Hmm. As icy season is approaching in Berlin, I’m asking myself the same question as every year: should I put winter / studded tyres on my city bike? And I’ll probably not bother…
And then I stumble across this retyre startup that tries to solve the problem - with zip on ice tyres! 🤯 Have any of my followers tried this?
https://www.treadbikely.com/could-retyres-zip-on-tread-system-change-how-you-ride-your-bike/
@jon
Let us know 😉
Prices seem not too far off. Not sure if it'll work well with rim brakes from the looks of it.
But I'm sceptical: we have a few weeks where studded tyres help, so changing mantles twice a year doesn't seem too much work to me.
@cweickhmann My city bike has hub gears. Always a lot of arsing around to change tyres there… And in the end how many really icy days are there? Perhaps 10 on average each season? This might be good *enough* for those…
@jon
I'm not saying it's bad. Just that I'm a bit sceptical. But I'm happy to be proven wrong. 😉 Especially if the zip-on part could be put on in the morning when it's slippery and easily taken off for the way home, say in the afternoon.
Hub gears is 'Nabenschaltung', right? Hmmm, I'll tackle that on my wife's bike soon, but so far I found it easier than derailleur gears.
@cweickhmann @eliasp oh I’d love that. A bit above my price range though sadly!
@jon @cweickhmann yeah, they're a little expensive, but I'd lease it as part of my employee benefits (#JobRad) which is a relatively popular scheme in Germany, to get tax-free access to a quality bike, which then again makes it quite affordable compared to paying for a car 😄 🚴
@cweickhmann I’m sceptical too. The idea is superficially appealing but the devil is going to be in the detail - how well it actually works!
@cweickhmann @jon I'm really tempted by a #Pinion gear and a belt drive, but have struggled since ~2 years to get my dream bike (#Stevens P.18) for a test-ride, since it's nowhere on stock due to the current bike market situation.
https://www.stevensbikes.de/2022/en/de/city-trekking/trekking-premium/p18/