I have commuted for years on a bike year around in the Ottawa area. Once black ice season is upon us I put studded tires on. It can be fine when the sun is out but once it goes down thats when ice can be a problem. Nothing works in deep road brown snow. Here's the thing when on snow and ice you ride more cautiously and up right. Riding with studs on dry pavement or worse metal grating needs almost the same cautiousness and up right style. For the speed junkies out there once you factor in the ER time and repairs, caution always will be much faster and cheaper. As for hitting the pavement it's not so much when as it is how you land and where. It's been 2 seasons since my last wipe out. But my last wipe out landed me with in kissing distance of a car's front tire. You know it's close when to can lick the tire that is about to crush your skull. Major reminder to keep speed down and brown snow always wins....Helmet
@@EMTBVideos When I say brown snow I mean the mix of road salt and snow. Once it gets to be about 6 inches deep becomes problematic. Experience seems to point in two directions. Fat tires float all to well and good until there is pure ice underneath. Narrower tire push through the snow so the studs can do their thing. The real problem is the freeze and thaw cycle. I think brown soft snow being the worst. I have 2 winter bikes 1 with studded 26 x 2.1 tires and 1 with 4 inch studded and non studded. The 4 inch studded tires are home made with 1/4 inch carbide studs nothing stops them except 12 inches of wet brown snow. Down side is they tend to get flats when the inside gorilla tape shifts but it does not shift in the front??? Nasty rough ride on dry pavement thou. So any given day I choose between the 2. Right now my 4 inch is just a plain fat tire so I have been using the other mostly (never have gotten a flat). I must say there is a lot to be said about being able to get down to the ice / pavement as appose to floating but then I would say deepens on how deep the snow is. Another very important point is studs to the outside almost to the sidewall without them the ice snake is going to bite you. A Ice snake is the trail a parked car can leave on compacted snow when it freezes in the freeze thaw cycle. If you front wheel can not climb over this small ice wall ( which is at such an angle it guides you) it will steer you right into traffic and there is nothing you can do other than bale out to the right. Studs on both side walls of both tires are needed at slow speed to navigate these. If not you get dumped in the middle of the lane. Just my experience living in a small town with no public transit. I do have vehicles (3) but the wife and kids usually have them and I prefer my bikes anyway. I commute year round and where I live and travel high speed snow machines are more of a threat than vehicles. But that is way off topic.
I agree with you ABSOLUTELY on everything. I always use helmet but I had two bike accidents in 7 weeks driving my 38kg e-bike to 40km/h in Gothenburg. I was driving with normal tyres on icy roads after the snow started melting. At that time I was driving without winter tires - THE result: Broken little finger... after 6 weeks, the same situation, another fall, a new fracture in the same finger but in another place. Since then I opted to add studs to my tires by driving at slower speeds in winter.
Thanks for the video, still useful in 2023! The best thing I did was get Ice Spiker Pros for my eMTB for winter riding in Scotland. The *second* best thing I did was to put them on a spare set of wheels. Have swapped them 4 or 5 times now as the weather freezes and thaws. It's great being able to do the swap in minutes instead of an hour or so, not to mention the cost of tubeless sealant.
I've got a spare front wheel which i can use when it's freezing, which is also easy to swap. As long as my front wheel doesn't slide away it's ok. This review is really helpfull though, because a lot of times the morning is slippery and the midday isn't.
I think the only sense is to make the test on snow because this tires were made for it. It would be interesting to see comparison of aggressive tires vs. More standards trail tires. I used to have nobby nic on my old e-bike when now I have butcher tires which were on my levo. Difference is huge. They go like a tank but also rolling really slowly comparing to nobby nic. Could you also make such test? Methodology of your test was quite objective so nice to see such a good work!👍
I have a handful of MTBs, so there is always 1 with normal street tires, 1 with terrain tires, and during winter 1 with studded tires - the bikes I got 2nd hand in very good shapes :-)
I knew before watching. On iceless tarmac, studless. On icy tarmac, studded. But you didn't compare the studded tire with a dedicated studless Winter tire though, you compared the studded tire with a regular any-season knobbly tire. Winter studless tires have a dense complicated tread pattern in a soft rubber compound, for example the Continental Top Contact Winter tire. Comparing two *winter* studded and studless tires would be a good next test comparison. :-)
Yesterday I startet ridning big studded 2.8 wide. Superbig is a lot slower than my smaller summertyres, but I feel safe. Which means I go biking in the winter. Previous winter I never rode my bike. This winter I will go biking slmost every week if its not below 10 degrees celsius.
Thanks for doing this test. Your videos are always well done and informative. I just bought a set of 45 North Wrathchild 27.7 x 3” and was wondering what the traction would be like on the road. Also wondering on the road would the studs wear down faster. I live in Ontario, Canada and deal with the freeze thaw issue also. I think I might ride my old bike with standard tires when its not icy and save the studs for when they are needed.
