20 Best Winter Bike Tires (2022 Updated)

I purchased two of these in the store. They are $20 in store and $15 on line, go figure. The packaging, as others have stated, is unclear as to the size of tire you are buying. I took the tire out of the package and still was not sure until I got it home and removed the zip tie binding it together and got a flashlight and thankfully it was printed on the sidewall, 26 x 1.

95. What was NOT printed on the sidewall is the direction the tire should be mounted. The tread pattern is directional, but has no arrow to show you the direction to mount it. I have never purchased a directional tire before that has no arrow on the sidewall! I called Bell and got a vague explanation.

I watched their installation video which mentions nothing about direction. I am not going to take the chance of installing the tire backwards, they are going back to Wal Mart. Poor execution Bell Products!.

To start this tire is a 26×1. 95 now with that being said it is a universal tire. I have two different sized rims on my mountain bike 1. 50 rear and 2. 25 front. I bought two of these tires and they fit my rims perfectly.

With this tire on a smaller rim it makes the tire slightly taller and vis-versa for a wider rim. Which doesn’t effect the ride-ability. Now I’ve used Bell tires for many years and get great life out of them.

The only issue I’ve had is dry rot from not riding enough and storing outdoors. These new tires are super sturdy and have good tread on them should last me a few years. Only reason for a 4 star review is even though they are universal fit would’ve been nice to know the actual size.

I have been riding on two of these tires for just a short while. The tire is sturdy right out of the box! Fit my rim just right. The tread on this tire is not to deep making it ride nice and smooth on pavement or sidewalk.

I have had a number of flat tires with my previous two tires I’ve tried, i feel hopeful this one is going to be good!.

Have ridden about 5-6 hours on these after breaking the tires in as per instructions (40km on asphalt)’ Lost 2 studs breaking them in. Have now lost 6 studs per tire riding rocky/icy/packed snow trails in the Canmore area.

Nothing extreme at all, as the ice is treacherous in places. Traction is excellent so far! Theses wire beaded tires weigh a fair bit, but with several hundred studs imbedded, that’s to be expected. Will have to order the stud kit to replace what’s lost – a small price to pay, perhaps, for good traction and fun.

Live in Ottawa, ON. Have logged about month worth of daily riding on these tires. My rides are about 4 miles on road/bike path, 2 miles of trail/field riding. These tires are great. No spikes lost, excellent traction so far.

Had a couple of bad spills prior when hit a few icy patches, but with these tires, I’ve been riding across sheer ice with complete traction. The only times I’ve struggled with these tires is on partially compacted trails with snow more than the height of the chain stay.

I had to get off the bike when I was trying to follow a snow shoe trail. I’ve found that I can get enough float and traction with these tires In fresh powder that’s deeper than the axles, but if I hit some crud, then the tires aren’t able to get enough bite.

No issues at all through slush or anything that might be on the road.

I have a hardtail XC bike that I use for my winter commute with 27. 5 rims. I was riding Maxxis Ardent tires (a great all-rounder for non-icy conditions by the way). A close call in a sharp turn made me realize that a true winter tire would probably offer more traction and would be safer.

Skidding is fun, but only when you want or expect it. The price put me off for a while, they are not exactly cheap. But they are worth every penny! They are quite heavy and the rolling resistance is very high, but we are talking about a winter tire on a mountain bike here, so high speed is not really that important.

The important part is the grip they offer. Wow! Simply incredible. On sheet ice, it just grips like nothing else. I actually have to be careful at traffic lights, my boots are more slippy that the tires.

The tires will stay anchored in place while my foot is slipping all over the place. I would say that the grip is similar to my road bike on 28mm tires when riding in heavy rain. They are not magical though.

😉 When riding in icy ruts, you cannot simply ride out of them. Just like with muddy ruts, you’ll have to manual/wheelie or bunny hop out since you’ll just slip back into it if you don’t. Same goes for uneven (bumpy) ice.

But that’s just basic MTB skills to master for winter riding. On icy roads, they simply rock! ***Important*** Go easy for the first 50km. The spikes need to be “bedded-in”. Don’t lock the wheels when braking and don’t skid when accelerating for that period of time (even if it is REALLY tempting).

If you do, you’ll lose spikes and they are not cheap to replace. I haven’t lost a spike on mine. Go for it! I sure do not regret it.

No flats on 1st pair of 28mm GatorSkin tires. On 2nd pair the store mechanic install what may’ve technically been correct and same size tube in it, 700c x 28mm tube, but the tube kept flating after long rides, not during the ride.

