Saturday, November 22, 2008

Studs are cool

And I don't mean in the heavy metal sense.

First little bit of snow of the winter two days ago, but it melted on the roads then has refrozen overnight.

I did a test run on my bike late last night but with summer tyres I lost the front wheel whenever I touched the brakes. Hence bus to work today, a pizza for tea and now I feel really fat.


So off to the bike shop to get studded tyres so I can burn off some calories commuting next week hopefully whilst remaining upright on the bike. I got Schwalbe Marathon Winters, I will report back on how they feel after some rides just in case anyone is interested. I can also recommend Bike Planet in Myyrmäki because as well as a well stocked shop and helpful staff they have a pet tarantula who lives in the counter. How cool is that?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see your winter tyres have to be broken in by riding 25 miles on hard top road (this could be difficult if your roads are already iced up) to ensure that the studs are properly fixed - bit of a cheek, methinks: why can't Schwalbe do this in the factory?

Toby - Northern Light Blog said...

I also notice that as well - it particularly annoying as we got half a foot of fresh snow over the last 24 hrs!

I guess their argument would be that there isn't a way to recreate the running of the tyre beyond putting it on a bike and riding - and then the tyre wouldn't be new and shiny in the shop.