Rims,
Rubber, Studs and Spikes
MTB snow tyres, stud tyres, spike tyres, ice tyres, mountain bike tyres,
winter tyres, MTB tyres
Serious tyres for serious Mountain Biking - The Snowbikers Guide to
MTB snow tyres and wide rims.
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| Nokian
Mount and Ground W160 |
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The
Nokian Mount & Ground W160 is a hard wearing
commuting tyre that will also handle icy trails |
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Nokian
Extreme 294 |
| The
Nokian Extreme 294 is a wire beaded and studded
XC tyre for all round winter riding.
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Nokian
Hakka WXC300 |
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The
Nokian Hakka WXC300 is the ultimate cross country
weapon in the Nokian arsenal, with a tread pattern
suited to snow.
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Nokian
Freddie's Revenz |
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The
Nokian Freddie's Revenz is a full on down hill ice
tyre for when gravity is your friend.
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| What
We Have Found |
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Studs
won’t make any difference in deep snow
And don’t believe anyone who says different! In deep snow
the issue is about floatation, which is dictated in turn by the
size of the footprint your tyres present. Look for wide mud tyres
with wide spaced lugs that won’t pack out with snow. Floatation
is further enhanced by running a low tyre pressure in the (experts
suggest you can get as low as 10-15 PSI), which allows them to
flatten out, and the use of wide rims (but more of that later).
Tyres will tend to creep around the rim at low pressures, and
some people suggest glueing the tyre to the rim, but remember,
only glue one side and remember which one you glued!
If
you are never likely to encounter ice on your rides, then there
is no real need to consider studs at all. |
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Studs
do work on ice
For many of us who live in more temperate regions, the likelihood
of a midday thaw followed by an overnight freeze means that ice may
be frequently encountered. Whether off-road or on-road this is where
studs come into their own. They are not failsafe,
and you still need to treat ice with due respect,
but studs do offer a big improvement in control to the extent that you
can easily be lulled into a false sense of security, only to slip straight
onto your backside soon after stepping off the bike.
Studs
are available as off-road tyres with wide spaced lugs, or on road tyres
with a much closer spaced tread. It should be noted that compared to
regular tyres, there is increased rolling resistance (making pedalling
harder), and the studs can be pretty noisy on bare roads. In climates
where snow and ice persist through the winter, riders would tend to
use studs throughout the season, whereas in regions such as the UK
where ice is a more sporadic event, a quick change of tyres or even
better a spare set of wheels made up ready seems to be the more efficient
approach.
Front,
back or both
We’re a mountain bike web-site selling studded tyres, so it’s probably
no great surprise that we think studs on both back and front is best,
giving you control over both steering and traction. However, if your
budget won’t stretch further than one tyre, then the stud should go
on the front. You are more likely to remain upright if you rear-wheel
spins than if your front wheel washes out.
All
studs are not equal
On first appearances, studded tyres cover such a huge price range
that it is difficult to see why anyone would bother with the most expensive
ones. However, things are not always what they seem. A painstaking labour
of love by Bill
Dobson nicely demonstrates the difference in stud quality between
the tungsten carbide Nokians and a brand of cheaper studs available
in the USA. Once the studs
wear down to the level of the rubber the tyres are no longer effective,
so stud durability can dictate the lifespan of the tyre. This is particularly
so for commuting tyres which are likely to spend more time on bare tarmac.
We have chosen to stock the Nokian “Mount and Ground” for it’s proven
track record both in use and durability as a 26 road tyre.
For
off-road tyres we have selected the Nokian WXC300, a light weight (relative
to other studded tyres) state-of-the-art cross-country tyre, with “Freddies
Revenz” being it’s heavier down hilling brother.
Running
in
Nokian recommend a 50 km break-in period for studded tyres, during
which heavy usage and heavy braking should be avoided. This helps the
studs bed in and reduces subsequent losses.
However, stud losses do still occur, and while replacements are available
it is thought that up to 10% can be lost before performance is affected.
Rims
In order to present a bigger footprint, a double width rim is a great
help. The definitive snow rim, the “snowcat”, is a 44 mm wide single
skinned rim that can be further drilled out to save weight. Designed
and built in Alaska by Simon Rakower www.whickedwheels.com,
these rims can prove hard to come by in Europe. Down-hill rims
such as the Sun doublewide are more readily
available and can be used as an alternative, but are comparatively heavy.
Our
Own Views
We
had great fun putting the Nokian WXC300 and Ground and Mount,
and the Schwalbe Ice Spiker tyres through their paces in the French
Alps through the winter seasons. Our regular set-up was on Avro
snow rims (4 cm wide and no longer available), but we also did
some riding on standard Mavic 317 rims for comparison. We found
that the wider rims gave a marked improvement in floatation, though
there were of course times when neither set-up, or indeed both,
sank into the snow.
Our
thoughts:
NOKIAN
Ground and Mount
This is basically a studded commuting tyre with a road tread,
and it would be unfair to expect much in the way of off-road performance.
Having said that, we were pleasantly surprised about just how
far we got with these tyres. Certainly, where the tracks were
flat hard packed snow or ice, we found them fairly grippy, although
there was some tendency to break away on climbs. The tyres are
narrow at 1.9, but when used in conjunction with the wide rims
they spread to give reasonable floatation. Despite this, in deeper
snow the tread pattern was just not up to the task and in these
conditions they became very sketchy.
Verdict: a great commuting tyre that at a push will handle some
basic off-road snowbiking
SCHWALBE
Ice Spiker
These tyres are something of a hybrid of the others tested, with
flat-headed studs similar to the Ground and Mount, and a tread
pattern similar to the WXC300, and though not without their problems,
they worked out to be pretty good in the conditions we experienced.
The tread-pattern worked relatively well in looser snow, and we
noted neither stud loss nor marked stud wear. However, we purposely
kept the time spent on bare tarmac to a minimum, so the issue
of stud durability has not been fully addressed. One problem with
these tyres was the running pressure. In general snowbiking terms,
the lower the pressure the greater the floatation over snow, and
it has been suggested that it can be taken as low as 10 PSI for
maximum effect. The sidewalls of the Ice Spikers display a “minimum
30 PSI” marking and it would appear to be sensible to heed
the warning; we ran ours at a much lower pressure, and after only
a few rides there was evidence of considerable sidewall damage.
NOKIAN
WXC300
These are similar in tread to the Ice Spiker, but the similarities
probably end there. The folding format means they are much lighter
than the other wire-beaded tyres above, and the studs come to
a slightly menacing point. Impressively, after a winters riding,
and despite the fact that the aluminium carriages looked a bit
battered, the hardened steel studs themselves were still pointy!
There was no evidence of sidewall damage despite running at similar
pressures to the Ice Spikers, and no stud losses occurred over
the winter, although one was lost during the run-in period.
Verdict: The definitive cross-country snow tyre. “Reassuringly
expensive” as the old beer advert had it, and worth every
penny. Probably. |
| Make
/ Model
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No.
Of Studs |
SIZE |
ETRTO
mm |
WIDTH tread/casing mm |
PRESSURE sugg./max. bar (psi) |
WEIGHT g |
Usage |
| Nokian
MOUNT & GROUND W160
|
160 |
26x1.9 |
47/50-559 |
47/44 |
4.0/4.5
(58/65) |
850
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MTB
26 Commute |
| Nokian
HAKKA WXC300
|
300 |
26x2.1 |
54-559 |
52.5/51 |
3.5/4.5
(50/65) |
695 |
MTB
26
XC |
The
above table is provided as a guide only. Please ensure you check with
Nokian
for the latest product technical specifications.
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