No sign of tire damage at all and no bubble leaks found from tube. Located my old tubes; they were smaller 700c x 23-25mm which fit the rim perfect inflated. Put the 23-25mm tubes in and had no “tube” flats ever again.

Excess tube must’ve been pinching the stem or something. Only other flat in 10 years came when a truck must have shot a large roofing staple hitting my tire wall going all the way thru creating loud clicking sound suddenly of staple hitting part of brakes hardware.

I’ve been using these tires for many years and have found them to be quite reliable. Yes, I’ve had a few flats, but I’d like to think that number would been much higher had I not been using the Gatorskins.

I’ve been able to get what I consider good mileage out of them with nominal wear to the tread surface. However, what does give me cause for concern are the sidewalls. When I first started using them I began noticing black hair-like threads hanging off the sidewall close to where the tire is seated to the rim- *not* at the point of contact with the rim, but about 2-4 millimeters away from the edge of the rim.

Moreover, this happened not just on one rim or one bike, but it’s happened on multiple rims and bikes. I’ve come to the conclusion the sidewalls are simply delaminating on a thread-by-thread basis and I haven’t experienced a complete sidewall failure.

I just have to take a pair of scissors after the threads every so often. Just for reference, I generally use 700×23’s, but have had the occasion to use 700×25’s and 700×28 (only once). I had originally thought it might have been a heat build-up issue from using a trailer, but I haven’t used that in several years now and it didn’t seem to make a difference.

All that said, I like the tires- but I wish I could have greater confidence in the sidewall construction. If not for that, I would rate the tires with a “5”.

These replaced Continental 4000S tyres. The Gatorskin is a tighter fit so be prepared to use tyre levers for the last bit when fitting. They are tough especially on the sides because just as many punctures happen there as elsewhere on a tyre.

I’m in the Swansea area which has a lot of bikeways cos the Council wants to make the place into bike city and they are succeeding, but the roads are diabolical. Nothing is ever puncture proof but these Gatorskins are about as close as you can get and they roll along wonderfully.

I wouldn’t put anything else on my bike and I don’t really care that they cost in the 25 to 30 quid zone. My bike is a Cannondale Caad8. Steve.

Years ago, I got the 26″ X-King, which is a similar tread, for my 125 pound intermediate wife. She tore those tires up within ten miles or so. I decided to give them another try, in the reincarnated Cross King version, 29×2.

3 and they have definitely solved the durability problem! 750 grams, 2. 28″ carcass width at sub 20 psi and knobs slightly wider. If you like the Rocket Ron or the Rekon, you’ll like these. They roll fast and hook up well.

I’ve only tried them on the back, but they work well on the mellower XC type trails on the Wasatch Back. I decided I needed a little more traction, so I went to a Mountain King on the back, and wrote a review on those, but if you don’t need more rear wheel traction than a Rekon, for example, these are 5 star.

BTW, I did not notice the stiff sidewalls described and in fact, found them supple. Similar to a 29×2. 35 Nobby Nic, or Rekon, in fact, but grippier than the Rekon.

Went up the mountain with the family & dogs over New Year. Uphill trails were slimey, slate & rocky. Raining & muddy. My son powered uphill with no slipping on the wet slate. I actually stopped in my tracks & looked in awe & said outloud ‘who needs an ebike?’.

I use this on my full rigid 29er that is my trail, path, and gravel road bike and they work great. Rolling resistance is minimal while still providing great traction and volume for some small bump absorption.

I’ve bought 4 of these tires and like a previous reviewer wrote, these work well and are very durable, but after around 500-1000km (1 season or so), the studs will start pushing through the inside causing hard to find slow leaks and finally full flats.

I got rid of my first set because of the as of yet unidentified leaks and on my second set finally deduced that it was the studs poking through. Each set last about 1 season which is unacceptable. I feel this is a manufacturers defect.

One way to make the tires last longer is splitting an old tube, cutting away the valve and gluing to the inside surface of the tire, but one shouldn’t have to do this for the tire to function as intended.

I am now trying the series hoping for better luck. Value is poor even though the tires are affordable as you’ll be going through many tubes. Also having a flat in winter is dangerous and because of the wire bead a huge pain to change (but once it flats once, changing the tube will only result in another flat in short order.

This is a great value tire. Performance is not as good as the winter marathon for rutty icy conditions in the front position. In the rear position however, it’s perfect. I own an older set of Schwalbe Winter Marathon tires, which have served me well for 9 seasons of winter commuting.

