Test: Studded Bike Tires

Pedaling through the snow and ice is easy. But staying upright isn’t always so simple. One solution is studded tires like the Schwalbe Marathons, which I rode all last winter, meaning from the end of October until May here in the mountain town of Mammoth Lakes, Calif. My commute is unique because it starts at about 7,900 feet above sea level and climbs more than 1,000 feet in five miles to my office. Ascending is slow and steady. The descent can be fast, and there are a couple turns that are a haven for black ice.

In places like Mammoth — where we had about 48 feet of snow last winter! — studded tires make a lot of sense. The Schwalbe Marathons include dozens of small carbide studs to bite through ice and snow for grip. They come in several sizes — from 20 × 1.6 to 700 × 40C — and have a design where the center part of the tire is left as a “normal” rubber tread for max rolling speed. The studs truly come into play when you lean and turn.

All last winter, riding the Schwalbe Marathons on both front and back, I crashed only once, and it was rider error: I dove into a turn like I was racing a crit on dry pavement. Even the Schwalbe studs could not handle that action.

At about $78 apiece, the Schwalbe tires ain’t cheap. And tipping the scale at almost a kilogram, they’re not light either. But both of these factors are a small price to pay for keeping you upright in the winter and off the (ice-covered) asphalt.

—Stephen Krcmar lives and rides at Mammoth Mountain, Calif.