On Monday, December 12, 2016 at 10:44:05 AM UTC-6, David Banzer wrote: > > I'll shortly have my VO Campeur set up with ~40mm studded tires, but am > thinking of setting up large Clem with larger studded tires as well. > Any recommendations? > Considering removing fenders but anything around 50mm would mean I could > keep them on. > David > in snowy Chicago, not quite ready for a snowy/icy commute >
My experience - I have had Nokian W106 700x45c tires on my Quickbeam for many winters. Yes, the 45's fit. Barely! I have been very happy with their performance in a variety of conditions, but they add a lot of resistance! I also have used Nokian A10 650x40b tires, which are really more like 35mm, on my Bleriot/Protovelo. I wasn't as happy with them, but just ordered another pair because I'm now commuting on a Cheviot with 650b wheels and they're the only snow tires that will work on that bike. On the Bleriot I found the front end tended to float up on the slush and lose traction. I have also used Schwalbe Marathon Winter 559-50 tires on my Riv ATB, and not been happy. I had a chance yesterday to confirm my unhappiness. I took advantage of the weekend snow dump to put the Schwalbe's back on the Riv ATB and go for a romp. It reminded me why I was happy to take them off the bike last spring. At any reasonable speed, the tires very easily floated up on slush and the front end of the bike would start moving sideways. I then took the Cheviot out for the same loop, on its Compass Babyshoe Pass (650x42b) tires, and it was way more stable. Go figure. I rode the Cheviot to work this morning and it was fine until I hit the Milwaukee section of the bike path and 8" of snow. (Shorewood cleared their section of the path, God bless them!) Back on city streets the Compass tires were fine. There is not a lot of fender clearance, though, so the accumulating slush made for a good resistance training ride. I'm counting on the A10's having a bit more clearance, so there will be less slush buildup. I also think narrower tires are better for riding slushy sorta plowed city streets. The guy on the fat bike in front of me on the path this morning was probably glad for his huge tires, but only where we were riding in a fair amount of snow that hadn't been driven on. So, if I had bought a 700c Cheviot, I'd have happily put the Nokian W106 tires on it, though I'd be tempted to try the narrower 35's. Ted Durant Just a bit north of David in Milwaukee -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