I purchased one of the Schwalbe Winter K-Guard tire as a front replacement, and still run one of the older marathon tires on the back. I’ve used the tire for about 2. 5 months now. Quality: My first observation about the K-Guard is that it is identical to the Marathon, with the exception of the installation of the outer row of studs.

If one was so inclined they could purchase this tire and install studs to make their own Marathon. That being said, it’s a high quality, stiff, winter tire with lots of studs to get you through most of winter can throw at you.

By winter tire standards, this is a fast tire. When inflated the the max it rolls nice and smooth with an audible hum from the studs. Performance on Flat Icy Surfaces – great The grip is great and one can easily maintain control at commuting speeds.

This tire performs just as impressive as the Winter Marathon. This is due to the fact that the outer row of studs of the Marathon do not contact the road in these conditions. Most of my winter commute is on this type of surface, so this tire has been great so far.

Performance on Rutty Icy Surfaces – poor Ottawa weather tends to cycle through the following: snowfall -> rain -> deep freeze -> warming -> (repeat). If roadways are not cleared properly, this tends to create a rutty surface dominated by car tire tracks.

I find that this happens only on side and residential streets. This tire’s lack of outer studs really hurts it’s performance in these conditions. To be fair, even the marathon does not make navigation of this surface an easy task (but it’s better).

Lowering the pressure helps, but if this is the type of commuting you will encounter often I would recommend going with a wider 26″ tire such as the Ice Spiker on a mountain bike. Or a fat bike. Having fallen a couple of times, I modify my commute to avoid this surface as much as possible.

Performance in <10 cm snow - ok In newly fallen less than 10 cm this tire is good. The small footprint allows one to cut through the snow and maintain contact with the hard surface underneath. The only exception is if the roadway is full of car tracks, which create a layer of packed snow.

The weight of you and your bike can sometimes break through, making it a bit of a challenge. In these conditions the Marathon gives no noticeable advantage. Performance in >10 cm snow – poor If the snow is so thick that the tire can’t meet the surface underneath, you are done for.

Time to walk. Again, the Marathon doesn’t do any better here. The only solution is to go with a mountain/fat bike with a wider tire.

This was my first year winter biking in Saskatoon after 10+yrs of summer-only commuting. Put the pricier Schwalbe tire (more studs) on the front and this tire on the back. I am quite satisfied with its performance on my ~20km return daily commute.

I ride mainly on: bare pavement when it exists, ice/snow ruts on the roads, and official bike paths that are covered with hard packed snow. It has also rained a few times this winter which makes everything a rink.

This tire works great on all of these surfaces. When going up a steep hill, this tire maintains full traction so long as I remain seated. When standing up to pedal, the tire slips a bit but not enough to interfere with momentum.

I find no difference in grip with lower vs higher psi so keep it at the upper limit for less resistance. BUT…don’t expect perfect traction all the time. This is a relatively narrow tire for winter conditions so it does lose traction when riding through deep drifts or disturbed snow.

However, it slices through most short distance drifts just fine. The rear of the bike also slides around quite a bit when going through the dreaded patches of brown snow-mush that appear after the City crews put salt on the snowy roads.

Lastly, this tire does not fare well when trying to get in and out of the car ruts if there is any loose snow. Re: stud longevity- I followed the breaking-in recommendations prior to the first snowfall and haven’t lost any studs after 3.

5 months of daily riding. The only thing to keep in mind if you’re new to winter cycling is that no matter what tire you get, you MUST turn more gradually & slowly than in summer if you want to avoid wiping out.

But this tire has done a great job for me so far and I’d definitely recommend it for hard packed snow or icy pavement commuting.

Now with well over 500 kms of city commuting on these standard winter studded tires and the tungsten studs are still fine. I’ve had other studded tires that were simple metal studs and after a few hundred kms those studs were quite worn and much less effective.

Tungsten studs are worth the extra $. It’s been a low snow year in the northeast but the freezing rain and ice/thaw cycle has been exactly what these tires were intended for: great performance in challenging winter commute conditions.

I run the 700 x 30 size on a SS and these tires have actually exceeded my expectations. Traction is good, tracking is predictable and somewhat forgiving if you push your luck. Deeper snow performance is better than expected but not exceptional.

The schwalbe CX pro tire is better for snowy conditions if that is your thing. Having used both the CX pro set and the Winter set for a full season each, i’m going to stick with the studded Winter tires for future winters.

They suit my needs more. They are heavy rolling though. you’re gonna feel it (especially on a fixie or SS). Just think of it as a good workout to get ready for spring!.

