Cycling on ice

[MacB]

Well, my Marathon winters have arrived and were very easy to fit, no levers required. Though I did need to use two plastic levers to get the M+'s off. One hiccup the rear tube blew on first re-inflation, but that was over confidence and rushing on my part. Replacement tube, in with a bit more care, and all setup and good. Going to give them a little turn in a while. Will be following the advice to give them 25ish miles on tarmac to bed the studs in. Main roads round here are pretty clear so that should do it, will report back.

 

[Ian H]

Just home, bathed and fed after a superb 100 miles out to Glastonbury and back. Ice? Oh yes, plenty of it, including a five mile stretch of full width compacted snow and slush. The ruts did encourage the front wheel to take little detours, but nothing terminally upsetting. I was on the old fixed - 64".

 

[ianrauk]

I am seriously thinking about getting a pair of these. I have a spare set of wheels so could put on and use as and when needed. Really peeved that I couldnt commute for 4 days this year because of ice and snow.

Well, my Marathon winters have arrived and were very easy to fit, no levers required. Though I did need to use two plastic levers to get the M+'s off. One hiccup the rear tube blew on first re-inflation, but that was over confidence and rushing on my part. Replacement tube, in with a bit more care, and all setup and good. Going to give them a little turn in a while. Will be following the advice to give them 25ish miles on tarmac to bed the studs in. Main roads round here are pretty clear so that should do it, will report back.

 

[MacB]

Well just under 16 miles on the new Marathon Winters, average speed just under 13mph. Was taking it easy and this included some MOD roads so little regular traffic and no gritting etc. The tyres did what I expected on ice etc and were far better than I expected on tarmac. Ran them at 75psi and they felt as comfortable, and no slower than, the M+'s in 35mm that they replaced. Passed a guy wheelspinning a MTB going uphill, that was the only way I realised it was ice, I hadn't noticed. Only hairy moment was on the MOD roads as it was turning to slush and breaking up. I thought I was going down, my frantic overcompensation brought me back too far. So I slalomed for about 40 yards, I was genuinely surprised the tyres gripped at the angles they were leant over. Proceeded more carefully and they really don't like slush, squirmed a lot(think loose gravel feeling), but very controllable, though still tiring and needing focus. But no way would my normal tyres have kept me up, even serious knobblies might have struggled for grip.

Verdict - my rough calcs indicate that I'll be able to tool along averaging about 14.5-15mph in regular conditions. They will grip on ice and perform heroics keeping me up on looser stuff. There's a bit of noise but not enough to annoy me. Unless they fall apart really quickly I see no reason not to run them the entire Winter. But can understand that if you're going from a lighter faster tyre then it may be too big a penalty to consider. Obviously clearance is an issue for some bikes as well.

 

[andrew_s]

I think the problem is people see best part of £70 going on a pair of tyres they only see being any good for a few weeks a year.

The narrowest studded tyres are 32mm, which is too wide to fit in the road bikes many people use. Buying a new bike for about a week a year's iciness is a bit more excessive than just keeping an extra set of tyres ready.

 

[Piemaster]

My reasoning why I bought the marathon winters. They cost me 79 euros delivered from bike 24 and they will probably spend 8-9 months hanging up in the garage. But if they save me time off work due to coming off, even a day, let alone something longer term they have more than paid for themselves.
Ok, I don't actually have to commute to work, I'm a 'utility' cyclist. But the bike is my first choice transport. The car is useful for leaning the bike against while I shut the garage door.

 

[steve52]

i am of the sam opion re trye pressure on bicycles as ridged raider, it only makes for better grip on dragsters runing on smoth dry tarmac at 650 hp! and on trials bikes and they still have engines, for us cyclist it may help but im 52 and havent notied any differance other than i have to work harder with lower pressure

 

[Ludwig]

Under no circumstances should you ever contemplate cycling on ice. With so many roads not being treated and all the idiot car drivers about you are taking a big risk.

