winter tires 22x3

[Banjopete]

I got mine mounted up, so far so good. They fit! most importantly to start things off.

[nelglen]

I'm thinking of doing something similar to what Antti did.

How wide is your front tire, Antti?

Cheers,
--glen

Hi,

I live in Helsinki and have the RadWagon4. I have been through 3 Finnish winters with it. In Helsinki the temperature tends to fluctuate around freezing throughout the beginning of winter and then stays below freezing in Jan - Feb, so we get lots of slush, ice, and re-frozen semi-melted snow, with lots of bike-corroding salt thrown in for good measure 

I noticed that the stock RadWagon tires are slippery in the cold and they have almost no lateral grip in icy conditions. I've taken several falls when the front tire slipped out from under me. This makes riding in the winter very unpleasant. I don't like having to be "on edge" the whole time.

Last winter I laced up a 24in rim to a new front hub and used a 24in studded winter tire at around 3 bar of pressure. There were no tire clearance issues, and it completely transformed the bike. The grip, even on ice, was much much better and I felt a lot more comfortable and safe riding around in icy and frozen conditions. I just left the rear tire as stock. There is some slippage from time to time, but the back sliding out isn't really a problem.

Getting a new rim for the front can be kind of expensive, but if you are serious about riding around in the winter I would recommend it. I would say forget the snow chains or moped tires and get a studded tire.

[Banjopete]

This is still a great idea, and may end up not costing a whole lots more in the long run after buying a tire, then studs, doubly so if you're paying for someone to do it for you.

[Antti L]

My front tire is 47mm so about 1.85 inches wide. I run it at just below 4 bar (about 55 psi).

I've decided to convert the whole bike to 24in, so I will be re-lacing the rear hub motor to a 24in rim in the near future. The studded front tire is fine for 85% of the riding that I do, but  we've had a few days of above freezing temperatures and now that it is back to below freezing, the melted snow has turned into massive sheets of ice. I have decided that I want more grip in the rear as well.

For summer riding, once converted completely to 24in, I have been eyeing the Schwalbe Pick Ups. They seem like nice cargo bike tires also available in 24in.

I've also decided to upgrade to hydraulic brakes. The stopping power on the Tektros that came with the bike is fine, but the constant adjusting that is required is a real PITA.

[handlebar]

For summer riding, once converted completely to 24in, I have been eyeing the Schwalbe Pick Ups. They seem like nice cargo bike tires also available in 24in.

I've also decided to upgrade to hydraulic brakes. The stopping power on the Tektros that came with the bike is fine, but the constant adjusting that is required is a real PITA.

I had 30 miles on my Aventon Abound when the rear tire went flat. The cause was so small that I wound't have found it if I hadn't marked the sidewall at the valve so I could match it up with the hole in the tube. It appeared to be a particle of sand, embedded in the rubber. Besides puncturing the tube, the particle had cut a cord in the tire. I replaced the new tire with a 20" Schwalbe Pick Up. The old one has about 25 TPI, which is asking for trouble. The Schwalbe has 2 plies of 67 TPI. It feels much more substantial but hardly weighs any more, and there's no more rolling resistance as far as I can tell.

On my Rad bikes with mechanical brakes, it was the back ones that would get spongy. I decided that the cable housing, made of coiled wire, was stretching  because it flexed when the handlebars turned. Periodically, I'd put the cable housing under compression overnight by tying the rear brake lever to the handlebar. It helped.

[Antti L]

For my part I'll post this last update to finish off this topic. I finally laced up a 24 in rear wheel for my Radwagon 4, and I installed a studded winter tires on the back as well. The actual lacing and wheel building was fairly straightforward.

The studded tire works really well. We just had a pretty big snowstorm here in Helsinki and biking to work was fairly alright. Now we are back above freezing fora few days and then everything is going to freeze to ice again making for slippery conditions.


Unsurprisingly the studded tire has a lot more traction and I feel more comfortable riding to work and running errands.

The new Radwagon 5 has solved this issue by using a more standard wheel size, but if there are any other Radwagon 4 riders in cold climates I can recommend moving to 24in tires. It was somewhat expensive, but everything has a cost.


On a side note I also upgraded to Tektro hydraulic brakes. It made a world of difference to the braking power and also much less fussing with brake adjustment.

I just rolled over the odometer on the bike and with these upgrades I hope to still get many more thousands of kilometers from the bike. If I buy a new cargo bike in the future I will be sure to spend some more upfront on a quality bike such as a Tern.

[EnergyGuy]

I found these Vee tires (22x3.5) and ordered some today.  I'll update after I get them installed and let you know how they work

https://veetireco.com/catalog-product/huntsman/