Tag: winter tyres

February 20th – Talking about making a bike your own, bike fettling experiments continue, and the maintenance jobs stack up. First off is replacement studs for the winter tyres. The metal inserts do come out, particularly if you skid, they tend to tear from their sockets. One thing the manufacturers – Schwalbe – pride themselves on, is that if you give them a call (They’re only in Telford), they’ll send you a large bag full of the carbide  rivet-like spikes in the post by return. With the air out of the tyre and warm water, it’s easy to pop in the replacements with pliers. I try to do this towards the end of the season every year.

On the higher tech side, I’m experimenting with some swanky mechanised gearing kit, but it’s been a bit of a challenge to get working, as the components all need updating to get them functioning together. Having got everything talking to everything else now, the mechanical experimentation can begin.

Fun times.

December 6th – The seasonal frosts came with a vengeance today, the roads and pavements covered in a layer of frozen rainfall. As soon as that happens, on go my winter tyres. The ones I use are Schwalbe Marathon Winter, in 700cx35, which have a pronounced, rubbery anti-slip deep tread and carry four rows of tungsten carbide studs, which bite into ice and stop you sliding away. Very effective in snow, this is the second winter for this pair, and they’re still like new. They’re noisy to ride, and don’t roll all that smoothly, but I’d rather that than land on my arse. They work surprisingly well, and cut spills to an absolute minimum. Highly recommended.