Best winter road bike tyres 2024 — ride confidently with fewer punctures all year round

levestane wrote:

I'm not sure we'll ever see winter weather as we know it again

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-67017021

We'll be needing tyre compounds that work in soft tarmac.

At least the flowers in Antarctica are looking nice:

https://www.sciencealert.com/flowers-are-spreading-in-antarctica-as-summer-temperatures-soar

Jippily wrote:

Running almost completely slick tyres during winter seems like a dreadful idea. Most on this list would be terrible choices.

I don't see the problem with slicks during winter if you're on road as tread patterns are not going to do much anyway. I heard somewhere that tread patterns are to prevent hydroplaning which isn't a problem with cycles as they don't go nearly fast enough. However, wet metal surfaces (e.g. drains) and certain types of painted surfaces are to be avoided, but I don't think treads do much to help with that anyway.

hawkinspeter wrote:

I don't see the problem with slicks during winter if you're on road as tread patterns are not going to do much anyway.

Sheldon Brown is interesting on this (he also agrees it's impossible for a bicycle to hydroplane):

"Most people assume that a smooth tire will be slippery, so this type of tire is difficult to sell to unsophisticated cyclists. Most tire makers cater to this by putting a very fine pattern on their tires, mainly for cosmetic and marketing reasons. If you examine a section of asphalt or concrete, you'll see that the texture of the road itself is much "knobbier" than the tread features of a good-quality road tire. Since the tire is flexible, even a slick tire deforms as it comes into contact with the pavement, acquiring the shape of the pavement texture, only while in contact with the road.

People ask, "But don't slick tires get slippery on wet roads, or worse yet, wet metal features such as expansion joints, paint stripes, or railroad tracks?" The answer is, yes, they do. So do tires with tread. All tires are slippery in these conditions. Tread features make no improvement in this."

Agree with uncle Sheldon. Threads seem to work in various gravel/mud that the surface is deformable under bicycle weight.

I think threads have survived till now due to resemblance to car tires, but cars may face serious aquaplanning so it makes sense for them.

I use now Continental Contact Speed which is the cheapest around my area punctureproof option for commuting. Too lazy to change tubes.

I think it was a mavic tyre that the tread faced one way for rear and the other for front. Always seemed some marketing mumbo jumbo.

It was the Mavic Yksion Pro, not just the tread pattern, the construction and compound were allegedly optimised so that the front (Griplink) would be better for cornering and water evacuation and the rear (Powerlink) would be better for speed and power transfer.

I did have a set, which came with an otherwise very good Ksyrium Pro wheelset circa 2015, I can't speak for whether the tyres worked as described as you only had to look at them funny and another cut or slice would appear. Replaced with Conti GP4000 after a month of being torn to shreds on Dorset's fine roads.

That's the one. I remember describing them as a cliff edge, once you got wear to that point, they just continually punctured.

Duplicate posts are back...

Here's another interesting take on bicycle road tyre tread and what its good for:

https://www.renehersecycles.com/myth-6-tread-patterns-dont-matter-on-the...

The essence of the article is that, just as grip to a road is provided by the road knobbles deforming the bicycle tyre to match the knobble shapes - and hence providing a greater and grippier contact patch - so do tyre treads perform the same function. They provide a "rougher" and larger interface with the road knobbles albeit at a smaller scale and, by doing so, enhance the contact and grip between tyre and road even more.

Is it true? I confess I never risk a degree of lean on the wet corners to empirically test for the slide-off-and-get-gravel-rash cusps.

Interesting read, though I would think a cynic like yourself would take an article by a tyre manufacturer saying why their tyres are great with a pinch of sodium chloride?

Yis, a good pinch of the salt should be considered with all of Jan H's articles. However, unlike many who write similar tech stuff about this and that, he does seem to make an effort to reference solid info or data from elsewhere in support of his case. He also conducts his own tests and seems to try to make them real-world and to control variables other than those he's testing.

It's not the usual pure PR and advert buzzword nonsense, at least. (For details of that, cast about this website in the "product news" parts).

But, in the final analysis, anyone making claims for the superiority of their own product is going to have to try harder than the average disinterested academic to provide a watertight case and incontrovertible supporting data. Even academics can push their own preferences - its not really possible for any human to be fully objective, after all. But product-floggers are sometimes a long, long way from objective and well into the post-modern swamps of made-up-stuff.

Still, the Jan H article is interesting in that it provides an alternative case to the usual one of bike tyres not needing "tread" as they can't aquaplane. Essentially, this article is saying that tyre treads have additional functions to the prevention of aquaplaning (and not just that psychological thing in the cyclist mind). Is it so? More sources on the subject from those with good reputations are needed.

He does make lovely tryes though.

And his writing is always interesting and thought provoking.

One day I will get a set of his tyres...

I think you and the others who replied to me must live down south where it doesn't snow as often. I live in Durham and have to cycle through snow, ice, and slush every year.

It depends where you ride and the road conditions in winter. Personally, I'd never use slicks in winter, as the local rural roads are covered in filth (mud, gravel, etc ) - and getting off road and onto the local trail means a file tread/ light gravel tyre is a better bet.

You'd need to be doing 200 mph on 25mm tyres to aquaplane, treat only helps to remove the water beneath the tyre, the road is what grips the tyre, not the other way around.

Sorry, "upside down" you say? 😳

I switched from Conti Gatorskin hardhshells to the Hitchinson Challengers about 10 months ago. Defintely reccomend them. They are a huge step up. Had one puncture (about the same as I had for the Gatorskins for the time period), but the ride comfort is so much better, grip and rolling resistance feels leagues better. Good value too.

Straight Marathons are good for commuting (I've fitted them on my hybrid), but pluses sacrifce too much in terms of grip and being a PITA to fit, for me .

I recently swapped out my Marathon Pluses for Marathons.  I felt more secure with the Pluses, but was so fearful of what would happen if I had to try and get the Plus off the wheel while out and about... <shudder>  I had enough trouble sitting in my kitchen with a strong cup of tea.

Tell me about it. I've had punctures before on pluses (A screw that would puncture anything) and been sat at the side of a busy road, in the rain, trying to fix. never again! bicyclerollingresistance website shows that Marathons aren't that far behind the pluses in terms of puncture protection and rolling resistance is much better.

Agree that the Fusion Performance were a little thin for the UK (they do tougher versions), but you were unlucky with the Cinturatos. I found them to be bulletproof tyres, I used to joke that they wouldn't be out of place on a Transit van rather than a bike.

Ive dropped 'down' a protection layer to the P Zero Race TLR for this winter season, a lot more lively than the Cinturatos. Time will tell if they have the toughness, but all good so far.

I'm also a big fan of the Cinturato, brilliant tyre in every respect that matters to an older, slower rider who uses them in all weathers and detests punctures.  They may be a little lardy, but are featherweight compared with Marathons, and they roll surprisingly briskly.

My first pair lasted 2 years and very nearly 10,000 miles, which is way more than Pirelli advertise.  It was only towards the end of their life, when most of the tread had vanished, that I had my first flat.  I wasted no time ordering my new pair and although the £95 price was a bit salty I unreservedly recommended them to anyone who can't be doing with punctures and can't bear the thought of super heavy rubber weighing down their bike.