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Bike tire swappage, and other fun
Mar. 28th, 2008 07:59 amThursday morning I tossed the better of my two studded tires into my bag. I knew it wasn't supposed to snow until well after I got home, but I've heard that before and wound up regretting confidence in the weatherman.
Problem is, I left it there last night. So last night when it became clear that there would be snow and ice on the roads in the morning, I had to put the worse of the pair on the front wheel.
Yikes, that thing is in bad shape. I knew it was starting to get bad before, so I cut up an old slick tire to use as a liner. It's definitely needed now; the studs have actually eroded away the tire casing and you can see their bases from the inside of the tire. Without a liner it would surely have poked holes in the tube and flatted pretty fast.
I definitely needed the studs though; this wet snow on pavement with dropping temps leads to plenty of ice on the pavement. Not having studs on the back wasn't that big of a deal for this one ride, just a little traction loss, no side slipping. I'll have to look at the other tire carefully and decide whether to order one or two replacements for next winter. As I mentioned before, I'm switching from the Nokians to Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires; they have twice the studs and a reflective sidewall for just a few bucks more.
I got about 200 feet before realizing that my rear shifter was frozen. It was in 3rd gear, which is pretty low. At the next intersection, which has almost zero traffic, I flexed all the cables and tried to exercise the derailler, but all I managed to do was to get it into 4th. Luckily 4th is pretty workable since the front derailler was working. Overall my commute was about 47 minutes, which isn't bad at all for these conditions. I park inside at work so it should work fine this afternoon.
Problem is, I left it there last night. So last night when it became clear that there would be snow and ice on the roads in the morning, I had to put the worse of the pair on the front wheel.
Yikes, that thing is in bad shape. I knew it was starting to get bad before, so I cut up an old slick tire to use as a liner. It's definitely needed now; the studs have actually eroded away the tire casing and you can see their bases from the inside of the tire. Without a liner it would surely have poked holes in the tube and flatted pretty fast.
I definitely needed the studs though; this wet snow on pavement with dropping temps leads to plenty of ice on the pavement. Not having studs on the back wasn't that big of a deal for this one ride, just a little traction loss, no side slipping. I'll have to look at the other tire carefully and decide whether to order one or two replacements for next winter. As I mentioned before, I'm switching from the Nokians to Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires; they have twice the studs and a reflective sidewall for just a few bucks more.
I got about 200 feet before realizing that my rear shifter was frozen. It was in 3rd gear, which is pretty low. At the next intersection, which has almost zero traffic, I flexed all the cables and tried to exercise the derailler, but all I managed to do was to get it into 4th. Luckily 4th is pretty workable since the front derailler was working. Overall my commute was about 47 minutes, which isn't bad at all for these conditions. I park inside at work so it should work fine this afternoon.
