How to arrange my winter tyres fore and aft

[CWM]

Having discovered I could not fit my Continental Winter Topcontact tyres onto the RST, I decided to press my MTB in to service,  and so have put a surly 1x1 steel (suspension corrected) fork onto my Genesis io ID and generally set it up for commuting.  All seems to work ok.  I have kept the back wheel as is, with the disc brake and the alifne 8 speed hub,  but put a rim braked front wheel on as I wanted to use an old shimano dyno hub to power the front light. 

The general idea is to have a bike ready for commuting if there is snow and ice - saves always watching the forecast and trying to fit different tyres onto other bikes at the last moment

Now although I have a pair of the said Continental winter tyres, I also own a (single) Schwalbe Winter studded tyre (26 x 1.75) that I bought recently off the CTC forum.  So I thought I might use one of the Continentals on one wheel and the studded on the other, just for experimental purposes. For some reason I opted to put the studs on the rear, but now am wondering if they might better go on the front, with  a "normal" winter tyre on the rear. 

Bike works fine as is, tried it out on today's commute, which was rain, sleet and slush in the morning and frosty (and some lying snow) on the way home.  Noisy, but fine.

Any suggestions on tyre placement appreciated.

[geocycle]

I think the general view is that if the back end slips you can often get a foot down, if the front end slips its curtains. That said you'll not get much traction on the back on ice without spikes.

For reference, did you find the schwalbe winter was too big for the RST frame?  What if you removed the mudguard? I'm interested as I prepare my RST for the ice season.

[martinf]

I think the general view is that if the back end slips you can often get a foot down, if the front end slips its curtains. That said you'll not get much traction on the back on ice without spikes.

I'd second this. Most important wheel is the front. But better to have studs on both.

[CWM]

For reference, did you find the schwalbe winter was too big for the RST frame?  What if you removed the mudguard? I'm interested as I prepare my RST for the ice season.
[/quote]

Actually I was rather less scientific than you might hope.  At the point when I first tried this on the RST, I did not have the Schwalbe tyre.  I had a pair of conti topcontact winters which I think are 26 x 2.  Tried to fit one on the front of the RST and no way was it going in. The rear looks like it has a bit more room, and I suspect would accept a schwalbe winter (the one I have is 26 x 1.75) perhaps even with the mudguard on.

In terms of the advice, I concur.  Would anyone therefore care to pop round and swap them over while I rest up before tomorrow's challenges (which seems to be low overnight temperatures, followed by quite a lot of rain, high winds and then, if one lingers in the office o'er long, snow).  But I will not be in the office late as I want to be home by 7 to watch The Adventure Show on BBC Shortbread which is screening a Special about some mad audax up and down the length of Scotland.

[mickeg]

I think the general view is that if the back end slips you can often get a foot down, if the front end slips its curtains. That said you'll not get much traction on the back on ice without spikes.

Where I used to work there were several bike commuters that rode year around.  About 5 percent of them had studs in front only, another 5 percent had studs front and rear.  And 90 percent had no studs, only rode in the best weather.

Last year I used studs for the first time.  I have Marathon Winters, 2.0 width front and rear, very happy with them.

Have you looked for another Schwalbe Winter or Marathon Winter?  You might want to price them at Chain Reaction.

I do not know how much experience you have with studs, I learned pretty fast that on days when the pavement was good and very little ice or snow, higher pressure resulted in much better rolling tires.  The studs are not directly under the middle of the tire, but slightly offset, so higher pressure lifted the studs slightly higher off of the pavement.  But on days with more snow or ice I ran lower pressures to get better contact between the studs and ice.  If more than about a half to three quarters of an inch (roughly 10  to 20mm) of fresh snow was the worst, that prevented the studs from getting ideal contact with underlying ice.  Much more snow than that and I did not go fast enough to get into trouble.  I obviously want good stud contact with the front wheel so my pressures in the front were never very high.

I do not use cleated shoes when there is ice, I do not want any delay in getting my foot off of the pedal to get it on the pavement.

Good luck and stay warm.