These tires are very good, even after reading the reviews for them here and elsewhere I was still surprised by their performance in the wet stuff. I’ll echo what others have said about their limitations: they are not for plowing through heavy accumulated packing snow or more then ten centimetres really (at speed).

They’re meant to replace road/hybrid tires for winter road holding, not for extreme winter sports like the MTB winter tires. Their performance was great (reduce pressure as you require more traction).

They won’t save you if you go hell bent for leather into a turn, but if you take it easy they’ll be fine. A little fish tailing action never hurt anybody, and it shows you where the limits are when it happens.

Ride steady. Rolling resistance is only marginally increased despite the studs, which only improves on an already good thing. It took three tire levers and some cursing but I managed to wrangle them onto the rims.

The price is a bit painful for bicycle tires in my opinion (you’re not far off from individual auto tire prices in some cases), but they’re worth it if you can’t stand the thought of putting away the bike for months on end.

Go out and buy ’em.

I bought these tires for my commutes. For the most part I have been very impressed with these tires. These tires perform very well on ice and hard pack snow; however, if you wish to ride in snow, be careful.

I have seen people having a hared time walking on ice and I have had no problem riding up or down hill on super slippery ice. Up to 3 cm of snow, they are okay. But when you get more than that it is a chore to ride and if you get much more than that (like 6 cm in total), you will most likely come to a stand still and just be spinning and not moving.

You also have to be careful when moving from dry to snow covered patches ( 3 cm or more). I have put a couple hundred km on them already and since the weather has been good here in Calgary, there has not been too many ice patches lately so have been on a lot of dry pavement and the spikes are holding up pretty good as well.

I can not give these tires good value because I find most bicycle tires are way over priced (as are most bicycles).

I have had these several times with different bikes. These are the 240 studded ones and have excellent grip. You can rely on them but still always need to take care when on black ice. Wear gloves to put them on and take your time.

I would recommend these. The Price on verkkokauppa was the cheapest at the time.

I have recently bought the Schwalbe winter tires and just got them installed. I haven’t had a chance to try then out yet but I am very happy with the customer service. I was able to purchase the tires by paying online ahead, let them wait in the store, and have then put on once the weather conditions were suitable.

I also received some winter advice for bike maintenance. Always happy with services at Scooteretti.

Winter tires. Good looking Pins, on icy ground. I look forward to trying those on ice

I put the Continental Top Contact Winter tires on the front and back of my MEC Mixed Tape bike. They work but it takes some getting used to. My prior winter bikes were all 26 inch wheeled mountain bikes with studs front and back.

Fabulous on ice and would climb easily over snow ruts. However, during an average winter in Calgary, the roads and pathways are often bare and dry. My studded tires would wear out prematurely from pavement contact.

Continental’s soft contact winter tires sounded like a reasonable alternative. At the start of this winter they were the right choice. Most of my 10 km commute was bare and dry. The little bit of snow and ice that I encountered was easy to deal with.

Then winter unleashed it’s fury and we have suffered through 7 weeks (Nov-Dec 2013) of pounding snow (record levels), raging blizzards and blinding cold (-20s to -30s) day after day. The Continental’s are proving their worth but the narrower 700 X 37 mm tires don’t climb over snow ruts as much as they get pushed sideways.

That takes some getting use to. You don’t wipe out. You just get pushed aroundl. They cut through soft, fresh snow better but we have so much old snow underneath this year that the front tire starts plowing and the back tire bogs down in the deep, old stuff.

Once we get time to dig out then compressed snow pack and ice becomes the bigger problem. I have noticed that the front tire will begin to slip where a studded tire would have stay glued. But I have also noticed that, with a little rear brake deceleration, the front tire will catch and hold me up rather than wash out and send me crashing like a summer tire would.

So far, no spills. For the average Calgary winter the Continentals are more than enough. If your riding conditions have more ice to deal with, then studs (at least in the front) are the way to go. I’ve decided to go slower and easier for now and make the Continentals work.

So far, so good.

I have been using these tires for 2 winters, going on my 3rd this year. They work great on plowed roads or snow accumulation that is less than 1 or 2 cm’s. Anything more than a couple of cm’s of snow they slip and slide and stability is drastically reduced.

Unfortunately, because of this I will leave my bike at home during a snow fall above 2cm’s until the roads are cleared. They work great on icy conditions if you have the proper tire pressure. Ottawa is known for freezing rain and icy roads.

If the roads are icy and clear of snow the tires work great, better control than cars. which you need to watch out for cars on ice as they are usually not worrying about you. Just like any winter tire with more tread and grip they will slow your commute down and give you a workout on clean paved ground.

