winterwheel Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 I ride everyday for commuting on on the stock tire without studs in extreme winter conditions. In fact I volunteered to go back to working in the office to ensure I wouldn't get lazy and stay indoors all winter. This year I'm riding an old beater of an S-18, I find the suspension makes the ride infinitely more comfortable. I agree (with @mrelwoodI think it was, who said) that riding on pure ice is doable but not fun; fortunately there are only 3-4 days per year where the ice conditions are that bad. I'm not a particularly talented rider, so I think it just takes a bit of practice. I do find winter riding makes the daily commute much more interesting than riding the same boring concrete path every day in summer. In winter you never know what little challenges await. I'd still like to try studs someday to see the difference on days where ice is particularly bad, usually on the transitions into and out of winter. I actually bought some this year but haven't got around to installing them. Shows how much I need them I guess. All that said, I don't think I'd want to take a super heavy or really expensive wheel out in the winter. This is a good time to use the backup wheel that don't get a lot of love in the summer months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plentora Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 I don't if it is the KS-18XL stock wheel or what it is but I cannot imagine commuting or riding daily on snowy surfaces with the KS-18XL stock wheel still. I've tried few times but it is more like a sports to me. Yes I can ride but typically quite slowly like 15km/h or a bit slower. I know that riding faster just increases risk of falling exponentially. Our weather / roads were in condition where even my e-bike with studded winter tires have troubles going straigh. In those conditions I wouldn't ride any EUC (no matter if the tires would be studded/knobby). Nothing "dramatic" in the conditions, just a bit of snow and lots of bike / walking on the road. You know those days when bicycle "finds" its path in the tracks + snow. Either you are very talented or your roads are in exceptional quality - otherwise I'm sure we live in different worlds :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 (edited) 40 minutes ago, plentora said: I don't if it is the KS-18XL stock wheel or what it is but I cannot imagine commuting or riding daily on snowy surfaces with the KS-18XL stock wheel still. I've tried few times but it is more like a sports to me. Yes I can ride but typically quite slowly like 15km/h or a bit slower. I know that riding faster just increases risk of falling exponentially. Our weather / roads were in condition where even my e-bike with studded winter tires have troubles going straigh. In those conditions I wouldn't ride any EUC (no matter if the tires would be studded/knobby). Nothing "dramatic" in the conditions, just a bit of snow and lots of bike / walking on the road. You know those days when bicycle "finds" its path in the tracks + snow. Either you are very talented or your roads are in exceptional quality - otherwise I'm sure we live in different worlds Ofc without studs it's even harder than regular bicycle - which have 2x wheels. Especially if you have that "slick" middle on the tire.. (Like C-1488 tire) Knobby tire helps a lot in this area also. Add studs and you will be riding icy asphalt/snow, etc.. Same as in summer. But still at lower ~15-20 km/h speeds. Edited December 23, 2022 by Funky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plentora Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 Can I order one S-22 now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterwheel Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 It's not just me riding here, we have quite a group of winter riders here now. One or two have tried studs, for the most part we all just ride with the unmodified rubber. Those that did try studs found them useful in some situations, detrimental in others. Lots of serious winter riding on 18XL happened here a couple of years ago, these are relegated to backup wheels now with everyone having progressed to suspension wheels of some sort or quite a few are on V12s. But the consensus was the 18XL was a fine winter wheel. The knobby tires that come on some wheels are much better than street tires for grinding through deep snow. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plentora Posted December 23, 2022 Author Share Posted December 23, 2022 49 minutes ago, winterwheel said: But the consensus was the 18XL was a fine winter wheel. Define winter. There are many conditions for winter. Some winter might just mean rainier period. Some it might mean "sometime freezing temperatures". In here it means "everyone just stops biking" because it is so cumbersone and hard. I would still argue that KS-18XL isn't at all snow ground wheel with stock tire. Yes, you can ride with it on snow but the other part is do you actually like it. Travelling slowly, constant risk of falling down. All the gearing up (because the trip takes long time you need to put all the warmest clothes on). I think term "winter wheel" is too broad. We should talk about snow/ice wheels. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, plentora said: Define winter. There are many conditions for winter. Some winter might just mean rainier period. Some it might mean "sometime freezing temperatures". In here it means "everyone just stops biking" because it is so cumbersone and hard. I would still argue that KS-18XL isn't at all snow ground wheel with stock tire. Yes, you can ride with it on snow but the other part is do you actually like it. Travelling slowly, constant risk of falling down. All the gearing up (because the trip takes long time you need to put all the warmest clothes on). I think term "winter wheel" is too broad. We should talk about snow/ice wheels. -20C (Imagine - it was snowed one day it was +2C all snow kinda melts. And over night it freezes. Next day each "footprint" is like small ice pothole.) Try riding that. And that pavement is a path to train station so there's many, many, many footprints/ice potholes. 