cynergy

Hi Folks,

I bought a Trek Allant+ 8s for bike commuting. The electric assist helps flatten the hills here in NH.

I would like to bike commute this coming winter and am looking for studded tires for this bicycle. The bicycle is equipped with "Alex MD35 27.5", Tubeless Ready, 32-hole, 35mm width, presta valve" rims and 27.5" x 2.4" tires.

I looked on the Schwalbe website and they have Marathon Winter tires sized 27.5" x 2". They also have a Ice Spiker Pro tire, which looks like it's more of an off road trail tire (whereas the Marathon Winter has a less aggressive tread pattern) that is sized 27.5" x 2.25".

I would like to buy the Marathon winter tires (27.5" x 2"), but will the tires be wide enough? I think the Ice Spiker Pro tire is too aggressive, since I would primarily be riding the bicycle on pavement.

What tire would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.

HillRider

Bicycle rims are quite tolerant of tire width so a 2" tire should be fine on your rims. I had an older mountain bike that came with 26x2.25" tires and I ran as small as 1.25" tires on those rims for road use. Both sizes (and everything in between) worked fine.

Camilo

Look around and find the widest tires you can (that will fit in your frame - maybe 2.4"?) with the tread pattern you like. The wider the tire, the lower the pressure you can run, and lower pressure really helps grip on ice and packed snow. To me, 2" vs 2.4", or even 2.25" could be a significant difference in rideability. The wider the better.

FWIW, I've used studded tires in the winter. I've found that they work well on hard pack and ice, but on loose snow - especially loose snow covering ice or hard pack - better be very careful. You can quickly and easily slide out and fall hard. Regardless, in the winter, I really push the lower limits of pressure to improve grip.

Rick

On 12/26/1990 our son was born. We didn't own a motor vehicle at the time. We lived in a student town and everything was close enough for the bicycles and our two wheeled cart. The closest relatives were around eighteen miles away so the day before the scheduled c section they picked up the girls. We had setup a taxi ride to the hospital with the only taxi in town. The Taxi Didn't show. I found out later he was in the drunk tank. I had studded snow tires on the bicycle. So I coached or coerced the wife to sit in the Blue Sky cycle cart and off we went. It was early morning and dark with snow and ice. We lived around 10 blocks from the hospital. On the way there I noticed some of the cars weren't doing so well on the ice. I rode to the right of the shiny wheel track in the crunchy stuff. I got the wife to the hospital and the OB nurse lost here cookies about it.

ericoseveins

I used 2.25" Nokian Extremes while living in Boston in 2015, the 107-inches-of-snowfall year. I think if your area regularly sees accumulation that can outpace the plows then I would consider a tire that's at least that wide and perhaps more singletrack-oriented. On roads that saw car traffic, 2.25" did perfectly well for me whether or not the plows had gotten to the roads. However my commute also took me through a rail-trail without any car traffic and it was pretty difficult riding when accumulation got above six inches or so. For those days I eventually just settled on an alternative route that was exclusively car-trafficked.

sweeks

In my years of winter commuting in Chicago, I've found that the greatest hazard is ice. The streets are generally well-plowed, but what remains on the street is very slick. So I'd recommend studded tires under similar circumstances. They're a bit of a nuisance on dry pavement, with somewhat more rolling resistance and a noise like sizzling bacon. On snow, it's true that the studs don't do much if they don't engage the road surface. But often there is ice *under* the snow, and if the tire penetrates the top layer the studs give some control. I use the Marathon Winter tires on my commuter bike and Nokian "Extreme 294" on my trail bike. Neither of these tires is wide enough to "float" over deep snow, but they are narrow enough to ride through snow a few inches deep.
Be aware that the tires will deteriorate over time, especially if you ride on salted streets. The studs comprise a tungsten carbide cylinder held in by a steel "top hat" piece. The steel eventually corrodes, and the corrosion products have an abrasive action on the tire carcass. Eventually the stud wears through the carcass and then you get a flat. In my experience, this takes a couple winters, but your mileage may vary. I extend the life of the tires by installing a tire liner ("Mr. Tuffy") after the first couple seasons. This gives me a couple more winters before the tires need replacement. Also they last longer on the front wheel.
Enjoy!

This is the inside of a Marathon Winter after four winter seasons. I wouldn't use this even with a tire liner.



This Marathon Winter has at least one more season in it, with a tire liner.



Two of the eight one-inch pieces of double-sided tape used to secure the tire liner during mounting of the tire.



The liner being installed. Early signs of wear-through can be seen.

rumrunn6

my 2 cents, I've used both the marathons & ice spikers. the ice spikers on an old 26er. & my current 29er MTB & 700c hybrid both get studded marathons in the winter. use the marathons, the ice spikers will be like a tank regardless of the distance. everything has limitations. if it's too wild out, just don't ride