The Tire Debate!

In the summer I tend to stick to the park system for the majority of my commutes to work. Its paved, has little foot and bike traffic and most importantly keeps me away from cars. In the early morning it can be beautifully quiet. One morning in fact I had to come to a complete stop in order to let a young deer cross the path in front of me, and this is in the heart of downtown Toronto!

And this is where the debate begins. With my decision to ride through the winter I've been trying to determine if I want to stick to the bike paths or take to the streets. Fortunately we haven't had any snow yet this year but its inevitable and there is definitely lots of ice out there. First off its unlikely that the bike paths that riddle the park system will get plowed - the streets will, of course, but do I really want to risk mingling with traffic on snowy, icy roads? The paths however are more likely to form icy ruts (even if they're my own) which can be dangerous for standard mountain bike style tires. Regardless of my decision I need to get serious about my winter tire choice since the generic slicks that came with the Seek are definitely not going to cut it. Enter Peter White...

For those interested, Peter over at PeterWhiteCycles.com has a great section on winter tires and has gone to great lengths to explain the pro's and con's of studded tires along with an excellent breakdown of which tires suit which conditions. Reading the info on his site has helped me to determine the winter conditions I might encounter and how best to handle them. After reading through his site several times and contacting Peter by phone, I've decided to go with the Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires based mainly on the number of studs and the placement of those studs. As Peter states on his site the Marathon's are "the perfect tire if you want one tire to do everything". And that's exactly what I need.

The 700c versions have 240 studs and come in two sizes; 40mm and 35mm. Since the Seek 1 has some minor clearance issues in the rear, I've opted for a 35mm rear and a 40mm front - a combination that happens quite frequently according to their staff. The studs to the side of the tread will help me in the icy ruts should I choose to stick to the bike paths, with the center studs helping out on the ice if I need to take to the roads. The only other option for me were the Hakkapeliitta W240's but I felt they were too aggressive for the type of riding I plan on doing.

I hope to have a detailed review of these tires once they arrive and I can get them on my rims.

Note: Shipping to Canada
Peter White seems to be very much aware of the issues Canadian customers face ordering products online. In order to keep costs low and brokerage fees to a minimum you can opt to ship via USPS (United States Parcel Service) as opposed to UPS. I'll follow up on this once the tires arrive in order to give people a better idea of the direct costs incurred.