Instant Winter Studded Tires

Frankie braves the storm.

Winter is now here. I better get those studded tires. I suppose I could have shopped for them earlier, but that would have acknowledged the inevitability of winter. Now, that it's here I can get in gear.

Getting studded tires became a little more complicated than I had imagined, until got educated. It seems tires sizing is closer to alchemy than to a science, because there are three different measuring standards. My local shop, Freewheel, had Schwalbe studded tires on sale($63), but needed to back order them. The confusion started, when they started talking about 700mm tires, but my bikes Schwalbe tires said 28x1.75, 622-47. Normally, 28's aren't the same as 700's. I ended up calling Cleaver Cycles in Portland. They set me straight. , 28x1.75's are different than common 28's, but are the same as 700's! And 622 is 700. There, nice to have that figured out.

Cody admires Frankie's fortitude.

I couldn't wait for the tires to arrive, so I went for spin on storm night. It handled pretty well but I'm thinking the studs will be welcome. I had a couple times where I had to put my feet down quickly to avoid taking a spill, and I did have one half fall. I do have last years winter bike that has bigger nobbies than the Schwalbe, so I may use that bike more in heavy snow.