I cycle 45km round trip to work on paved surfaces. Put one of these tires on the front wheel of my cyclocross bike. Winter conditions are generally wet with occasional freezing temperatures and infrequent, small amounts of snow.

While not able to subject the tire to any thorough testing, I did cycle in a few cm of fresh snow, on hard-packed snow, and some icy sections. The tire was noticeably grippier than my standard touring tire and I could cycle in these conditions with a greater sense of reassurance as a result.

Of course, they’re not miracle workers so the usual care is still necessary e. g. Avoidance of hard braking. My gut feel is that the added rolling resistance over a smoother all season tire drops your speed by about 2km/h for the same effort (keeping in mind I had on only one of these on the front).

In harsher winters, I’d consider adding one to the rear or using a studded tire.

I’ve used these for winter commuting in Calgary for many years now. Best non-studded commuter tire I have tried (and I have tried many). Perfect for commute on mixed surfaces including partially cleared and/or snow-covered roadways, pathways.

Much lower rolling resistance than studded tires. Softer rubber and many sipes make it a good winter tire. Narrow tire so cuts through fresh snow and great grip on packed snow. For loose packed or really deep snow, a wider tire is better.

For icy conditions, studded tires are better. So I run these most of the winter time and just swap bikes when there is deep snow or ice. After a season or two of commuting expect the rear tire to be worn down due to soft rubber.

I’ve used these as my only tires for two winters now in Calgary for commuting 15k to and from work. As others have pointed out, it’s important to understand what these tires can and cannot do. I was advised by a bike messenger friend that spiked tires on my cyclo-cross bike for commuting would likely be overkill, and that these would prevent me from sliding out on black ice, which is what I was looking for.

He warned me they weren’t good in compacted snow. and he was right! These tires do a great job on slick, slippery, or icey surfaces. I have hills on my commute and unless it’s an ice chute, these tires always do the trick.

They are also fine in fresh and deep snow. Rolling resistance is much better than studded/nobbed tires on clear days, which is the niche these are meant to fill. These tires don’t do well in compacted snow (“snirt”).

They lack any grip, and I fishtail and slip a lot. (which I’m told isn’t unusual for almost any tire) I take the lane to get by on those days. Overall I’m very happy with them as my city has a lot of ice buildup and many warmer days because of the Chinooks.

On snowy days with lots of compacted snow I just drink a tall glass of concrete and accept the challenge of winter biking, but those conditions never last very long here. Recommended for commuting, but it depends on your city’s weather and your needs!.

Been using them for a couple Vancouver winters. They work well on wet roads, slushy snow, leaves and general low traction conditions. They’re not going to out-grip studded tyres on ice, but I tend to take the bus on days like that anyway.

They do seem to provide some additional safety on the odd frosty patch. Studded tyres would be an overkill in Vancouver for all but a few days a year. They seem to have high rolling resistance (as expected) roll quite slowly, but that’s perfectly OK.

Better than studded in this regard, and they’re not noisy. They have been very durable thus far. I estimate they’l go at least another 2 winters. The box they came in was labelled with a different width but the tyres themselves are labelled 37mm as advertised here, and they measure slightly less than that on my rims.

As a senior cyclist who NEVER writes product reviews I feel I have to break a habit and congratulate Continental. A life of travel only by bicycle and a passion for touring, I recently bought a pair of the Top Contact II 700x32c tyres for my touring bike and a 2,000 mile journey north to the Shetland islands.

Nearly at the end of my journey I have to report that these are the best tyres I’ve ever used for touring, even when my bike panniers are fully loaded. I’ve used many tyres over the years and these are exceptional.

The energy saving, smooth rolling, speed, incredible grip (not on wet autumn leaves, but what is) & strong sidewalls for confident fast cornering make them a joy to ride, important for an old guy like me.

A folding tyre makes them simple to remove & repair if needed, but mine are still as good as new after nearly 2,000 miles. I can honestly say that when properly inflated the Top Contact II perform and feel like road racing tyres but will happily deliver the necessary reliability and strength for big mileage trips.

Often the typically chosen touring tyres are tough, sluggish and boring, but the Top Contact II are an amazing breath of fresh air and I’m so pleased to have finally discovered and I look forward to using on many more old age adventures.

Thanks Continental & Bike Components.

I just did 1000km with a total elevation gain of 10000m. Top speed 73km / h, average 20km / h. The tire is like new, I have never punctured. Mainly road route, with small exits also in woods and dirt roads.

