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Olympia Cycle & Ski, 1813 Portage Ave
204.888.4586 info@olympiacycle.com

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Product Review: Studded Tires

We're not really sure where the heck the snow is considering how blisteringly cold it is outside right now (doesn't the snow usually come before the -30 weather?) but it's undoubtedly on its way - it always falls eventually. In preparation we've stocked a good selection of studded tires for your winter riding.

These are pretty plain jane tires from Innova, and with all those embedded metal studs they're not the lightest ones out there, but they have a tread that's very well suited to our snow and the studs make a HUGE difference on ice or hard-packed snow. We've been stocking, and using, these tires for a few years now and they've saved most of us from more than one unintentional meeting with the pavement.

If you don't want to ride studs all winter, and don't want to bother with swapping tires out depending on riding conditions, consider purchasing a cheap spare front wheel and one studded tire so that you can quickly switch your front wheel from studded to non-studded and back again. You benefit most from having the front tire studded, though it certainly helps to have studs on both front and rear in icy conditions.

We currently have studded tires in stock in three sizes: 26" with a mid-size width, and two 700c tires, in a narrow and mid-width size (for cyclocross or 29ers). Once we get some studs in stock we'll also start building up some custom studded tires as well.

Stock up now...we swear the snow is coming.