Over the years I have ridden throughout the winter but constantly changed my habits. I have thought several years of getting studded tires, not many people I know use them, none of the shops around stock them and I had never really seen one until this year. I don't mind, or should I say,I really like cold weather, but the slippery road conditions pretty well limit riding in the winter. Although most of the streets in the winter are just wet, there are a lot of icy patches and the only streets that get good attention are the busiest. The problem I had with studded tires in the past was that there were too many studs. I ride around town for utility purposes during the winter and don't go riding around in deep snow or race across frozen lakes so when I found the Nokian A10 I realized it is a perfect fit for city riding in the Midwest. It has 72 studs which are carefully placed along the outer edge of the tread.
This limited pattern leaves a stud free center of the tire in contact with the wet asphalt and the studs come into play on packed, rutted snow and during turns when you need the extra "teeth" for safety. While a good deal slower than a regular road tire, the Nokian A10 supposedly has less rolling resistance than any other studded tire. They certainly provide much better stability than any other 32 mm tire I have ridden in the snow. The tread is substantial, and very effective on packed snow. This is the kind of street I would avoid, or walk, in the past:
While virtually impassable on normal road tires, The Nokian cut a nice stable path right through the slop and held me upright whenever I felt the front tire sliding out from under me. While I will never be as aggressive riding in the winter, I have a lot more confidence riding on these tires, don't feel I compromise much for the studs and can handle the occasional 6-12" pile I run into on Michigan streets.
At $50 apiece I feel these are a great bargain and will vastly improve and extend my riding in the winter.
Pondered over these too. I ended up getting the Schwabe Marathon Winters 700X35 and still wonder what the A10 would have been like. Many a day I think I could be going faster. However I have found when going through snow like the one posted on the bottom if there is any extra snow from someones driveway I find my self slipping around. Reminds me of biking in sand in Moab. Not sure I like that on my commute.
ReplyDeletesorry, I overlooked your post the last couple days. I doubt that you would be going any faster on pavement, these are slow tires. The tread pattern is not only deep, it is exactly perpendicular to the line of travel. They are good on packed snow, save my ass on ice, but feel like a cruiser on the road.
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