Well this morning counted as the first official snow ride of the 25/26 winter season. After much aggravation, grunting and swearing, I got my new Schwalbe Marathin Winter Plus studded tyres on. Ok, it wasn't getting getting the new tyres on that was the problem (they are 700x40), it was getting the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres of (700x35). Jesus, breaking the bead seal and getting the bead over the rim was a nightmare.
Anyhow, the Matharon Winter Plus tyres are great since they provide a smoother, quieter and faster ride over the Ice Spiker Pros. Don’t get me wrong, the Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pros are awesome, riding on ice is like riding on dry tarmac, but I would not recommend them unless you are riding constantly on ice and snow. The Marathon Winter Plus provide just as much traction but are smoother, quieter and at least 2kph faster.
Anyways, the morning ride south on Old Highway 24 was done on pure ice and I ran straight and true. Once I didn’t have any traffic around me, I honked on the brakes and locked up the back wheel, full control. I repeated the experiment with hard front wheel brake and it was equally impressive. I even tried the “Oh My God, I’m Going to Die!” Braking method, ass over the rear wheel and honking on both front and rear disc brakes, perfect control and extreme and rapid deceleration while maintaining full steering control and that was on ice.
The two tyres ran me $282 with taxes and shipping and are worth every penny.
Now if only Schwalbe could make a tyre that could defeat the winter winds, lol.