Icy in Montreal. I was perfectly fine on the ride but a couple of ice patches (there are many) nearly sent me for a tumble. What do people think of studs?
by FierceTartan69
Icy in Montreal. I was perfectly fine on the ride but a couple of ice patches (there are many) nearly sent me for a tumble. What do people think of studs?
by FierceTartan69
15 Comments
Will never ride without them. I resisted for 2-3 seasons and finally bit the bullet after an unusual freeze thaw season. Honestly, the confidence alone is worth it. Riding without fear of an unexpected washout makes the riding that much better. Obviously, mitigating injury is an added bonus.
I live in Minnesota – very similar conditions. I will never take the studs off the fatty. Get some – you will not regret it.
you are asking for trouble riding in ontario / quebec conditions without studs. Necessity and I never go without. With studs (45nrth xl concave) you can ride on glare ice with tons of traction. The risk at this time of year without is that snow dusted ice looks fine but you are down hard in a nanosecond
The added drag of studs isn’t much when you are already on fatbike. Plus it opens up so many more days to rip since icy patches are no longer a problem. Also frozen lakes become an awesome spot to race around on.
So I groom as well as ride and a major goal for me is getting the trail hard packed so it becomes indestructible to foot traffic and wildlife traffic. That means grooming after a warm up/before freeze so it packs down hard and fast. At least 1/3 of the time studs are necessary more so as we get closer to spring. So I am always studded.
definitely get studs- they make riding on trails that would be almost impossible to walk on without traction aids super fun. do be aware though that the traction has its limits – when just enough snow covers the ice to keep the studs from biting and the snow has not bonded to the ice, the traction can go to almost zero very quickly- i know from painful experience
I ride in Ottawa and would definitely recommend studs with the freeze/thaw cycles we tend to get which I would guess are very similar in Montreal. Gives you confidence to ride in way more conditions.
They’re a complete game changer. It tells you something that a lot of people riding with studded tires have bumped into a situation where they’ve happily ridden to a spot, decided to stop, and putting their foot down, realize the sole of their shoe has zero grip on the same icy surface they just rode there on.
They only really fail when there’s a surface of smooth ice topped by enough snow that the snow prevents the studs from contacting the ice.
YES!!!
Studded tires are expensive and worth every penny. Do it!!!
If you’re asking you know the answer. 😉 As others have said, just the peace of mind and confidence they give is worth it. I insisted I didn’t need studs for the first winter I had my fattie (in Edmonton). Then I got wise and I have never regretted it for one second.
Studded tires cost less than a trip to the emergency room. At least in the United States they are, not sure about Canada. Either way they help a lot.
A few years ago, it was a warm winter so the trails would go through a thaw/freeze cycle. I switched my tires to unstudded for the summer and didn’t bother switching it back. Ended up crashing so many times I went back to studded tires and haven’t looked back.
I love my studded tires even if it is just for a small ice patch every once in a while.
I don’t notice a big difference in resistance, and my only real complaint is that they pick up leaves, especially in the fall
22 years ago I thought if I was careful I wouldn’t need them. Finally made that ride where the ice was not visible. When you go down with both tires slipping it is nearly instantaneous. You will wack your head on frozen ground and even with a helmet you still have a head ache. Didn’t learn and continued on about 2 miles and again…wack. Laying on my back looking at the sky. Walked 4 miles back to treated roads. Next day had LBS order studded tires. Have not ridden on days when ice is even remotely possible since then.