Winter Tire - first ride - Schwalbe Marathon Winter

[dogman]

Maybe break em in a bit slower too? Go for a 40 k ride at low speed? Soft for the winter makes sense even without studs too.

[GCinDC]

used that tire all winter last year, maybe lost 2 studs. i'm shocked. glad to hear you got replacements..

i'm looking for some fresh ones, but they seem harder to find this year (in 26")

[Hugues]

Great !

Went for a ride today with the new Schwalbe Marathon Winter the vendor sent me back.

Inflated them at 2 bars or about 30 psi, drove uphill on paved roads mostly for about 40 km, and not lost a single stud !

So I guess i inflated the first pair too much (60 psi), although recommended max is 70. (and lost 30% of studs on first ride !)
Actually i inflated them that hard so they are less noisy, but at 30 psi i cannot see the difference in noise anyway. So will keep them there.

And the grip is pretty good, wet leaves, snow, ice, they give a secure feeling.

Must admit on the first ride i went to a nasty trail with gravel and rocks, that surely did not help, we'll try that again next spring

[hjns]

Inflated them at 2 bars or about 30 psi, drove uphill on paved roads mostly for about 40 km, and not lost a single stud !

So I guess i inflated the first pair too much (60 psi), although recommended max is 70. (and lost 30% of studs on first ride !)
Actually i inflated them that hard so they are less noisy, but at 30 psi i cannot see the difference in noise anyway. So will keep them there.

And the grip is pretty good, wet leaves, snow, ice, they give a secure feeling.

Must admit on the first ride i went to a nasty trail with gravel and rocks, that surely did not help, we'll try that again next spring

Hi Hugues,

How much snow do you currently have at Montreux? In Basel we have nothing yet.

Happy to read that lowering pressure helps a lot. I am thinking of getting the Conti Winter II. I ride mostly in town anyway.

[Hugues]

...
Hi Hugues,

How much snow do you currently have at Montreux? In Basel we have nothing yet.

Happy to read that lowering pressure helps a lot. I am thinking of getting the Conti Winter II. I ride mostly in town anyway.

Hi Henk,

Until yesterday no snow even at higher altitudes, but last night it snowed to about 1'800m. The roads were a bit icy today during my ride around 1'600m but nothing serious.
What an abrupt change of weather. Until last weekend i was going up there and having a nice mid-day nap under the sun then coming back down...

[Kingfish]

Chipping in a wee bit late to the party, I ran these tires F&R last year and they worked out quite well. I haven’t noticed any lost studs. Grippy in all conditions, and they had tremendous stopping power – like steel talons grabbing asphalt and hanging on; saved my life when an imbecile on his cellphone made an abrupt right-turn directly in front of me… the bike stopped on the dime. High marks and my review here.

Cheers, KF

[Hugues]

Thanks KF for the link, what's REI !

Just put another 40 km on mine today, studs are still there. I'm starting to believe the vendor when he said Schwalbe had some batches with the problem

[Kingfish]

Thanks KF for the link, what's REI !

Just put another 40 km on mine today, studs are still there. I'm starting to believe the vendor when he said Schwalbe had some batches with the problem

REI: Recreational Equipment, Inc. They are the local outdoor clothing & supply for Seattle and greater Pacific Northwest, although I think they are larger than that. Their competitors will be Northface, Patagonia, Outdoor Research (OR), and a host of others. My wheelbuilder is a retired Boeing Engineer working part-time at REI; most of the time it’s a great neighborly experience. The one in Redmond knows me by name as “that eBike guy”.

Cheers, KF

[DAND214]

Do it youself, DIY studded tires?
Don't know how, but why not/
I know I read something on this before, maybe not here.

Dan

[LI-ghtcycle]

Do it youself, DIY studded tires?
Don't know how, but why not/
I know I read something on this before, maybe not here.

Dan

It certainly can be done, however, in my opinion, it's only worth it if you have tons of time to burn on your hands, because a studded snow tire is more than just a tire with some studs in it.

It's a whole package, special softer compound, special tread patterns that will perform at cold temps where the average tire is harder and less able to grip.

If you can't afford good studded tires, you can use the zip-tie method, or get a softer cheaper tire and drill a ton of tiny holes and install brads like I have (they are only really good for one season however) or spend as much or more as the tires would cost in the special studs they come with, and then you still don't have a good tire really by comparison) with this method:

http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34434

So far it has put some interesting scratches on the concrete of the driveway, but I haven't had a chance to do a proper test on the road with my shoes. I'm going to have to keep an eye out at Goodwill for another pair of shoes as these are just too soft, about 1/4 of the brads just sink back into the sole of the shoe, but the rest bite really nice.

