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Tires for winter
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I’m new to New England and trying to figure out how to best setup my “winter” bike for some outdoor base miles when weather permits.

In SF, I ran 30c Tubeless Corsa Controls with full fenders (which is maximum the frame fits). Worked great given the winter rain and wet roads.

Here in New England, I’m expecting snow. I don’t plan to ride the bike in blizzard conditions, but say I wanted to ride when roads are reasonably clear with some melted snow, maybe some ice, puddles, etc. I could fit up to 38 tires (but no room for fenders). Should I ride a MTB? Stay off the roads when there is risk of ice (resume my roads are salted). My winter bike is pretty nice (custom steel Stelbel Rodano Disc) which made sense in Bay Area but is that crazy to ride on salted roads? Should I be riding some kind of cheap Surly? I have a Midnight Special with 650 x 48s and fenders that I commute on, would that make more sense?

I really want a fat tire bike for heavy snow riding, but that’s a separate topic.
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Re: Tires for winter [wintershade] [ In reply to ]
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wintershade wrote:
I’m new to New England and trying to figure out how to best setup my “winter” bike for some outdoor base miles when weather permits.

In SF, I ran 30c Tubeless Corsa Controls with full fenders (which is maximum the frame fits). Worked great given the winter rain and wet roads.

Here in New England, I’m expecting snow. I don’t plan to ride the bike in blizzard conditions, but say I wanted to ride when roads are reasonably clear with some melted snow, maybe some ice, puddles, etc. I could fit up to 38 tires (but no room for fenders). Should I ride a MTB? Stay off the roads when there is risk of ice (resume my roads are salted). My winter bike is pretty nice (custom steel Stelbel Rodano Disc) which made sense in Bay Area but is that crazy to ride on salted roads? Should I be riding some kind of cheap Surly? I have a Midnight Special with 650 x 48s and fenders that I commute on, would that make more sense?

I really want a fat tire bike for heavy snow riding, but that’s a separate topic.

Do not ride a nice steel bike on winter roads. Just don't. get a beater mountain bike with fenders and some studded tires (or better yet a fatbike)

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Re: Tires for winter [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking. My Midnight Special is my “beater.” Has a power tap rear and dynamo front hub, WTB Horozons with full fender, Apex 1.

How much rubber do you really need riding on winter roads? I recall riding an old steel fixie with 32c Ruffy Tuffy tires and full fenders in Chicago in college. No issues. But I was mostly riding the lakefront path for longer rides (so no cars to contend with) or just 1 mile to/from class. And I do remember almost wiping out a couple times due to traction loss. Now that I’m a conservative dad, I’d like more safety margin in the grip dept.

Would you run a drop bar mountain bike or flat bars (for wider grip / better control).
Last edited by: wintershade: Nov 23, 20 8:29
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Re: Tires for winter [wintershade] [ In reply to ]
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wintershade wrote:
Yeah, that’s kind of what I was thinking. My Midnight Special is my “beater.” Has a power tap rear and dynamo front hub, WTB Horozons with full fender, Apex 1.

How much rubber do you really need riding on winter roads? I recall riding an old steel fixie with 32c Ruffy Tuffy tires and full fenders in Chicago in college. No issues. But I was mostly riding the lakefront path for longer rides (so no cars to contend with) or just 1 mile to/from class. And I do remember almost wiping out a couple times due to traction loss. Now that I’m a conservative dad, I’d like more safety margin in the grip dept.

Would you run a drop bar mountain bike or flat bars (for wider grip / better control).

personally, I'd run a set of relatively narrow flat bars, think old school XC. I don't think you need that much rubber, but I'd definitely run studded.

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly
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Re: Tires for winter [wintershade] [ In reply to ]
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Winters are not the same anymore in NE (at least if you mean around Boston). The last couple of years snow or ice were not an issue. We had a couple of blizzards per year and the roads were clean in several days after each of them.

SALT is the biggest issue. If you can deal with that - you don't have to worry about tires.
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Re: Tires for winter [wintershade] [ In reply to ]
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I used to ride through the winter on the north shore of Long Island and stare at you guys across the sound. For the most part Suffolk and CT are rideable on a standard road bike through the winter. January and February could get snowy and then melt, so fenders helped immensely, though I’d take them off most of the time. The biggest issue I had with tires was flats, so something well buttressed would help avoid flats, which are killer in the cold. Other than that it’s just about how well dressed you are.
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Re: Tires for winter [JasoninHalifax] [ In reply to ]
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JasoninHalifax wrote:
wintershade wrote:
I’m new to New England and trying to figure out how to best setup my “winter” bike for some outdoor base miles when weather permits.

In SF, I ran 30c Tubeless Corsa Controls with full fenders (which is maximum the frame fits). Worked great given the winter rain and wet roads.

Here in New England, I’m expecting snow. I don’t plan to ride the bike in blizzard conditions, but say I wanted to ride when roads are reasonably clear with some melted snow, maybe some ice, puddles, etc. I could fit up to 38 tires (but no room for fenders). Should I ride a MTB? Stay off the roads when there is risk of ice (resume my roads are salted). My winter bike is pretty nice (custom steel Stelbel Rodano Disc) which made sense in Bay Area but is that crazy to ride on salted roads? Should I be riding some kind of cheap Surly? I have a Midnight Special with 650 x 48s and fenders that I commute on, would that make more sense?

I really want a fat tire bike for heavy snow riding, but that’s a separate topic.


Do not ride a nice steel bike on winter roads. Just don't. get a beater mountain bike with fenders and some studded tires (or better yet a fatbike)

I rode a nice steel bike on winter roads for years in Mass and CT. That's what bikes are for.

But yeah, if you can, a second winter bike is good just due to dirt/salt - you won't feel the need to clean it so much.

Do not get a fat bike if your thing is road riding. Get another road bike. Maybe a gravelly bike bike drop bars so you have options for other riding.

I've never used studded tires but understand they have worse traction unless actually riding on snow/ice.

To the OP - just get somewhat heavy road tires so you never or almost never flat. For me that'd be "training" level tires with tire liners. Done.

Learn what conditions are like where you are. It's like the bike getting annoyingly dirty will be the bigger issue than ice.


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Re: Tires for winter [wintershade] [ In reply to ]
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A hard tire like a maxxis refuse is good in the winter. The salt will wreck your nice bike, something like a surly cross check makes fenders easy and accepts larger tires. I like to run a mirror in winter to see the plows on pickups, they stuck out a lot. I use.flat pedals and boots when it gets real cold.
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