On Jan 30, 11:01 am, Sean Whelan <[email protected]> wrote: > I was never a mountain biker, so most of my attempts to ride in the snow > usually end up either with me staring up at the sky from a cold an painful > landing on the street, or teetering on the verge of collapse at less than 5 > mph. > > What do you folks do? > > What tires at what pressure?
IMO, there is no winter tire that excels in all conditions. I find the Nokian Mount & Ground tires to be generally very good winter tires for most winter conditions that I cycle in. They're sized 559x45mm and I run them between 35-45psi, depending on conditions. They perform very well when temps are very low (15F to -25F), with up to a 4" snow layer, dodging (and hitting) snow cookies, the occasional sidewalk detour (when conditions warrant), and on light snow covered ice. In a few other conditions, they're overkill: so smaller tread blocks, a narrower profile, and less studs would perform better. When snow is sticky, thickly rutted, and has a slimy base, (temps from 20F to 35F on an unplowed, paved surface) I prefer a slightly narrower tire at a higher pressure and less and/or negative tread. The wider tires I've used (including the Mount and Grounds) tend to half float, half sink in that stuff and your wheels constantly drift. Additionally, the snow packs up into the tread, making pedaling much more difficult, and traction minimal. These tires excel at most other conditions though, and so, I'll continue to use them on my commuter. I've also had the following experiences riding these tires in the winter: Panaracer Pasela 622x37mm and found them to be a great winter tire for when roads are better maintained, but no studs meant cornering was tricky and sometimes dangerous. Not so great getting up steep, icy roads. Continental Town & Country 559x57mm and really liked that they didn't pack full of snow and provided pretty good traction, but again, were unstudded and found they floated a bit too much in the loose stuff. Nokian A10 584x36mm and find them excellent tires on most winter rides. They're better than the Mount & Grounds when roads have been plowed, they're worse when AOT is on strike. Regarding winter bicycle riding, the best advice I can give if you're having problems getting going is to: keep pedaling. Momentum will get you through most everything, except corners. John McMurry Burlington, VT --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