Use of Michelin protek inner tube. Operating pressure 3 bar. Total weight on tires (between bike, cyclist, and equipment) 100kg.

It’s as sturdy as a tank. Really thick & hard area contacting the ground. The puncture protection should be as good as you can get. I love it ! No, obviously it can’t be light with all that rubber protecting your tube.

It’s smooth – for road (it doesn’t have bumps, so it’s not for off-road) so it rides very silent. That’s why it’s called “CITY”. Exactly what I wanted.

Used these on BERG Buddy/Jeep Jr. pedal cars. Original “knobby” tires wore excessively due to bad alignment of kart wheels and soft tire compound. Replaced knobbies with these Kenda tires since karts were used mostly on pavement or sidewalks.

Tires are working very well! They show almost no wear after our first outings – much better than the off-road treads did.

I was able to get these in 26 and 20 inch sizes which made it a match for my cargo bike. They roll easy and I have ridden the about 10 miles a day on streets, sidewalks, construction areas and on off road trails and haven’t gotten a flat yet.

They don’t feel as planted at speed on downhills as the 2. 125 trail/street tires that came with the bike but they make up for it with low rolling resistance.

I put this tire on my 3 1/2 year old grandsons bike,he is obsessed with peeling out!!! This is a stout street tread with deep groves, its been on for a month and no wear signs yet. Good tire on a budget.

I have now spent about 20 hours riding these tires. I have ridden them in the following conditions: fresh snow pack, hard gray ice pack, intermittent ice/snow/NH Granite. I had to select the 4. 0 Dillinger since my Trek Farley will not accept a wider tire.

Previous to mounting the 45NRTH Dillinger, I was using Surly Nate non-studded tires which worked exceedingly well in everything except pure ice. The 45NRTH Dillinger Studded tire is well worth the money.

Great traction on iced-over single track and on snow pack as well. The aggressive tread design is as good as the Surly in soft snow cover. This tire will give you complete traction confidence on the trail.

I have lost a few studs, but that is not the fault of the tire design – no studded tire will stand for constant wear (abuse?) over granite rocks. I would recommend these tires to any serious winter fat bike enthusiast!.

Good tire if the studs didn’t fall out. I had dozens of studs fall out of both tires in first couple of short rides on frozen ground. I tried to get a warranty claim going but both Jenson & 45NRTH kept pointing the finger at one another so I gave up and just bought a stud insertion tool & a package of studs.

For the $240 I paid EACH, I’m not impressed. Also, if I were to do it again, I would just get this tire for the rear and something else for the front.

45NRTH’s Dillinger 4. 0 **120 TPI** tires feature the concave studs, which is what I was after. These (Dillinger 4. 0 60 TPI) have standard flat-crown carbides. All in all, it will still be a better ride for ice, than studless fatty rubber, but I thought I would mention that one little thing.

I suppose if I’m feeling really squirrelly, I can purchase some concave carbides and swap them out, one of these days. I specifically wanted the 60 TPI for overall toughness, and the concave studs for their surefootedness.

It’s a shame one cannot find both in the same package. All that said, again, I think this set will do for the icy breakup junk that is gripping the bike paths around my commute. Any traction aide is better than none – just ask my ribs.

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to use these bad boys more than a couple of times before the Covid-19 lockdown. I have not used them on glare ice, only on packed snow that had undergone a few feeze-thaw cycles and was quite glazed.

I’d ridden these trails before on un-studded Jumbo Jims and was extremely nervous. One riding buddy had Dillinger 4s and urged me to get them too. What a difference! They give me much more confidence on sketchy trails.

Too early to know if stud loss is a problem. My only concerns were would they slightly cheaper 120TPI version have been adequate for my needs.

I tried a bontrager studded tire before these. These are far superior both in width, grip and plowing. I ride in Anchorage, AK on frozen lakes, through all the freeze/thaw cycles and this tire has never slipped when dropping hills or climbing.

I went for the 4. 8 width and don’t feel like they are too wide. Handle slush, crust and frozen mud with excellent grip. The icier it gets, the more the scooped shape studs dig in. I tried to go the cheaper route on studded tires.

After slipping and falling down some icy hills, these are worth the high price for worry free cruising in the winter.

Fantastic grip from the studded tires. Looking forward to seeing how it does in the snow this winter With 240 studs per tire! Side legs are very aggressive so should give a good cornering.

I bought these tires on sale for $74/ tire. I put them on my Kona Rove ST as we had a really icy winter here in Edmonton. I normally am a Continental tire guy as I never had a problem with any Continental Product and the made in Germany quality seems to be evident in the lower price products.

