Can report the same as everyone else - went sprawling twice in Linlithgow and now hirpling around the office with new bruises on the hip and blood blisters coming up on my hand. Proper tyres is now a priority for me! Any recommendations gratefully received for hybrid frame...
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting
"Severe weather warning"
(7379 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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Pleasing brass ringing sound at regular intervals as I headed up the coast from Helensburgh.
Hail off my bell, of course. Why, what did you think it was?
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Min - yup, this was actually a towpath report for 8 December 2015... :-)
Posted 9 years ago # -
Ice all the way from Queensferry on B800 path to Kirkliston, and A8 path especially on airport roundabout, continuing all the way to Edinburgh park.
Notaproblematall with Winter Marathons!
Posted 9 years ago # -
Possibly all you need to know about spiked tyres -
"
This web page is intended to help educate winter cyclists about studded tires. There's a lot to read on this page, and unless you are sure you know exactly what you want, it would behoove you to read the entire page before placing your order. I've put a lot of work into this page, to help you be sure that you're getting the right tire for your needs. I think you'll find that a few minutes spent reading is time well spent. You could call and ask, but many people don't know what questions to ask. This page answers many questions you may never have thought about.
"
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp
(American site so you might not want to order from.)
He doesn't seem to have come across these -
http://brilliantbikes.co.uk/16-inch-tyres/1714-schwalbe-winter-30-349-tyre.html
Posted 9 years ago # -
I was initially concerned that I might have over-reacted by catching a bus this morning because conditions didn't look at all bad at any point in town, but then it all became quite wintry around Craiglockhart/Colinton, and continued fairly consistently to Heriot-Watt. It sounds like many roads and the towpath are treacherous from the comments here and searching Twitter for "Edinburgh ice" so thanks for the updates. I hope that nobody fell off too badly. I may need extra tea to wake up this morning.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Nasty ice in the car park at Livingston North Station. Walked down to the main road, which was fine (apart from the odd bit of ice in the gutter). Cold wind!!
Posted 9 years ago # -
If you're in the central belt, you can distil that Peter White page down to "buy Marathon Winters", or perhaps the non-Marathon "Schwalbe Winter" which is thinner by virtue of having just two rows of studs - still perfectly adequate and more likely to fit under your mudguards.
You can get the 30mm winter tyre from Chain Reaction for about £30. Many other stores are available.
(If you live above the arctic circle and need to commute long distances on untreated trails then you may wish to import some Nokians. I quite fancy some wilderness ice touring myself :-)
Posted 9 years ago # -
@jdanielp
Good choice. It was The March of the Penguins at Wester Hailes as cyclists dismounted and waddled across the frozen wasteland with their eggs balanced on their SPD shoes.
@Greenroofer gave me a cast-off ice tyre, which I failed to fit over the weekend. I feel like a total goon as a result, and will cycle home through town before fitting it tonight.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Planet X have the Schwalbe Winters (and the Schwalbe Snow tyres) on a healthy discount right now. Not sure if they stock the Marathon Winters.
I think they're £19.99 each. If you can combine that with one of their regular 20% off promos, you can pick them up for a very reasonable price.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I spent a very frustrating and fiddly 3 hours last night putting my marathon winters on. In the process I stapped a tyre lever, pinch flatted the rear & made a right mess in the kitchen. I'm convinced that the smaller wheels are harder to get on & off.
Glad that persevered, given the ice this morning, although very annoyingly had another puncture at Murrayfield this morning (pinch flat I assume).
Posted 9 years ago # -
main road little bit of slush until Slateford then nothing. Slush forces you out. Cars all forgiving this morning.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I took the MTB today as I'd noticed how slippy the paths/roads were after walking across to ASDA Chesser this morning. I took the towpath from Allan Park but abandoned that idea at Ashley Terrace as the towpath was sheet ice in places. Sticking to main roads was fine but it was all quite nervy as you could never quite tell if there were black ice patches ahead. If the weather is forecast for more of the same I might be tempted to put the Marathon winter tyres on.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Thanks for advice folks. Last time I looked into the matter (~2 years ago?) there didn't seem to be anything with enough clearance for my frame. 700x35 will fit if the wheel doesn't have to turn too.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Dougal - just to note, the Schwalbe Winters (the regular, non-Marathon flavour) come in 30mm and 40mm versions.
Posted 9 years ago # -
All was well until I hit the slope up to the Corstorphine railway path and got rear wheelspin on leafmulch-invisifrost substrate.
By Dovecot Road it was getting noticably like black ice under the wheels and Broomhall was quite worrying and I crawled along at walking speed with one foot unclipped just incase. By Gylemuir it seemed OK again, must just be a particularly cool pocket of air. Either that or the cavalcade of school run vehicles before me at the school had done a good job of heating the road enough to turn the shiny frost to water.