I have commuted for years on a bike year around in the Ottawa area. Once black ice season is upon us I put studded tires on. It can be fine when the sun is out but once it goes down thats when ice can be a problem. Nothing works in deep road brown snow. Here's the thing when on snow and ice you ride more cautiously and up right. Riding with studs on dry pavement or worse metal grating needs almost the same cautiousness and up right style. For the speed junkies out there once you factor in the ER time and repairs, caution always will be much faster and cheaper. As for hitting the pavement it's not so much when as it is how you land and where. It's been 2 seasons since my last wipe out. But my last wipe out landed me with in kissing distance of a car's front tire. You know it's close when to can lick the tire that is about to crush your skull. Major reminder to keep speed down and brown snow always wins....Helmet
@@EMTBVideos When I say brown snow I mean the mix of road salt and snow. Once it gets to be about 6 inches deep becomes problematic. Experience seems to point in two directions. Fat tires float all to well and good until there is pure ice underneath. Narrower tire push through the snow so the studs can do their thing. The real problem is the freeze and thaw cycle. I think brown soft snow being the worst. I have 2 winter bikes 1 with studded 26 x 2.1 tires and 1 with 4 inch studded and non studded. The 4 inch studded tires are home made with 1/4 inch carbide studs nothing stops them except 12 inches of wet brown snow. Down side is they tend to get flats when the inside gorilla tape shifts but it does not shift in the front??? Nasty rough ride on dry pavement thou. So any given day I choose between the 2. Right now my 4 inch is just a plain fat tire so I have been using the other mostly (never have gotten a flat). I must say there is a lot to be said about being able to get down to the ice / pavement as appose to floating but then I would say deepens on how deep the snow is. Another very important point is studs to the outside almost to the sidewall without them the ice snake is going to bite you. A Ice snake is the trail a parked car can leave on compacted snow when it freezes in the freeze thaw cycle. If you front wheel can not climb over this small ice wall ( which is at such an angle it guides you) it will steer you right into traffic and there is nothing you can do other than bale out to the right. Studs on both side walls of both tires are needed at slow speed to navigate these. If not you get dumped in the middle of the lane. Just my experience living in a small town with no public transit. I do have vehicles (3) but the wife and kids usually have them and I prefer my bikes anyway. I commute year round and where I live and travel high speed snow machines are more of a threat than vehicles. But that is way off topic.
I agree with you ABSOLUTELY on everything.
I always use helmet but I had two bike accidents in 7 weeks driving my 38kg e-bike to 40km/h in Gothenburg. I was driving with normal tyres on icy roads after the snow started melting.
At that time I was driving without winter tires - THE result: Broken little finger... after 6 weeks, the same situation, another fall, a new fracture in the same finger but in another place.
Since then I opted to add studs to my tires by driving at slower speeds in winter.
Thanks for the video, still useful in 2023!
The best thing I did was get Ice Spiker Pros for my eMTB for winter riding in Scotland. The *second* best thing I did was to put them on a spare set of wheels. Have swapped them 4 or 5 times now as the weather freezes and thaws. It's great being able to do the swap in minutes instead of an hour or so, not to mention the cost of tubeless sealant.
I've got a spare front wheel which i can use when it's freezing, which is also easy to swap. As long as my front wheel doesn't slide away it's ok. This review is really helpfull though, because a lot of times the morning is slippery and the midday isn't.
I think the only sense is to make the test on snow because this tires were made for it. It would be interesting to see comparison of aggressive tires vs. More standards trail tires. I used to have nobby nic on my old e-bike when now I have butcher tires which were on my levo. Difference is huge. They go like a tank but also rolling really slowly comparing to nobby nic. Could you also make such test? Methodology of your test was quite objective so nice to see such a good work!👍
Good info !! Incredible weather.....
Exactly the kind of review I wanted to see, thank you!
I have a handful of MTBs, so there is always 1 with normal street tires, 1 with terrain tires, and during winter 1 with studded tires - the bikes I got 2nd hand in very good shapes :-)
I knew before watching. On iceless tarmac, studless. On icy tarmac, studded.
But you didn't compare the studded tire with a dedicated studless Winter tire though, you compared the studded tire with a regular any-season knobbly tire. Winter studless tires have a dense complicated tread pattern in a soft rubber compound, for example the Continental Top Contact Winter tire. Comparing two *winter* studded and studless tires would be a good next test comparison. :-)
Yesterday I startet ridning big studded 2.8 wide. Superbig is a lot slower than my smaller summertyres, but I feel safe. Which means I go biking in the winter. Previous winter I never rode my bike. This winter I will go biking slmost every week if its not below 10 degrees celsius.
Thanks for doing this test. Your videos are always well done and informative. I just bought a set of 45 North Wrathchild 27.7 x 3” and was wondering what the traction would be like on the road. Also wondering on the road would the studs wear down faster. I live in Ontario, Canada and deal with the freeze thaw issue also. I think I might ride my old bike with standard tires when its not icy and save the studs for when they are needed.
Flott video, akkurat hva jeg så etter :)
Thanks for video! Do you know difference between Schwalbe aluminum sharp studs 5508 and steel flat studs 5506? Which work better?
I like the workout I get from riding on the bare asphalt
Great videos, guys! It looks like you are in Norway, where are you located?
Cool. I thought I recognised the terrain. I'm in Heggedal. :-)
Dude, is/are studs slippier as front more important, let know control, wtf