I just did the same fucking thing.
Posted about in in the Cat 6 thread, but whatever. It was at Doug/emor’s favorite little chicane on our local MUP. A totally, 100% unnecessary corner, put in for no observable reason.
Total damage is a pretty gnarly hip bruise, a broken Planet Bike Superflash, and some handlebar tape tearing.
That’s two tarckers down this morning! For real dudes, it sucks riding studs but it’s way better than hurting yourself.
Probably. I could probably get some cheap studded tires for my Fredsled, but honestly there are only a few days a year where it’s cold enough to freeze the road and trails around Seattle.
Yeah, I crashed on a wooden pedestrian bridge during my commute last week. Its covered in a thin layer of moss and always freezes before anything else on the route. I think it has less to do with my tires and more to do with being a dumbass and not riding for the given conditions.
[quote=mdilthey]
Lael Wilcox set a Tour Divide record in a cotton t-shirt and running shorts. Don’t be a corporate shill, kids.[/quote]
Was she wearing Vasque Arrowheads too?
That’s it.
Studded tires go on ladybiek’s diamondback today.
Kinda jealous that she CL scored a $120 set of tires for $50 (never mounted) out from under me…
#CommuteChat
Also, I feel obligated to mention that the city of Tukwila (near my workplace) is on-point with their trail maintenance lately. They seemed to do a much better job maintaining the trail condition during the fall and winter this year compared to the city of Seattle. It felt like they were removing leaves from the trail on a weekly basis throughout the fall and they recently repaved a few sections of the trail with huge nasty root cracks. The change in weather, as always, drove away the summer crowds so its like having your own private low stress bicycle highway with minimal intersection crossings that are instead replaced with underpasses that swoop below all of the gridlocked auto highways.
I was real tired this morning and drove. Seems like I got lucky I didnt ride, was too lazy to put on the studs.
I think I’m gonna buy just one studded tire, for the front, and leave a knobby on the back.
Ive always just ran one in the front.
i went mountain biking on saturday in the 36 degree sleet. it was fine. the trails are still leaf-covered - we’ve leafblown before but this year decided to leave them down because we have erosion issues. it was all fine until i got to the log roll-down to 2 foot drop set. the roll-down was super icy so i sent that, and then had to recover and send the drop. i landed it but mildly pulled my hamstring in the process. it’s fine. and it was super rad.
i bought some of those sidi rain shoes; will report in on success.
i do not recommend studded front knobby rear. i used to do that in dc the one single year it ever snowed there, and it’s just such a sketchy feeling. i rode it for weeks and could never get the hang of having ultra grip on the front with the rear sliding all around. this was on a cross bike commuter with a nokian up front and a cross tire rear.
I don’t wanna pay the money for 2 though 
IME the front one keeps you from the super fast wipeouts, but you do need one in the rear if you are riding hard at all, or riding on large sheets of ice rather than patches.
I always ran two studded tires in Iowa. I would pretty much agree with Todd that it might not be necessary for most folks. On my commute in Iowa there would be lots of berms of packed snow and ice at intersections that the studded rear was good for. Similarly, if you are riding paths that have packed down and freeze-thawed a few times it is reassuring to get that extra grip. The one time I know having the rear studs saved my ass was when I was riding up this short but steep section of path that takes you back to street level, I could feel the rear slipping on the ice until the next stud would hook up. I usually tried to avoid riding large sheets of ice even on studs. Shartmo if you are going to be riding after dark (i.e. after 5pm) in a place with ice, you really need studs front and rear because even with dyno lights you really don’t know what is going to get you shartmo.
and the massive drag of riding studs means you can drink more in your free time as well shartmo
Would love to find a rusty old studded for fun but I have a 10 minute commute and cannot justify it. Honestly my route is more slush and snow than ice 95% of the time. Always wanted to try riding on em tho. Anyone got some fucked up ones they wanna sell me for cheap?
8 New England winters later, I still have never used studs. Last winter was my first with a fatbike, previous one was my first with a MTB. I just ride slower, keep my weight balanced straight up and down through turns, and fall a couple of times a season.
I only had one bike in 2014/15 and my girlfriend had an old slick-tired Kona Cinder Cone, and we negotiated a lot of serious ice with those. The fatbike is way better, way safer (she has a Krampus now, too), but it wasn’t so bad on skinnies that I’d consider it suicidal.
You do have to ride slower.
All about how often you need it. In the Seattle I experienced back in the day, I wouldn’t consider studs a good investment. It’s not like they go bad sitting around waiting to be needed, but the time when they really are needed seemed pretty short compared to the annoyance of swapping tires and/or grinding out ice-free commutes on them.
Here in Madison, the fatbike is fine so far with studs on the front only. On my skinny tired, trying-not-to-hate-every-day-of-winter bike, I feel like front and rear are completely worth the money. Spend less on the rear if it makes you feel better, but gotta have some steel back there. My take is that the traditional hardcore “just run skinny tires and slice through it all” approach was more feasible before the number of people out on bikes, leaving ruts everywhere, jumped up. I’ve been told as much by some of the natives at least.
Actually, yes, totally agree. The worst is when I’m out after dark, when the temperature drops 10 degrees and all the slush freezes in place, ruts and all.
I’m usually a “just run skinny tires and slice through it all” guy. Tonight was 1st snow in Denver and I got to ride ladybiek’s diamondback equipped with studded tires for the first time ever. Holy shit, that thing grips like no other. I ate shit on my touringbiek with paselas (I did slam the front brake on as a test.)
I think I’m gonna get the one tire for the front of my shitbike and decide on a second one later.
I haven’t mounted studded tires since moving to NYC. I have a pair of cheap ones made by innova, 700x37 nominal. They’re heavy and dirty but I would sell for cost of shipping if anyone is interested.
if you sell those we’re gonna have a winter of ice.
