Winter tyres

brethren

Hi,
Anyone recommend some decent winter tyres for a Specialized Allez? Come off a couple of times now on Schwalbe Blizzards, have tried to fit Vittoria Randonneur Cross Hybrids but required 3 tyre levers and a severe amount of brut force to even get them on.:mad:
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Thanks

SetOverSet

I, and a lot of folks on here use Continental Gatorskins. No probs with 'em so far on >1,000km

blorg

There was another thread reporting quite a number of people coming off on the ice using Gatorskins (including myself), probably so many fell off mostly due to their popularity in the first place! They are a good tyre but don't know that I would be particularly suggesting them if slipping on ice is the problem.

brethren

I slipped on a wet roundabout recently, there was a bit of dust and dirt on it. Fairly new to road cycling so wasn't sure if I needed thicker tyres like cyclocross for winter cycling or a decent set of "stickier" slicks to help avoid future falls.
Cheers for your help.

blorg

From what I can gather, wider is better, lower pressure is better (these two are obviously linked.)

Cyclocross/tread is unlikely to help on ice although it could give you some grip on loose snow (not a frequent occurence around here.) The only thing in terms of tread that helps with ice (as far as I know) is studs.

I have read suggestions that a softer rubber is better. This may not favour the likes of the Gatorskins.

You may just need to work on your handling, and remember not to use the front brake if it is slippy. If anything the dust and dirt on a wet roundabout should give you traction

Chips Lovell

But if it was gravel, rather than dust, then yes, you could go down.

blorg

Yes, good point Tonto- I have just been reading a lot lately about ice and tyres and this point came up, you are better off cycling over crap mixed up with the ice if you have a choice than over the ice on it's own. So I was wired to this and didn't consider that OP might have meant gravel.