Posted 9 years ago # -
When I stopped on the canal towpath an MTB rider coming the other way careered off the path and onto the grass, too scared to brake or turn. Came within an inch of a cold, filth-ridden bath.
If he'd gone in I wouldn't have felt guilty. People really do ride too fast on that path, myself included at times.
Posted 9 years ago # -
I had a couple of unscheduled 'road lie downs' this morning as well going between Clerwood and St Johns Road. It was ridiculously scary cycling down Corstorphine Bank Road. Don't think my bike can accept anything bigger than 700x23 tyres so full body armour is probably my best bet.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Did a cartoon style back wheel is turning but I'm not moving? type thing coming up the hill this morning.
Discretion being the better part of valour, I got off and pushed up the rest of the hill.
Was very reluctant to lean into corners for the rest of my commute. Hope it is not so bad on the way home.Posted 9 years ago # -
I'm quite looking forward to riding tomorrow with the studs on. There's something pretty magical about being able to ride at normal speeds when it's a sheet of black ice :)
It turns out our street is a pretty good advisor of trouble to come. It's about 1:6 and this morning it was a sheet of white... I was quite nervous getting the car out (and it took a whole kettle to get the windows clear).
Posted 9 years ago # -
@Dave - yes :)
Except when the person behind you doesn't realise you are in spike-deployed mode and follows you around that corner at the same speed. Oops...Posted 9 years ago # -
Looks like I'll be hauling the bike with spiky-tyre clearance out from the pile of bikes in the corner of the box room. Need to get a pannier rack and some rear lights on it though, the latter appear to have been misplaced during the housemove in the summer.
Posted 9 years ago # -
@LivD
that is when i bought my two rows of studs. Watched chap on side strett at Murrayfield take the corner, followed him round at same speed, hit brake a little, fell off a lottle.
Have not used it that much. Have also now lost my spare studs a friend gave me and my CR032 batteries for my blinky. Pah.
Posted 9 years ago # -
It's this time of year where I decide I'm often safer leaving the bike at home and getting the turbo out at night instead.
I used to cycle through the whole winter, but too many falls on ice in recent years mean I'm no longer quite so keen. Spending Christmas nursing broken bones doesn't really appeal!
Posted 9 years ago # -
My experience was at the South end of the Chancelot
IcerinkPath a couple of years ago. I was on the smug end of the experience though.Posted 9 years ago # -
After this mornings hideous commute including an intentional "off" going downhill to the Edinburgh Park underpass I am spending the time putting on the Marathon Winters later.
As has been noted previously its a bit of a PITA and will be annoying if it suddently warms up again - but I felt like bambi on ice this morning and was forced onto the road instead of using paths.
I also find it inconceivable that CEC didnt see this coming, it was forecast all weekend. I first hit black ice on Strathearn Road - about 150 metres from my house - and thats a flippin bus route.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Surprisingly the roads up around the summit of Edinburgh weren't as bad as I expected - a dusting of snow, odd bits of black ice, though I know where the sun hits them and where the cold pockets are, having fallen off before.
It wasn't too bad until I reached the wee roads through Craiglockhart, where I descended very slowly. The lowest part of Craiglockhart Park was an ice rink. I wasn't worried about falling off but bashing the torpedo into something at walking pace would certainly put a crimp on my day. The car driver in front of me was "goin' dead canny like" as well.
Posted 9 years ago # -
My bike has 700 38C tyres I am looking for a winter tyre is it this one that works best? (Schwalbe Winter Performance Kevlar Guard Wired 700C Road Tyre) Where would be the place to get tyres Halfords Evans or somewhere?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Glad I fitted my winter tyres yesterday. Was not too happy about the extra weight as I headed off into a headwind this morning, but the benefits soon came back to me.
The tyres - Conti Top Contact Winters – are brilliant. No studs and not much tread, but they have a really grippy rubber. You can’t go daft, but they allow gentle braking with the rear, even downhill on ice. I suspect a lot of it is just down to the fact that they’re massive (26 x 1.9) with a lot of rubber on the road.
Maybe for deep rutted ice I’d want my studded Marathon Winters on, but I find the Contis more than adequate most of the time. I generally just leave them on right through to March or April. This’ll be their fourth winter and they’re still going strong. They pick up a lot of tiny bits of glass, but so far not a single p*******. A truly good bit of kit.
(I just had a look and saw that they’re now onto version II, at a wince-inducing £40 a tyre, but I suspect I’ll still be buying a pair when mine wear out.)Posted 9 years ago # -
And welcome to BurntOut.
Interesting first post.
That'll stir things up!
We've spent about 3 winters on 'are studs worth it'.
Now it'll be 'but are these really any use on sheet ice?'
Posted 9 years ago #
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