1-2Cm deep. That was last winter. Luckily this winter is better. Snow don't get cleaned off "often" and it gets packed down and becomes like bumpy ice.. Edited December 23, 2022 by Funky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eucner Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 Road and bike path maintenance is in key role of winter riding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterwheel Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 Define winter: It was -35c for my commute to work the last couple of days, not accounting for windchill which the effective temperature -44c or so...before hopping on the wheel and going for a ride. Cars have to be super careful right now because the snowbase has packed down to a white icy sheen and it is very difficult for them to stop. Thankfully it has warmed up today so it is a balmy -19c as I sit here and write this. It's been cold enough that I have to put a plastic bag over the S-18 to keep it from over-cooling and kicking me off after a couple of kms of riding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul A Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 Just now, winterwheel said: It was -35c Maybe a car with heating would be a good alternative... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterwheel Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 2 hours ago, Funky said: -20C (Imagine - it was snowed one day it was +2C all snow kinda melts. And over night it freezes. Next day each "footprint" is like small ice pothole.) Try riding that. And that pavement is a path to train station so there's many, many, many footprints/ice potholes. 1-2Cm deep. That was last winter. Luckily this winter is better. Snow don't get cleaned off "often" and it gets packed down and becomes like bumpy ice.. Yep. We have those conditions every year here as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterwheel Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 Just now, Paul A said: Maybe a car with heating would be a good alternative... I enjoy winter riding, you just have to know what you're doing. Much safer than being in a car in these conditions. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 (edited) Our paths look like this, but little bit more ice. (Now last 2 days everything is melting.. But soon everything will freeze, then we will have solid ICE. -Fun) Edited December 23, 2022 by Funky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterwheel Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 Same here, looks like our conditions are pretty similar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterwheel Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 (edited) https://www.facebook.com/pth.oneill/videos/5421025124669595 From a couple of weeks back. And from 2018: https://www.facebook.com/pth.oneill/videos/10156836477467863 Edited December 23, 2022 by winterwheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterwheel Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 3 hours ago, plentora said: Yes, you can ride with it on snow but the other part is do you actually like it. Winter commuting on a stock 18-xl was awesome fun. For me, and further proof of that is other guys here do it just for the fun of it. People aren't using 18XL so much anymore just because they've moved on to later and greater wheels over the past year or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Funky Posted December 23, 2022 Share Posted December 23, 2022 44 minutes ago, winterwheel said: Winter commuting on a stock 18-xl was awesome fun. For me, and further proof of that is other guys here do it just for the fun of it. People aren't using 18XL so much anymore just because they've moved on to later and greater wheels over the past year or two. You can ride any wheel in winter. Just waterproof the motor, so on.. (If you are riding in rain - one should have done it already.) I still love my 18xl that i bought end of 2021. (Lightest 18" wheel.) I don't need those "newer" shit wheels. (Mostly because i don't need what they offer..) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winterwheel Posted December 25, 2022 Share Posted December 25, 2022 I got to do a 65 mile group ride on a borrowed commander up in the California mountains a couple of weeks ago. Holy crap what awesome fun that was. That would not have been close to possible with any of my existing wheels. Day to day riding though, I have no need for a master pro, v13 etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plentora Posted December 28, 2022 Author Share Posted December 28, 2022 (edited) On 12/25/2022 at 5:40 PM, winterwheel said: I got to do a 65 mile group ride on a borrowed commander up in the California mountains a couple of weeks ago. Holy crap what awesome fun that was. That would not have been close to possible with any of my existing wheels. Day to day riding though, I have no need for a master pro, v13 etc. What would be your favorite snow/ice wheel? Edited December 28, 2022 by plentora Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post winterwheel Posted December 31, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted December 31, 2022 On 12/28/2022 at 3:03 AM, plentora said: What would be your favorite snow/ice wheel? I don't do a lot of adventure riding so for me the S-18 does fine in all conditions. Before that it was the 18XL and before that it was the ACM2. I'd be happy with any one of these for ice riding. The best wheel for extreme snow based on our group experience has to be the Sherman with knobby tire. There's a rider up here who plowed through kilometers of 10cm deep snow to get to work some days when he had to get to work after a snow storm but before the city got out to clear the bike paths. Right now there are a few guys here having a lot of fun in deep snow conditions with the S-22. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul A Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 Riding EUC in WINTER - Part 01: GEAR monocat. 4.18K subscribers Jan 2, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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