[GCinDC]

just want to add, if you're feeling cheap and $70 is looking like too much, whatever you do, do not get the SCHWALBE SNOW STUD.

i've gone thru 3 or 4. the bead breaks after one change of tire, even as gentle as possible. the last time, a pro bike mechanic patched a tube when i was in a rush and HE broke the bead on it.

the snow stud is not to be confused with the marathon winter...

[Hugues]

A short update on my Schwalbe Marathon WInter:

We got a fair bit of snow in the past week, i'd say about a foot or two, so i tried riding my bike yesterday with the studs.

Traction is pretty good at the back, no problem.
In front it's ok if you go in a straight line, turning is a little tricky, the wheel goes quickly out.

And definitely going downhill in such deep snow is a no go. But i did not buy them for deep snow, just for ice and thin snow cover. And that's good.

ANd i haven't lost a single stud since i received my new pair !

[GCinDC]

i'd say about a foot or two, so i tried riding my bike yesterday with the studs.

lol. i find it tough w/ anything more than 5", especially if you care anything for your derailleur!

there is a snow bike with monster tires for the heavy snow, but that's a different animal.

this was from last year by the way, going slow w/ the kid, fyi:



edit, and fwiw, the first couple scenes of this are with that tire on ice, snow, etc:

[Hugues]

lol
i like the first one pulling the sledge, if i show that to my kids, i know i0m in for a ride...

should receive my Hanebrink bike this week or next , supposedly able to pull 300 kgs, that should be enough to swing the kids around,

[crusoe]

Haha, it looks like you stuffed your kids face full of snow a couple of times!

[Kingfish]

Oh, I like the idea of pulling kiddies with the ebike! Good fun, good idea; now I knows how to keep busy this winter

Good on ya, KF

[LI-ghtcycle]

just want to add, if you're feeling cheap and $70 is looking like too much, whatever you do, do not get the SCHWALBE SNOW STUD.

i've gone thru 3 or 4. the bead breaks after one change of tire, even as gentle as possible. the last time, a pro bike mechanic patched a tube when i was in a rush and HE broke the bead on it.

the snow stud is not to be confused with the marathon winter...

ACK!!

Hopefully that was a fluke and or bad run of tires?

I didn't see this posting before I bought a snow stud, oh well, $63 isn't the end of the world if it's junk after it's time to switch back to my Cyclops.

Love the Videos with the kid! I bet there is more than one of us here that wished they had half as much fun with their Dad growing up at that age!

Now you just need to get him a little electric powered track for the back of his sled and make a low power snowmobile!

[Hugues]

I think it's fair to give an update on my Schwalbe studded tires now that the season is over.

If you refer to my first post, you read that I lost 30% of studs after only a few hours riding.

The dealer replaced them for free and now that the season is over I'm pleased to announce that I lost only one stud and on the front tire, none at the back.

So I'm overall very satisfied with these winter tires, studs are slightly shorter because I've ridden them mostly on paved roads, but they are surely good for another season !

[ohzee]

Yea I bought a nice set of snow tires before the season and never had a reason to think about even putting them on.

Good idea on buying when the time is right though.

[BATFINK]

Get one of these Surley Pugsleys http://3speedtouringinjapan.blogspot.com/2012/02/surly-pugsley.html?m=1
That will get you across any terrain

Sent using Endless-Sphere Mobile app

[Hugues]

Hi guys,

now that the winter is over , well hopefully, just wanted to give a short feed-back on my studded tires Schwalbe Marathon:

- been riding a second winter on them
- the first pair i bought must have had a defect because i had lost many studs after a few days, but this pair is holding very well, after two winters of riding with them, i just lost one single stud, and they are still pretty good
- i mostly ride on asphalt during the winter, i use them for the occasional spot of ice, they are very good for that, not so much for snow,
- they make a little noise, but nothing major, like riding on small gravel road, people here you coming from a few meters away, which is a plus,


so all in all i'm very satisfied with these tires, i can still mount them next winter,

[hjns]

nice to hear.

My Ice Spiker Pros were hardly used this winter. No broken / lost studs. However, I did get multiple flats within a couple of days on my rear wheel on the last day of winter when driving a bit more aggressively. Not sure about the cause, but very annoying. So changed to a non studded tire. We will see how I will solve this next winter. Probably I will use a very thick layer of kevlar within the the tire to preven further flats, or go tubeless.