This tire did not have that quality at all. Right from when I was installing the tire, you could see the the tire coming apart to get over the rim. I feel this tire is like a Walmart bike tire with studs.

Once I did have them both on I took my bike out for a ride. The grip is good on ice. Tire does handle the know okay. I took the tires out for a 30 km slow ride with no hard braking or accelerating. When I got back home I noticed I was missing a few studs.

I have previously owned Schwalbe marathon studded tires before in a 700c and they were great and never lost a stud after a year of winter commuting. I did remove the tires (same poor quality noticed on the process).

I bought a set of Continental Top Contact Winter II (no studs) and put on my bike. This was a much better tire IMO. Summary I wouldn’t buy this tire, get a good quality tire and just slow down a glare ice.

If you need studs maybe get this tire but use it as a one season and done tire. Reg price should be like 79 tops and on sale for 40 (maybe then I would have kept it). If you buy them Please review as maybe I got a set of lemons or it is just me LOL.

Got these at the beginning of November and have just over 200 km on them. Alberta urban winter riding on asphalt trails, gravel trails and some sidewalk – hard pack snow, bumpy ice, smooth ice and soft pack snow (my least favourite).

Studs are all still in place, no loose or missing. Just noticed the last few rides that I started skidding on smooth ice – downhill mostly and ended up on my side. Also a few times powering uphill but stayed upright.

I go slow in these conditions and am familiar with my route, maybe just a bit too complacent? In all other conditions these tire are great except for the aforementioned soft pack snow in which case I clearly have the wrong tires.

Overall a good tire for my route.

I bought these tires so I could keep commuting through the winter, and so far they have performed very well. They have kept me upright through a variety of conditions — fresh snow, packed snow/ice, mixed crud, slush, and dry roads mixed with black ice.

I had some difficulty in slush, but that’s to be expected with all but the biggest and burliest winter tires. I keep pressure at about 40 psi, which seems to provide great traction and a ride that isn’t too harsh.

I feel very secure with these tires on black ice. They are also fine directly on pavement. I have had no trouble with the studs slipping on the pavement. The centre of the tires is a sort of rubber ridge that seems to maintain good contact with the pavement so you are not riding with all the weight on the metal of the studs.

It does not take much snow however for the wheels to squirm around, like maybe 1 cm of partly compacted salty “brown sugar” snow. I suppose this is due to their large width and the fact I am running them at only about 30 psi.

I won’t be biking until a day or two after significant snowfalls. Also, the tires are somehow bigger than I was expecting. They are labelled the same 26″ x 2. 0 as the summer ones I removed but they interfered so much that I couldn’t get them to turn at all until I removed the fenders.

My mechanic had to do a whole new installation to get the fenders back on so they cleared the treads and studs, cutting the fenders in 2, passing the fender over the brake callipers in the back and foregoing any part of the fender ahead of the front brakes.

Still, I love the fact that I can bike to the office on icy roads securely.

I’ve used these for about 60km so far on hard icy bike paths on a cross bike. I felt fully confident riding fast in a straight line and only slowed slightly on corners because I’m seriously trying to not crash.

They made it up some steep climbs as long as I kept my weight on the rear wheel and babied the power delivery. They were pretty OK on icy and curvy single track. (I haven’t crashed yet) They mounted very easily on my rims.

The drawback is that these tires are not fun on pavement being noisy, heavy, slow and twitchy on the corners. This is pretty much what you must expect from a studded tire.

First trail ride on these tires and I have to say I’m impressed with the traction. I was riding up steep ice with no problems, leaning the bike into turns at speed – all the while, I felt in control.

They are amazing tires. However, like other reviewers, I checked after the ride and had several studs missing. For the price of these tires, 45nrth should really consider including extra studs for their customers.

This would go a long way to make us feel like we are getting value. It’s a serious disappointment to have to pay more money to fix a brand new, expensive tire.

So I will start out with the negative, this tire does not roll the best and a set costs more than an entry level hardtail. Now that that’s out of the way, the reason it rolls poorly is because of the SHEER AMOUNT OF GRIP that it has.

Once I got the pressure dialed in for my bike. My goodness, I am biking on ice/snow at 80% or more of what I can do on dirt. I feel comfortable hitting jumps on snowy single track with this tire. I did not think this would be possible.

