I've commuted daily on the Custis Trail -> Mt Vernon Trail ->14th Street Bridge -> Maine Ave -> Capitol Hill route for the last seven years, missing only about thirty days when the snow has just been too deep to be able to push my bike through.
As others have noted, the biggest problem comes from the partial thawing during the day, when tire tracks and footprints create ruts that then refreeze overnight. My initial attempt at studded tires was Nokian 700x35 Hakkapeliita W106's. The lack of studs except along the centerline means that the first re-frozen tire groove you hit can easily take you down. Then I got 26" Nokian Extreme (for the front) and Mount and Ground (for the rear), thinking the the M&G would be a compromise that reduces rolling resistance. But again, the lack of sidewall studs means that it has a hard time climbing out of ruts. So the front end would go where I steered, but the back end would get stuck in the rut and slide along it until it was close enough to perpendicular that it could climb out of the rut. It was a delicate balance to stay upright. Eventually I bought a WXC 300 for the front and moved the Extreme to the back. That combo works pretty well, but cannot handle deep snow because the tires are too narrow to float on top of the snow. Maybe in fact there are no tires that would do the job, but if I had the money it would be great to try something like a Surly Pugsley with studded Endomorph tires. FWIW, I also tried some 700x40 Hakkapeliita W240's that have four rows of studs. They're basically like an Extreme but just a little bit narrower and of course bigger diameter. I found these to be considerably more hairy to ride on the usual horrid conditions around here. Because they're a little narrower, they just were a little harder to keep on course when the ruts and footprints are grabbing them. At the same time, the bike I was riding with those (my Rivendell Rambouillet) has down-tube shifters, so part of the extra difficulty relative to my MTB was that I had to take a hand off the handlebars to shift, instead of just using the handlebar-mounted thumb shifters on the MTB. All of that said, one day as I was riding down the Potomac on a mildly- grooved icy/snowy surface a week after the most recent snowfall, I saw that coming the other direction was a middle-aged oriental woman on a "Flying Pigeon" style bike with regular rubber tires. I have no idea how she stayed up, but she did. Nick On Oct 24, 1:16 pm, Joe S <ddlttr...@verizon.net> wrote: > After 8 years of commuting on the W&OD, the last 4 daily, I finally > invested in studded tires this year. While it is true that the number > of days when studded tires are absolutely necessary is limited, those > days tend to come in blocks of 3-4 days or a week at a time. It > doesn't take much to feel 'stale' by not commuting. > > I've commuted, through office moves, between Leesburg and Reston/ > Vienna and there are areas of the trail where there are micro climates > (mainly because they are sheltered and the sun doesn't reach the trail > over the banks or through the trees). Some of these are as long as > 50-60 yards. Then there are bridges and also underpasses where snow > blows and doesn't melt. So, even when it warms up enough to melt the > snow, melt/freeze cycles and shade make studded tires useful for a > longer period of time than you might expect. > > Another factor that pushed me to studded tires is the freeze/melt > cycle. It always killed me not to commute on a really cold, sunny > morning after a freeze the night before because the snow that melted > on the previous day had set up ice patches on the trail. This happens > everywhere. The thing is that it would then warm up during the day > and be perfectly fine for the evening commute, just puddles > everywhere. I sometimes commuted on these days but it was a drag in > the morning having to dismount and push my bike over and around the > larger patches of ice. It was necessary to build in extra time on the > commute. > > A problem with the W&OD and ice is after the ice after snow. I've > commuted perfectly well on mountain bike tires in fresh or recent > snow. However, once pedestrians start on the trail, it's all over as > frozen foot steps are about the worst to navigate, IMHO. I'm > expecting, but haven't tried it yet, to be able to better navigate the > frozen foot steps. Studded tires have got to work better than not > having them. The only cost I see is a slower (and time-wise longer) > ride. > > On Oct 24, 8:14 am, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > On Sun, 2011-10-23 at 19:01 -0700, dweendaddy wrote: > > > Studded tires. What you lose in rolling resistance you gain x10 in > > > safety and stability. > > > Trouble is, there are only a few days each winter when they'll be of any > > value, and only a few places. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
