Winter Tyres - End of Season?

It's sunny this morning, so on the heroic assumption that Winter is in fact over, here's a brief end-of-term report on the snow tyres that I fitted in December.

I chose Continental Top Contact Winter, which are at the bottom end of winter capability. They are made of a grippy rubber that has granules of silica embedded in it and they have a pretty aggressive tread pattern, but no studs or spikes. Their rating is formally 'Mud and Snow', which I felt would be a pretty good match for the Surrey lanes, and this turned out to be the case. Spikes are tricky on tarmac, and we have at least as much tarmac as snow and ice, even on a bad day.

I also chose 26" wheels, for robustness, which I certainly got, but they may have been more than was needed.

The snow tyres worked well for the purpose that they are intended. I was able to ride on snow and ice with quite surprising ease and had no slips or frights all season. They were fine on wet tarmac and gripped well on mud. The tyres are part of Continental's anti-puncture system, which basically consists of a strong tyre with a thick tube - free replacement if you get a puncture in a year. I didn't get one, and the tyres also hold their pressure much better than normal road tyres.

There are disadvantages. The special rubber is said to wear more quickly than normal rubber - I can't really comment on this as my winter mileage was pretty low. But the robustness of the tyres comes at a price - they are heavy, the extra rotating mass is noticeable when accelerating or climbing, and the 26" wheel exacerbates it. The tyres are not made in small sizes - 700c 37 is the lightest - so you just have to put up with this if you want to ride in the snow.

All in all they did a pretty good job. I got some rides, safely, when I otherwise could not have. I'll certainly use them again next season. And if anyone else is thinking of buying a pair, I'd strongly recommend it, as if enough of us get them it won't snow ...

Mark