If you ride somewhere you get a lot of freeze thaw/ice/snow this is the tire. I took extra care and manually seated each stud, and so far after 200 miles of use I have lost 2, and that was on a bare rock step up which I didn’t take too well.

the roll better than snowshoe 2xls, but worse then ground control 4. 0s and Dillinger’s (the other tires I have used for reference) but blow them all away for grip in all conditions other than 1st tracks of the day (the 2xls win on that).

The only downside is you have to pedal more than some other tires, but I’d rather have to pedal a little harder and KNOW I have grip when descending, then have an easier time going up and be uneasy the whole way down.

I got a pair of 27. 5×3 Wrathchilds for mtb riding on packed snow and ice trails. Setting them up tubless was a bit of pain even with a compressor. I needed to use a tube to seat the bead on one side first.

As for riding, they feel great on packed snow and ice. Its like riding on velcro. Even in upto 3″ of unpacked snow they do ok as long as you pay attention to weighting them. I used to have some Scwalbe Ice Spiker Pro 29er tires and feel much more confident on the Wrathchilds.

Maybe its the 27. 5×3 vs 29, im not sure. The downside to these is expect to lose 10% of the studs. Maybe I didnt bed them in long enough on pavement. For what they cost its a bit disappointing. That said they are still probably some of the best studded tires out there.

Full disclosure, these are the only winter tires that I have ever rode and 2019-20 was my first attempt at winter cycling. The options for my frame and tires are very limited – so it was between these 45NRTH and Schwalbe Marathon Winter.

Unfortunately, MEC didn’t have the Schwalbe’s in my size. I was quite disappointed in these 45NRTH tires. I’ve tried them with a variety of different tire pressures to see if that made a difference, but the bottom line is that when they are on ice, I slip even riding at the lowest pressure.

I ended up on the ground a bunch of times this winter. I think it may be the lack of studs in the centre or something about the way the tire is designed. The only thing I have found them to perform well on is either bare pavement or hard packed snow with no ice (if there is any ice, or a thin layer of snow on ice, or slush then I found that I went down with these tires no matter how carefully I rode or took corners).

The reviewer here describes my experience as well: https://www. bikeforums. net/winter-cycling/1045544-ok-s-official-45nrth-xerxes-tires-terrible. html I emailed 45NRTH about my experience and heard back from them – this is what they said: “Thanks for the message and I’m sorry to hear our Xerxes tires did not meet your expectations.

That tire is definitely the least aggressive, narrowest, fastest rolling tire in our line up and may not be the best option for sheer ice conditions. We made this tire in order to give riders a bit more traction on bikes with limited clearances and the narrow width will make them less ideal that something larger and more aggressively treaded.

Running them at their minimum psi of 35 in icy conditions will be ideal, but no studded tire can guarantee complete traction in very icy conditions other than perhaps our Wrathlorde or Wrathchilde with the lowest psi’s possible.

If your frame can fit it, the 700c x 38mm Gravdal at the minimum listed psi will give you much more traction and control than the Xerxes. I have heard reviews negative and positive come out of these tires, as will happen with any product.

Speaking from personal experience, these were my go-to tires for the 6 year I was a bike messenger here in Minneapolis where you’re riding fast on ice for 8-10 hours a day and I thought they performed wonderfully.

When the ice melts pump them up to 70 psi and you’re off to the races. ” I appreciated 45NRTH’s quick response and the candor of the employee and if I knew this when I was shopping for winter tires, I never would have bought these ones due to the freeze-thaw cycle in Edmonton.

Here’s the thing though – 45NRTH advertises these tires for icy conditions – this is pulled from their website: https://45nrth. com/products/xerxes “Commuting to work or school on black ice just got faster and easier with the Xerxes.

140 studs provide unrivalled control on those morning rides where ice patches threaten your commute. When a layer of snow conceals black ice, the ultra-narrow profile easily slices through the fluff and gets straight to business providing extreme traction in these extreme conditions.

Run the Xerxes at minimum pressure for traction performance, and maximum pressure for a quieter and faster ride on clean roads. ” I appreciated MEC’s rock solid guarantee on these tires, I just wished they had worked out for me.

Versatile and effective for city riding (Minneapolis). On my typical 700c single speed (Specialized Globe, aluminum, great center of gravity — a nice winter commuter btw!) Xerxes on front and back consistently cut through fresh show and minor slush pockets.

Minor stud loss after two winters of ~10 miles/day. At max psi they roll smoothly, at low psi they grip like mad even on rutted ice, and no pinch flats yet. Sidewalls seem designed for this psi flexibility.

I’ve tried 26×2 Schwalbes on an MTB but they seem to boat around uncontrollably on anything but smooth icy roads. But the Xerxes track for good steering control!.