ICE!!!

[Vantage]

Watch yourselves out there boys and girls.
I'm 5 mins back from a night ride in which I discovered parts of the local cycle path iced over and a few frozen puddles. The roads are frosting over too. The tell tale sign was the crackling sound from my tyres and one or two slippy moments.

[CyberKnight]

-2 this morning when swmbo went to work , i have switched to the rigid MTB for commuting atm as it has m530s so i can ride unclipped if i need to on dodgier bits , wider tyres and if i do fall at leat the shifters are inboard so are not going to get mashed .
I know studded tyres are the way to go but its better than trying icey unlit country lanes on 23 mm slicks .

[Stradageek]

Recumbent trikes rule! I'm just off out with nothing more to fear than the occasional 360.

My purchase following that truly icy winter a couple of years ago has proved an inspired move.

Take care

[gaz]

I've been putting it off but looking at the frost outside this morning the studded tyres will be going back on my commuter this weekend.

Edit - Job done .

[Cunobelin]

Recumbent trikes rule! I'm just off out with nothing more to fear than the occasional 360.

My purchase following that truly icy winter a couple of years ago has proved an inspired move.

Take care

... add snow tyres and you have the perfect winter vehicle

[sore thumb]

I've got my MTB all prepared for the bad weather.

Can't wait I absolutely love it.



ICE tyres for any occasion

[reohn2]

I have a simple remedy for icy conditions,I don't ride in it unless I'm forced to.

A couple of years back we were riding the tandem with another tandem team on a well known lane what appeared to be tarmac,we'd confirmed the temp was above 6C so felt safe.
I felt the slightest touch of lightness in the steering,gingerly unclipped one foot to test the road surface and found we were on black ice,I let everyone know and advised the other team not to brake.
We slowly came to a halt and on dismounting could barely stand up having to walk on the grass verge for some hundreds of metres before getting to where the sun shone on the road and things were more 'stable',we headed for the nearby A road to get back to the cars,ride cancelled.
Ice studs apart,I don't see the point of risking injury for a bike ride.

[rjb]

I'm with Reohn 2 , iv'e got to the age where if I come off now I am probably going to break something. Last year it was my pelvis, and prior to that the elbow and collar bone. 3 offs in the last 10 years and bad breaks on each of them. Prior to these I just bounced

[Mick F]

Ice = no cycling for me.

[Tonyf33]

There were plenty of tree covered sections still well frosted up at 1:30 this afternoon when I popped out, personally though I don't see the point in studded tyres unless you have a lakes worth of ice to traverse.
What you lose in going slower or dismounting for really dicy bits you gain on the bits not so. Even in the coldest winters there isn't that much ice about on the roads anyway (accepting isolated areas). I seem to have far more problems with eneven (very) compacted snow that has gone smooth from a freeze thaw, which when on the rare occasion one needs to ride a fair distance over such I'll use the MTB fatter/lower pressure knobbly tyres. that said I still found it easier/quicker/safer just to use a stabilser (leg) & pedal with the other with a bit of air out of my normal tyres.

Do studded tyres really work safety wise over and above being cautious, choosing a better line, lower tyre pressure or is the reality (here in the UK at least) that they are just more of a risk compensation piece of equipment?

[karlt]

Little option. 15 mile commute. Have to ride to the railway station if nothing else.

[redfacedbaldfatman]

Recumbent trikes rule! I'm just off out with nothing more to fear than the occasional 360.

My purchase following that truly icy winter a couple of years ago has proved an inspired move.

Take care

Saw a tandem recumbent trike on my ride this morning! Not something you see every day, it put a smile on my face.

I switched to Continental WinterContact Premium II tyres for this morning's 23 mile ride, and I'm glad I did as there was black ice in the shadows. The tyres worked well, much better than my marathon supremes would have been in the same conditions. The compound is very soft.

I also stopped for a cup of tea from my Elite Deboyo cycling flask (thanks to a thread on here for mentioning it).

The main complaint from this morning was my big toes as I am still wearing summer Shimano shoes with lots of ventilation, can't wait for my Northwave Celsius GTX boots and sealskinz socks to arrive! I WILL BE UNSTOPPABLE!

[niggle]

I have a 5.6 mile each way commute, with a couple of steep hills, to my job as a nurse based at the main hospital in Truro and I have no car available, so when there is ice about I take my Carrera Subway with studded tyres. Going on the experiences of riding that route in the winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11, the biggest problem is descending a steep hill, where it is hard to control the bike and stop it running/sliding away from you.

For the first winter I just had Schwalbe Land Cruisers and had to get off and walk at times to both climb and descend the hills. It was even hard to keep upright when walking and my main plan if things did seem unrecoverable going down hill was to try to lay the bike down and slide on my bum, but thankfully I managed to avoid this. For the second winter I put self tappers through the knobbles on the Land Cruisers and got masses more grip, which saw me able to ride up hill and down on shiny black ice, the main issue being that if I had to stop then putting a foot down was hazardous.

On frosty mornings in early 2011, after the last reserves of road grit were long gone from the Cornwall Council depots, I encountered a Mini abandoned in a ditch at the bottom of a hill and a small Peugeot on it's roof half way down the steepest hill. Having the combination of knobbly MTB tread and studs is really handy as to get past a bus that had jammed sideways across the road half way up the less steep hill I had to ride up the verge through several inches of snow and lumpy ice. However with the homemade studded tyres eventually the screw heads wore through the layers of duct tape to the inner tubes and I got a flat just at the end of the icy period, hence when I saw some on offer I bought Schwalbe Snow Studs, instead of Marathon Winters, though these have not been used in anger yet.

[kwackers]

You can all stop panicking, I fitted my winter tyres yesterday so as per last year the chances of ice is now zero until the day after I take them back off.

[Vantage]

You can all stop panicking, I fitted my winter tyres yesterday so as per last year the chances of ice is now zero until the day after I take them back off.

Gales, severe at times, are likely to affect North Wales, Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland from Tuesday night, during Wednesday and at first on Thursday with a risk of storm force winds for parts of Western and Northern Scotland. The strongest winds will slowly ease on Thursday morning. Waves will be unusually high, bringing the risk of localised flooding of roads and causeways, particularly in western and northern Scotland and northern coasts of Northern Ireland. Frequent wintry showers will also bring an additional hazard, mainly over higher ground. The public should be aware of the potential for disruption to travel and perhaps also power supplies.

Do you have an umbrella and a wind proof jacket close at hand?