you lowered the pressure which broughts the studs into contact.
Never liked that, particularly for a rear. Weight shift during braking etc would cause traction to change.
Switched to Nokian AKA Suomi Tyres 106. Two rows, closer together. Constant ground contact unless you'd go for some really energetic cornering. Far more predictable traction. The noise on bare ground had a nice ability to encourage pedestrians to step aside.
Still, while traction was good enough to avoid a "bambi-moment", passing ice still required plenty of attention. Rolling resistance on high inflation wasn't too bad.
Performance in firm snow was quite poor. They'd pack up and wander all over the place.
Switched to Nokian AKA Suomi Tyres 160. Better snow performance, more rolling resistance, not that much better ice traction.
Switched to a Nokian AKA Suomi Tyres defunct 288 stud model. Good snow performance, good ice performance, rolling resistance as the 160. But at least now you're getting something for it.
"Downgraded" to Nokian AKA Suomi Tyres W240. Better rolling than the 288, good ice and snow performance. The choice for my commuter.
The big thing isn't the loss of speed - on hard surfaces I'm about 10% slower. But the bike feels lot more sluggish. They're a lot more detrimental to the joy of riding than to actual performance.
Haven't found any that'll allow me to ride entirely carefree. Not even the ones with 294 pointy studs will let me do that. But somewhere in the 200 range the studs provide sufficient traction for my commuting needs.

Tandem Tom

Thanks for all the replies! I did not know there was so much to learn about studded tires!

scroca

Whatever brand of studded tire you settle on, I suggest you inspect them before your first ride, looking for any that are not set securely. Offenders will be obvious and are not difficult to set correctly. Failure to attend to this can result in lost studs.

FBinNY 

For those of you using studded tires on the road. Remember it' not your lack of traction that's likely to be a danger.

You're surrounded by 2,500+ pound vehicles, driven by folks with poor skills who think that 4WD somehow is better at stopping. (it isn't all cars have 4WB). I'll ride on snow covered roads that are bad enough that cars are either off the road, or crawling along at 10mph. Otherwise, low traction road conditions are a good reason to leave the road/commuter bike home.

FastJake

Same here. Great insight, great thread. Thanks everyone.

I've been considering studded tires for a while but I think I'll stick with lighter weight knobby tires for now. I've already gone down once on the ice this year, but I'm still young, and IME winter crashing isn't too bad since you're usually going slow to begin with.

My commuter MTB is a pig with the super heavy (about 800g each, I think) tires on it now. They get great traction in snow but make the thing not so fun to ride. I think I might switch them out for lighter tires.

dscheidt

Studs are cheaper than a collar bone surgery.

dabac

The bigger the reason to remove those risks that you can. If I improve my chances of staying upright, I reduce the probability of a car having to brake for me. Defensive riding in a nutshell.

MNBikeCommuter

I'm using the Schwalbe Winter Marathon 700x35s with four rows of carbide studs (over 200 total). About the only additional info I can report that others haven't mentioned is that the extra rows do help "climb out" of icy ruts. While it reduces the falls, it still gets the adrenaline flowing. Just don't get cocky as the next rut might have your name on it. :-)

re: stud life: Contrary to others' experience, my rear tire's inner row of studs were shot after 3k miles. The front had enough life to put on the back with a new up front. Replacing that many studs is too expensive both money and time-wise. I'm not sure what to do with the old rear, as the tread is hardly worn and the two outer rows of studs are still reasonable. My bike and I clock in at maybe 175 lbs, so based on others' testimonies, I had expected a longer stud life.

And as FBinNY stated, traction isn't the worst of your winter problems. A South Dakota-raised uncle of mine living in Dallas was given grief for not daring to go out after an ice storm. His reply: "I know how to drive on ice, but you don't." Choose your days and routes wisely.

prooftheory

There's a whole winter riding forum that covers a lot of this stuff.

FBinNY 

I'm not arguing at all against using studded tires. Just reminding people to factor that they may be surrounded by cars that aren't.

ksisler

If you visit Minneapolis, MN you will see many folks riding their bikes throughout the winter including in 6-12" of snow, 5 degrees and blizzard conditions. They consider it completely normal to do so. A lot of folks there don't own a car. Really true.

noglider 

People probably drive more gently in MN than in NY. It's pretty brutal here. The population density is high, which seems to reduce the intelligence density. I guess FB explains something I've been wondering, which is why I haven't gathered up the nerve to ride in seven days. It's been very slushy out there. Slush is what we usually get here in the winter, though it turns to ice at night and back to slush in the day. Neither is very good for cycling, even with studded tires. I'd bet studded tires do little to nothing to make it safer here. Other places can probably take advantage of them.

Thanks for confirming that my fear is soundly based, FBinNY.