Hallo zusammen, wenn es hier schon mal Schnee gibt, muss man das nutzen ;-)
Deshalb habe ich mir den Speedster geschnappt und eine kleine Spaß-Runde durch den Schnee gedreht und dabei auch den auf dem Hinterrad befindlichen Schwalbe Hurricane auf Schnee-Tauglichkeit getestet. Fazit: Für eine Alpenüberquerung im Winter nicht geeignet (welch eine Überraschung ;-))
Beim Fahren durch ca. 5 cm hohen Schnee macht er sich aber recht gut. Die seitlichen Noppen greifen in dem Fall gut. Wenn man jedoch auf ca. 1 cm hohem, von Autoreifen zusammengepressten Schneematsch unterwegs ist, dreht das Rad sehr schnell durch, da die außen liegenden Noppen sich nicht (genug) im Matsch befinden. Der Spike-Vorderreifen (Schwalbe Winter, bestückt mit zusätzlichen Spikes) leistet – wie erwartet – gute Dienste.
Solche kleinen Schnee-Runden machen immer wieder Spaß. Mal gucken, ob es diesen Winter nochmal zu einer ähnlichen Runde reicht.
Gruß
Matthias
Kommentare
Coole Runde – im wahrsten Sinn des Wortes.
Thank you for the post. I was looking for somebody who had ridden the Hurricane in any amount of snow.
I wonder if you could provide any ballpark idea how much weight you had on the rear tire and what pressure you ran it at? And any other details :)
Reason for asking:
I’m from Finland and before this spring I used to daily a Smart Sam 47-622 in the rear on my touring/city bike for years. (Switched to a pair of Conti Contact Urbans for summer)
I’m a heavy rider and I’ve found the Smart Sam tire to perform admirably in these Nordic conditions. Obviously it’s hopeless against ice but in hardpack snow (polished surface), the comparatively large and shallow center lugs tend to puncture the hard layer and just find grip somewhere.
Since you said “spins in snow compressed by car tires”, I just wondered about the load vs pressure and other conditions under which you experienced this. Like spins while sitting on saddle and pedaling vs standing pedaling (less load on rear). Any incline?
My at this point almost 7 year old Smart Sam still has some life left for at least this winter but the Hurricane tread pattern intrigues me.
Hi Matias,
There wasn’t much weight in the pannier and I’m not a heavy person. I think the pressure was at about 4 bar. The tire is sized 50-584.
The spins in compressed snow where while sitting on the saddle, but – as described in my post above – only came up in relatively thin snow. When riding through snow of about 5 cm, the tire performed much better.
But all in all I rode this tire the whole last winter and will no longer use the Hurricane in the upcoming winter. Although the performance while pedaling is not that bad, the behavior of the tire when braking on snow is poor. That’s the reason, why I don’t want to use the Hurricane again in snowy conditions. But without snow and ice I still like this tire.
I think Smart Sam is a much better choice for winter conditions.
I hope my description is helping a little bit :-)
Thank you and yes, your descriptions helped.
I agree with you that of these two, the Smart Sam is probably overall better tire in snow.
However, regarding the behaviour/performance under braking, I would say that’s pretty much expected? Sure, the Hurricane probably fishtails easier* than Smart Sam would but whether that is an issue, I don’t know. Don’t really use the rear brake that much.
(*Especially depending on the pressure.)
Looking at the picture you provided of the tracks in snow, in those specific conditions and at that time, it looks to me like the inner most micro knob row exerted a bit more pressure than the outer most micro knob row. (Trying to judge how much the snow compressed)
As I’m heavier, if adjusted for same contact patch area (tire load vs tire pressure) I exert more PSI on the ground so if I slightly decrease the pressure to get an even compaction of the snow, this tire might actually work.
That compression of the snow and interlocking of crystals with snow in between the nooks and crannies of a tread is where the traction comes on snow.
I do not mean to question your opinion. It is valid.
I’m trying to analyse/decide if there is a useful compromise to be found with this tire for my use case.
Since I’m interested in trying a tire with smaller knobs. Sure I could buy Continentals Top Contact Winter for that interlocking surface area thing but over here it’s price is a bit much and with the Smart Sam I’ve seen Schwalbe’s compound and casing feels pretty supple to me so I’m leaning toward staying in that camp.
You know, something like G-One Comp actually has an interesting tread but only green compound/K-Guard and no reflex option.. In that regard Hurricane feels better option to try. Michelin’s Stargrip however would be an interesting wild card to try.
The Hurricane however would offer that basically slick center section for higher pressure lower resistance riding during the depth of winter when the temperatures are so low that it’s actually not slippery.
G-One Comp is kinda similar but has “inverse knobs” in the center. More traction if there is snow to compact but less rubber to the road in those not-slippery conditions. Then again it looks like it has more surface are in regards to it’s tread features but maybe slightly less pronounced side knobs.
I would assume to appreciate more pronounced side knobs when the rear tire is climbling out of a rut of snow at an oblique angle.
Why did I write all of this here.. I have no idea. Have a nice rest of the week and thank you again for getting back to me.
- Matias
P.S. Just for giggles I’m still rocking the Contact Urban in the rear (Black Ice 200 35-622 front) and last week we had few days of freezing with few cm of snow. It’s all melted now but it was a fun few days. Winter hasn’t properly started yet..
Sure that almost completely slick tire locks up if I apply a lot of brake pressure or slips on snow momentarily if I stand up and basically grunt pedal. No, can’t do anything against slippery ice obviously but overall it’s a freaky grippy tire. I’ll probably change to the knobby in the rear when it doesn’t feel safe anymore.