 

[montage]

I would say go and practise on ice a little bit...get used to how it feels under a controlled environment.

 

[zacklaws]

Ice was luverly this morning when I set off for work, bike slid out from underneath me when I tried to get on, and then when I did get on, I could not turn brake or steer, thought that I was going to carry on to the bottom of the street out of control, but found some untouched deep snow to slow down in, and that was all of in yards of my house. luckily main roads where OK

 

[GrasB]

The narrowest studded tyres are 32mm, which is too wide to fit in the road bikes many people use. Buying a new bike for about a week a year's iciness is a bit more excessive than just keeping an extra set of tyres ready.

Are you trying to tell me most people with a 'proper' road bike don't have a hybrid or MTB hiding away? I say this as the only bike I've seen about which could be considered a 'proper' road bike is my Marin with studded tyres. Even the hard core roadies I see about have been on MTBs & most were amazed at the roads I was heading down. It seems very familiar... oh yeah this is what happened earlier this year with the long cold spell.

Under no circumstances should you ever contemplate cycling on ice. With so many roads not being treated and all the idiot car drivers about you are taking a big risk.

What about those who drive around like they're in the middle of a tarmac rally on hot summer days? Should we not go out then? How about the people who ignore the fact it's raining & there's standing water everywhere? Should one not cycle then? IME when it's icy like it was the passed week it's one of the safest times to be on the bike if you have appropriate tyres as the majority of people are being super cautious.

 

[andrew_s]

Are you trying to tell me most people with a 'proper' road bike don't have a hybrid or MTB hiding away?

Many of them, if not actually most. A roadie may have an MTB, but why would they have a hybrid? MTBs are also fairly pointless in large areas of the country if you are happy riding on the road. Also bear in mind that if you don't have a garage, redundant bikes are likely to have been disposed of.
The work bike or winter bike is likely to be an old road bike. If you work on the basis that anything with drop handlebars won't take studded tyres you won't be far wrong, traditional touring bikes being fairly rare.

 

[GrasB]

Many of them, if not actually most. A roadie may have an MTB, but why would they have a hybrid? MTBs are also fairly pointless in large areas of the country if you are happy riding on the road. Also bear in mind that if you don't have a garage, redundant bikes are likely to have been disposed of.
The work bike or winter bike is likely to be an old road bike. If you work on the basis that anything with drop handlebars won't take studded tyres you won't be far wrong, traditional touring bikes being fairly rare.

Firstly what exactly is a hybrid? Well it's a bike that doesn't belong in one of the conventional categories. Most people think of leisure/city bikes as hybrids, but really they're not they have a name… leisure bikes! What I'm talking about is MTBs with narrow rims, semi-slicks & drops, the sporty city bikes which are just as fast as conventional road bike with flat bars & loads of clearance for big tyres & 'guards.

My experience is the guys & gals who are out in all weathers, rather than fair weather rodies, have one of these tucked away. Maybe the fact people don't have an appropriate bike is the very excuse they need to justify to them selves why they're not going out on their bike. All I know is that when I was buying my 'road bike' one of the requirements was it could take wide tyres & full 'guards... at the same time. Oddly enough it wasn't to hard to find bikes which where near as damn it road bikes but for filled these requirements.

 

[markg0vbr]

I use one bike for every thing, go looking for ice to play on, the faster you go on ice the better 180 or 360 you can do, have slick Tye's, this helps drifting the back out on down hills.

just get a trice




or stabilisersand ride

 

[MacB]

All I know is that when I was buying my 'road bike' one of the requirements was it could take wide tyres & full 'guards... at the same time. Oddly enough it wasn't to hard to find bikes which where near as damn it road bikes but for filled these requirements.

When searching for a new bike I've come to just this conclusion, but I did find that choices could be limited. I'm surprised by the lack of clearance on some bikes described as tourers/light tourers, max of 25-28mm tyres with guards seems usual. Even looking down the custom build, or framebuilders off the peg, options, clearances are small.