Cycling: Winter tyres, anyone bother?

Scrimps

I was curious if anyone bother with winter cycling tyres, not even for snow etc just for the colder wetter roads?

I recently had a cycling accident; travelling approx 12mph, slight down hill. Wet roads, cold evening but not raining, no ice, I dont recall there being any leaves on the road. I applied both brakes to stop (not suddenly) at a junction as a cyclist was approaching my right. The bike skidded, back end skidded out to my right, I put my left foot down but kept going and tore my MCL (grade 3) completely and ACL (grade 2) a little in my left knee. I eventually (probably just a sec) just let myself tumble due to not stopping and the pain in the knee.

This is likely just an unfortunate accident but I am wondering if it has anything to do with replacing my types at the LBS recently on my cyclocross bike. Not slick tyres, good enough for old railway gravel trails etc but good for the road also. The bike came with nobbly tyres whose tread ran out quickly as I ride mostly on roads.

It has got me thinking, does anyone bother with winter tyres? Particularly for this kind of reason. When Im better, I will probably use my mountain bike for a while and then the cyclocross with slightly lower tyre pressure.

But I am curious, as I would like to use my bike for general road commuting more and more, im in the southwest so its not like we suffer from regular freezing winters! Are winter tyre investments worth it? At how many miles per week would they become worth it?

misiek404

Never needed them in my homeland (knee deep snow every winter), let alone here. There's no winter here just a very long autumn.

fred246

Everyone was trying to buy them in the 2010-2011 winter. All retailers had sold out. I bought two in the spring sales 2011 as a long term investment. I have plenty of bikes in the garage so I keep a winter bike. The rolling resistance is high so you wouldn't want to use them unless needed. I check the forecast and use them if predicted temp is less than 4 degrees. The grip is incredible. Mine are 700 x 35 on a hybrid. Whenever I use then there do seem to be mountain bikers around coping ok on their normal thick tyres. I always feel that I don't know how good they are because I don't want to push them to their limits because I'm too old to fall off. Anyway they make me feel happier on frosty mornings.

fred246

The last time I used then I was cycling through a park when a dog ran in front of me and nearly went under my front wheel. As you can imagine 240 carbide spikes spinning on a wheel is a good cutting tool. I was imagining myself apologising to the owner "I am sorry I cut your dog in two but you should have kept it under control."

alanrowell

Workmate was on summer tyres, riding through the park one morning and went to turn right, but went straight on through a fence instead

Kim_kim

fred246 wrote: »

The last time I used then I was cycling through a park when a dog ran in front of me and nearly went under my front wheel. As you can imagine 240 carbide spikes spinning on a wheel is a good cutting tool. I was imagining myself apologising to the owner "I am sorry I cut your dog in two but you should have kept it under control."

Are you allowed to cycle on pedestrian pathways?

Nasqueron

Kim_kim wrote: »

Are you allowed to cycle on pedestrian pathways?

Varies depending on local by-laws and if it's a cycle route or not

On the OP

I have been out in the cold and wet on slicks and been fine, come off on some oil on the road in summer and broke my thumb, it's hard to predict.

25c tyres even with fancy looking patterns on slick tyres will not give you grip on ice, they're purely for water displacement, I switch to my CX in winter for commuting using 35c knobbly tyres which I feel more comfy on (lower PSI as well, about 70-80 vs 100+ on the 25cs). I have considered studded tyres as well but they are heavy and if the council grit the roads I don't think it's worth it

brat

The roads tend to get a lot greasier at this time of year. I've always found November to be the trickiest month for cycling, perhaps because there's a significant change in the surface condition from the previous month, or it could be the leaf debris.

That said, I tend to stay with the same tyre all year round. I can find no better tyre than the Conti 4000S II tyres for my road/cross bike. but the contact patch is slick, so it's not going to grip on soft or slushy road conditions, so for me it's a question of riding accordingly.

Scrimps

Thank you for the responses. in future I think I will pay more attention to the suggested tyres are the LBS and ask for the ones suggested above. Studded tyres would be OTT for my needs but decent tyres would make me feel more secure.
It is certainly hard to predict these things, it was a pretty innocuous, low speed miss-hap with an unfortunate outcome, there was no car traffic so it could have been worse.
I dont use clips as Ive had difficulty getting out of clips before at the end of along cycle journey (tired) slow, up hill, and fallen road side still clipped in, so now I prefer the safety of being able to put my feet down - didnt work out this time though.

I certainly wouldnt have picked those Contis out without suggestion because of the look of them, but I guess its the compound rather than the pretty treads I should look out for? Even for proper wet roads though?

esuhl

I got some Kenda Nevegal tyres for my mountain bike. They have a DTC (dual-tread compound) version which has a more hard-wearing centre, so you don't totally wear them out on the road.

Most people would tell me I'm crazy to use such inefficient tyres on the road. But I'm so used to the excellent grip they provide that I can't get used to other ones. Surprisingly, they don't wear down that quickly either.

I tore one of the tyres, so briefly put on a Michelin Dry tyre. It was terrible! It had less grip, and when it lost traction it would just flip out. It would've been lethal in the rain!

Anyway, I'm not really sure what to suggest for a road bike, but from the few tyres I've tried, there's definitely a big difference in grip and performance. The Kendas I have are good enough to use all-year round.

Scrimps

esuhl wrote: »

Most people would tell me I'm crazy to use such inefficient tyres on the road. But I'm so used to the excellent grip they provide that I can't get used to other ones. Surprisingly, they don't wear down that quickly either.

I tore one of the tyres, so briefly put on a Michelin Dry tyre. It was terrible! It had less grip, and when it lost traction it would just flip out. It would've been lethal in the rain!

Anyway, I'm not really sure what to suggest for a road bike, but from the few tyres I've tried, there's definitely a big difference in grip and performance. The Kendas I have are good enough to use all-year round.

The bike I have requires 700/33c so not really a road bike. I sold my road bike and got a cyclocross instead. Think I should have got a hybrid as Im very rarely on the drops.
I would prefer more grip with a little more cycling effort than having to be laid up for a couple of months with torn ligaments due to a minor accident.
Its the durability that was a bit of a concern to me - I dont like waste. So that compound seems a good option.