Cycling: Winter tyres, anyone bother?

Moto2

I just run with lower pressures in the winter and try remember to brake in a straight line on slippery roads

brat

Scrimps wrote: »

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?

I like them for year round use. It's all about the predictability of the contact patch, and I would argue there's nothing more predictable than a slick patch of quality rubber.

No road bike tyres are good for turning or braking on damp or greasy roads. But at normal bike speeds, grooves and tread design are no more than decoration.

Scrimps

Thanks very much for the thoughts. I willl be looking for some new tyres with better compounds rather than focusing on tread quite so much.

First, I will be using my mountain bike for a while though.

Johnmcl7

I don't change the tyres on my road bike, my hybrid had larger semi-slick tyres but they didn't seem to make much difference for grip in slippy conditions. I've got a pretty good idea how much grip I have with the road bike and when it's time to take a mountain bike instead if the conditions are going to be particularly treacherous.

John

cubegame

I only ride on a road bike and never change from skinny slicks (usually 23s). It is better to changes one's riding style and be more cautious rather than change tyres to give a false sense of security.

Of course, it's rather more important to have better puncture resistance in winter. There is generally more crap on the road and it's horrible to change tyres with no feeling in your hands. I now run tubeless giving almost infallible puncture protection.

esuhl

cubegame wrote: »

I now run tubeless giving almost infallible puncture protection.

Really? How does that work? I've heard of people running tubeless tyres, but I don't really understand the benefits (or how on earth you could create an air-tight seal).

How can a tubeless set-up be less likely to get a puncture?

Are there any down-sides to running tubelessly?

Kernel_Sanders

I appreciate that all respondents have been faithful to the thread title but I'd like to focus on the causes of this accident, which have been left unexplained:

Scrimps wrote: »

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.

Could it be that the brakes were applied too soon? (I'm presuming here that they are Vs). It's my habit to apply the rear brake a moment before the front, but I'm now wondering if this could contribute to such an accident as the OP states his rear wheel skidded out to the side.

Nasqueron

esuhl wrote: »

Really? How does that work? I've heard of people running tubeless tyres, but I don't really understand the benefits (or how on earth you could create an air-tight seal).

How can a tubeless set-up be less likely to get a puncture?

Are there any down-sides to running tubelessly?

Tubeless tends to be more for off-road though not to say roadies can't use them but they're heavier as the tyres are thicker and have slime inside which will set around any hole fairly quickly

Kernel_Sanders

esuhl wrote: »

Really? How does that work? I've heard of people running tubeless tyres, but I don't really understand the benefits (or how on earth you could create an air-tight seal).

How can a tubeless set-up be less likely to get a puncture?

Are there any down-sides to running tubelessly?

The wheels have to be designed so the spoke ends don't appear at the inside of the rim and the tyres need to be more robust too. This removes the weight advantage gained by having no tubes (nor tape). Also, a short nail going through the tyre could be self-sealing because it doesn't encounter additional movement from being snagged in an inner tube. I've read that they are difficult to remove and replace, making punctures difficult to repair, and also need a sealing compound applied. So, you may get a fraction of the punctures, but you'll spend many times the time it takes to replace a tube with the new one that you should be carrying.

Johnmcl7

esuhl wrote: »

Really? How does that work? I've heard of people running tubeless tyres, but I don't really understand the benefits (or how on earth you could create an air-tight seal).

How can a tubeless set-up be less likely to get a puncture?

Are there any down-sides to running tubelessly?

A proper tubeless setup consists of a specially designed rim and tyre (usually badged as tubeless ready) - they have rim tape that goes round the rim and the tyre bead seals tightly onto the rim. A small amount of liquid sealant is placed within the tyre and this will seal damage to the tyre unless it's too extensive (such as a big rip or tear).

Tubeless is primarily used in mountain biking and can be extremely useful, most of my MTB friends run tubeless now and once they've set it up they don't need to touch the wheels again even though in some cases their tyres have had many small punctures that the sealant has sealed without issue. When choosing pressure for a mountain bike tyre it's a difficult balance, running the tyre at a low pressure gives it a flatter profile with a larger contact patch and soaks up some of the rough stuff but at lower pressures the tyre is at a higher risk of a snake bite puncture (when the tyre hits the ground hard and bursts the inner tube). With a tubeless setup you can run at lower pressures without worrying about that as there's simply no inner tube to puncture. Many tout weight as an advantage of tubeless as well particularly with plus and fat bikes that use heavy inner tubes although from what I've seen of actual weights it's not as big a difference as people make out.

In terms of downsides, you need tubeless ready rims and tyres for a straightforward setup although it is possible to use any tyre or rim through various 'ghetto' methods the results can be quite mixed as some tyres simply don't seal that well against the rim or rims can leak around the spokeholes or similar.

Tubeless ready rims/tyres can be a total pain in the neck to break the bead and get the tyre off, in theory you shouldn't really need to but it can still happen. My fat bike isn't running tubeless at the moment but it does have a tubeless ready tyre and rim which are a nightmare to separate although they're much worse than normal mountain bike wheels.

Some friends run tubeless on their road tourers as they're doing a lot of miles and in some cases on rough surfaces although in general I don't see much about tubeless for road bikes. Since most people are running at very high pressures and are not generally jumping the bikes, there's no risk of snake bites and generally less risk of punctures.

John