Question about riding in snow esp. for those with the proper tyres

[Pat "5mph"]

One of the things to avoid doing on ice.

Truly, on studded tyres you won't fall off when turning, but the feeling is quite scaring non the less, well, to a wuss like me it is

 

[classic33]

But there's a fence/wall/car/house/... ahead! Turning is rather useful when cycling.

On ice, changing or attempting to your speed or direction is not advised. You'll be off in most cases.

 

[classic33]

Truly, on studded tyres you won't fall off when turning, but the feeling is quite scaring non the less, well, to a wuss like me it is

Never used studded tyres, having stuck with knobblies for snow and ice.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Never used studded tyres, having stuck with knobblies for snow and ice.

Aye, but don't you ride a recumbent trike?

 

[mjr]

On ice, changing or attempting to your speed or direction is not advised. You'll be off in most cases.

Not with studs. Being unable to change speed or direction on ice would have been rather limiting this week!

 

[classic33]

Aye, but don't you ride a recumbent trike?

Four wheels, aye, but also a road bike and mountain bikes.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Didn't have much trouble with Winters today but I did aim for ice or dry tarmac rather than slush when there was a choice.

So did I. There was a long stretch where there wasn't a choice though. Ended up pushing a few times.

 

[Illaveago]

I went out and had a play on my Carrera the other day, it's got 26,x 1.95 Panaracer and found them fine on soft snow , but the front would snatch / dig in like riding on sand when I hit hard snow.
I was wondering if narrower front tyres would be better ? I didn't get the chance to try my theory out as the snow has gone. I was thinking that rally cars fit narrow tyres in deep snow conditions .

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I was wondering if narrower front tyres would be better ? I didn't get the chance to try my theory out as the snow has gone. I was thinking that rally cars fit narrow tyres in deep snow conditions .

They do yes, but invariably heavily studded too, if ice expected

It's the same in 4x4 land, all these fancy wide tyres may look good, but float/slide about on top (unless they're a true floatation tyre)

Many years ago, Land Rover themselves, found this out. during the Darien Gap expedition (using the then, fairly new, Range Rover)
They'd been advised to fit wide tyres, to cope with the conditions, but found that diffs were exploding due to the extra mechanical stress
Cue, a return to narrower tyres (7.50 Firestone SAT, if memory serves), & no diff-problems

From about 1.10


Still a damned good tyre, but a crossply (was produced as a remould, on a radial casing)