http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Tag: ice spike winter - Recent Posts en Sun, 31 May 2026 01:33:42 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-378205 Sat, 11 Jan 2025 09:08:01 +0000 gembo 378205@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I spent a fair bit of time this New Year picking up the Yak Trax of fellow walkers. Everyone loved them when Aldi started selling them BUT after worn a. Few times they loosen and fall off.</p> <p>Chains for car wheels could work on a bike but probably cost close to price of keeping a spare front wheel with studs that you can swap in if needs.be.</p> <p>I have only ever gone with the front wheel studded. But have used it so few times that the studs haven’t loosened yet and worked their way up towards the inner tube which is the issue with them. Schwalbe will send you replacement studs free [or used to] </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-378203 Sat, 11 Jan 2025 01:41:42 +0000 Yodhrin 378203@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I've always wondered; has anyone ever tried to develop a "temporary stud coat" product for bikes? Obviously the sock-style grip covers you can get for car wheels wouldn't work, but with straps and modern material design it should be possible to create a tread-only sheath for an existing tyre that would stay put without slipping and would allow you to just whack it on or off yourself in a few minutes if it looked icy outside. Might conflict with mudguards of course depending on what clearance could be achieved.</p> <p>I dunno, it's just one of those ideas that seems obvious, which more often than not is less likely to mean you're the first to think of it than it is the idea is just stupid in a way you're not capable of seeing, hah. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-378201 Fri, 10 Jan 2025 23:42:09 +0000 Greenroofer 378201@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Dave - totally agree. I've just ridden an HSD (same wide wheels/tyres as the GSD, I think) along the towpath, which is icy in places without too much difficulty. I didn't have studded tyres, but I have let the pressure in them drop. Even so, they did well coping with the ice and the frozen ruts. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-378200 Fri, 10 Jan 2025 22:54:46 +0000 Dave 378200@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>A few years ago (in fact in the winter 2016-17) I'd become complacent especially with CEC starting to grit the NEPN which was half of my commute. Sure enough, pride came before the fall and I had a big high speed crash on the road near Ocean Terminal just on sort of hoar frost that might have had some solid ice beneath. I couldn't kneel comfortably for about four months, awkward with babies to look after! </p> <p>After that I was good at doing studs even if I got a bit lazy taking them off (didn't take them off the GSD until nearly May last year!)</p> <p>Unfortunately this year I was too slow off the mark leading to SWMBO taking a spill trying to get up to Harlaw, and it bent and wrote off the cranks. </p> <p>I find the really wide (55mm?) on the GSD to perform really well. The narrow 30mm two-rows-of-studs on my commuter are really prone to tramlining along any kind of parallel rut, groove, or crack in the surface </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-378197 Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:55:00 +0000 gembo 378197@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>WELL that is a fair comment but maybe I could grow? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-378196 Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:53:45 +0000 chdot 378196@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“You can give me that one if you can’t think of anything else to do with it”</p> <p>I could, but, <em>as you know</em>, it’s TOO BIG… </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-378194 Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:44:23 +0000 gembo 378194@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have a spiked. Tyre - but only the 2 circles not the 4 and nowt on back. It resides on a bike I only use once in ten years. You can give me that one if you can’t think of anything else to do with it. It is VERY cold and icy in Balerno </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-378193 Fri, 10 Jan 2025 20:51:05 +0000 chdot 378193@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Seems sensible to revive this thread. </p> <p>I think there’s a thread from the time Planet X had a shop in Ed and <em>massive</em> reductions on Schwalbes studded tyres (but I can’t find it - unless it’s this one!). </p> <p>At least 10 years ago!</p> <p>Anyway I bought 2 pairs. </p> <p>The 26” versions refused to stay on the rims I had. </p> <p> The 700cs finally got an outing yesterday. </p> <p>Didn’t find much ice, but plenty of frosty surfaces (see other threads). </p> <p>Built a bike for the occasion. </p> <p><img src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54256923026_e9c86bb767.jpg"></p> <p><em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/chdot/54256923026/sizes/4k/">Click for bigger</a>. </em></p> <p>Not sure what happens to it when small freeze goes away. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343764 Sun, 10 Jan 2021 20:14:25 +0000 Greenroofer 343764@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@CocoShepherd - there's no problem with the tyres, what I needed was studs on my shoes (which I had left at home...) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343760 Sun, 10 Jan 2021 19:06:04 +0000 CocoShepherd 343760@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I am sorry for your loss @gerbil that's an autocorrect correction and I'm leaving it in </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343756 Sun, 10 Jan 2021 18:59:23 +0000 gembo 343756@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I do need one for the back @cocoshepherd as the sidewall on the black chilli has ruptured. Not quite sure how an am getting away with it, think it is the Kevlar. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343755 Sun, 10 Jan 2021 18:53:43 +0000 CocoShepherd 343755@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@gembo @greenroofer sounds like you need some Vittoria Rubino Pro Endurance IV G2.0 Road tyres </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343753 Sun, 10 Jan 2021 18:44:31 +0000 gembo 343753@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@greenroofer, glad you stayed upright. The same surface on WoL path. And Lymphoy. All the snow that was providing traction has gone. Just the curling rink left. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343747 Sun, 10 Jan 2021 17:30:09 +0000 Greenroofer 343747@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Went for a toddle round the reservoirs today. The bike was shod with Marathon Winters, I was shod with trail shoes. The track round the reservoirs is a sheet of knobbly ice, covered with water. I was doing fine until an off-camber bit caused the back to kick out and I had to put a foot down. There then followed a delicate pause while I realised that if I moved my foot (which had no grip whatsoever) I was going to go over. Restarting was...interesting. Genuinely a case of being able to cycle where I couldn't walk. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343359 Tue, 05 Jan 2021 12:20:49 +0000 toomanybikes 343359@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Cheers @Arellcat, I should have added that detail, it took a bit of head scratching &amp; googling to figure out what the heck it was at the weekend. Apparently still the standard on dutch-style roadsters. It looks about the same bead size, so I never noticed when it arrived that it was so different to the other 3 tyres, just that it was a smaller width on side wall part. Why can't every bike standard die out apart from: 5mm hex keys, brompton and 700c wheels? Life would be so much simpler.. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343355 Tue, 05 Jan 2021 11:26:58 +0000 Arellcat 343355@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>700b free to anyone who can utilise it as I was gifted two additional ones by fortunate chance last year.</em></p> <p>The 700×38b Marathon Winter is 40-635mm, so rim size is up from 700c, and it's equivalent to 28×1½, which is what Pashley uses on the Roadster and larger framed traditional bikes, for example. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343354 Tue, 05 Jan 2021 11:25:32 +0000 Dave 343354@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>If anyone could use it, I've got one brand new 26x2.0" Marathon Winter which is surplus to requirements (I accidentally ordered the wrong size by mistake). I pitched it on the local FB group for £20 but no interest. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343350 Tue, 05 Jan 2021 10:55:47 +0000 toomanybikes 343350@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>When adding my studded tyres over the weekend I noticed one from the set of four winter marathons I bought from Rose cycles was in fact not a 700c tyre but mysteriously a 700b tyre. </p> <p>Free to anyone who can utilise it as I was gifted two additional ones by fortunate chance last year. </p> <p>I normally only do the front tyre on my mountain bike, but the ice at the moment is outrageous, so having two studded tyres on has been pretty useful. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343337 Mon, 04 Jan 2021 20:19:43 +0000 wee folding bike 343337@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>You could use it for exercise though. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343333 Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:15:42 +0000 gembo 343333@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Thanks @SRD </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=6#post-343332 Mon, 04 Jan 2021 18:03:41 +0000 SRD 343332@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>bah. now I don't need my (studded tyred) bike to get to work anymore.... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343269 Sun, 03 Jan 2021 23:53:38 +0000 Arellcat 343269@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"But I wanted a pink one!" *tantrum*</p> <p>Maybe there's a school of thought that the geometry of the tire tool would have to change in order to accommodate smaller hands?</p> <p>If it was made with 'different' leverage, people whose hands had more grasping strength would benefit just as much from the more levery version as people with less grasping strength. It'd be like them marketing 3ft bolt cutters in pink for feeble women, and the 2ft bolt cutters in blue for big strong men!</p> <p>Some of the stuff on Amazon is just barmy. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343267 Sun, 03 Jan 2021 23:33:46 +0000 jss 343267@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have one of these<br /> Pretty good usually but occasionally slips<br /> Why is it labelled “unisex”? I didn’t know tools were gender sensitive ( no double entendre intended) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343259 Sun, 03 Jan 2021 21:06:34 +0000 chdot 343259@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>“other retailers are available”</p> <p>This particular item WAY cheaper than ebay. </p> <p>(Not often true.) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343258 Sun, 03 Jan 2021 20:57:50 +0000 Greenroofer 343258@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have one of these: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bbb-Cycling-Unisexs-BTL-78-Bikes/dp/B00A855QRY" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bbb-Cycling-Unisexs-BTL-78-Bikes/dp/B00A855QRY</a> (other retailers are available)</p> <p>I installed two 622-size Marathon Winter tyres yesterday in a sub-zero garage with no fuss, no shredded knuckles and no pinched tubes. This tool will also fit studded tyres to the Brompton (although I confess that I do that with warm tyres).</p> <p>I reckon it takes all the stress and effort out of fitting 'difficult' tyres. I <em>can </em>do it without this tool, but I'd rather not... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343253 Sun, 03 Jan 2021 18:17:33 +0000 gembo 343253@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@srd, not a bad amount of collateral </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343251 Sun, 03 Jan 2021 17:41:45 +0000 SRD 343251@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>After two tube malfunctions and some mudguard fettling, I have a marathon winter equipped bike. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343243 Sun, 03 Jan 2021 14:50:10 +0000 wingpig 343243@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Hmm. SJS have a few Schwalbe spikes in stock and on sale. I've still not got round to trying my current 40-622 two-row-spike Schwalbe Winter on the singlespeed to see if they fit (or at least fit when the chain is at the longer end and the wheel as far back in the dropouts as it can go). 42-622 ought to fit the geared bike as the current set are barely scraping the mud on the inside of the mudguard at the moment. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343199 Sat, 02 Jan 2021 22:08:58 +0000 nobrakes 343199@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Giant crispy cornflakes - fantastic description! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5085&page=5#post-343182 Sat, 02 Jan 2021 19:48:19 +0000 jss 343182@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I did get a tyre puller gizmo which was about a fiver on wiggle and works better than levers for that final pull over ,but it is slightly flimsy and prone to slipping<br /> Maybe I should take up drumming or perhaps becoming a brickie would strengthen up the digits </p> <p>BTW, has anyone tried Marathon 365 tyres in these wintry conditions? </p>