What tire should I put on my road/commuter bike to prepare for a New York winter?

Question

I have a road/commuter bike (Specialized Tricross) I use for commuting daily in New York City. The roads here can be quite harsh, with everything from leaves and branches to glass and potholes. The roads here gave me plenty of flats on the stock tires, so I replaced them with 28mm Continental Ultra Gators, and haven't had a flat since. I already have full coverage fenders with mudflaps on, and they've been very helpful on rainy days. Now winter is approaching and I'm wondering whether to swap out the tires.

I rode in winter here last year, so I'm familiar with the challenges, but I'm not perfectly satisfied with how my current setup performed.

The issues are:

• About 60% of the time it's really no different from the rest of the year, just colder. A significantly heavier or knobbier tire would slow me down on these days.
• About 10% of the time you get flurries or light snow that doesn't stick, and the smooth tread on my tires makes turning a bit dicey, but otherwise manageable.
• About 10% of the time there is some fresh snow on the ground, and turning can be very challenging, but going straight is fine.
• About 10-15% of the time there is older snow on the ground, mixed with patches of ice. I am able to proceed in a straight line at a slow and steady pace, about 10-12 MPH, occasionally getting off for steep hills and sharp turns.
• 5% of the time conditions are such that it is completely unrideable, and I end up walking the bike home if I happen to have ridden it to work in the morning. I will often avoid riding in the 10-15% conditions mentioned above to avoid being faced with these conditions later in the day.

Do I need a completely new bike for the winter (or should I just take transit 20% of the time), or will putting on different tires help? Another possibility would be to buy a new front wheel with a very wide tire, and switch out wheels on bad weather days. Has anybody tried this out? Would I be OK with a smooth tread on the back?

Answer 1

I personally find that skinny (e.g., 700x23) tires cut through light snow really well, and actually have better traction than thicker tires that can sit on top of the snow. You do have to be careful on turns, but it's just like driving in the snow: you go a bit slower.

Bigger tires with knobbies on them work better with thicker snow. Basically, the thicker the snow, the bigger and knobbier you want your tires to be. That's an overgeneralization, but it cuts to the heart of the matter.

Unless you buy a whole new bike with frame clearance for larger tires (possibly much larger), there will always be a point at which the snow is simply too much for your bike to handle. That's actually something that's worth considering since winter weather is hard on bikes. And the salt, sand, and cinders that cities tend to treat roads with is even harder on them.

Another thing that you might consider is buying a second wheelset and installing your snow tires on those. It is much easier (provided that your rim widths are the same or you have discs so you don't have to adjust the brakes) to swap out a wheelset than it is to change your tires. Especially if you find yourself needing to do it at the last minute, as I often do.

Also note that the only tire that will give you traction on ice is a studded tire. It's probably not practical though given that you wouldn't be using it a significant amount of time since you shouldn't use them when it's not icy.

Answer 2

You say you've got a small apartment that can't accommodate two bikes, but how about two sets of wheels? The only thing that can deal with ice is studded tires, so for those 20% of the days that include ice, you need studded tires. Your Tricross should be able to accommodate such wheels, so it would simply be a matter of changing wheels rather than buying a whole new bike or using transit.

As for those days it seems okay in the morning but turns into an icy day in the evening, all I can suggest is paying careful attention to the weather guessers and guessing conservatively.

Answer 3

I would get a spare front wheel and a studded Schwalbe winter tyre, pref 30-622 since it the smallest I know of and it got a quite low rolling resistance. Just leave it on for the winter period or swap it out for the icy days.

I've been commuting daily year round in northern Sweden for the past 5 years and 3-4 years more prior to that. Up here we have around -10 to -30° C during 3-4 months and some really shitty weather in fall and autumn when it periodically is rainy with frozen ground. My daily ride has a 40-622 tyre with 240 spikes and I never even slipped with it. Actually I also have a spare one for the back wheel but haven't come around to mounting it yet since the need weren't so big.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Continental makes road-specific tires for winter commuters. They rely on rubber compounds formulated for cold, slick conditions as well as specially shaped treads designed to get a grip on icy and slushy pavement without extreme lugs. They also offer a lugged tire with traction studs, though the tread may be too aggressive for your taste. Schwalbe and Nokian also make studded tires, Schwalbe's Winter and Marathon Winter have a much less aggressive tread than the Nokians, and comes in a variety of road and MTB sizes.