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Trying out the reTyre zip-on tyres

Video: trying out the reTyre zip-on winter studs

What if you could just zip on your winter tyres on the days you needed them?
by dave atkinson
Fri, Feb 01, 2019 12:32
9

We've had about eight inches of snow down here in Bath, and it hasn't stopped yet.

It's not great for productivity in the sense of people actually being able to make it to the office, but on the other hand it's great testing weather for the reTyre system from Norway. The premise here is that you don't need studded tyres all the time, and when you don't need them they're draggy and horrible, and when you do it's a faff to change them over. reTyre works by having a studded outer that you simply zip over the standard city tyre as and when conditions demand.

But does it work? Well, we had a go. Watch the video to hear our first impressions...

Dave Atkinson

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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9 comments

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flat4 | 5 years ago
1 like

You have the wrong type of snow in the test. Any knobbly tyre will work equally well on fluffy snow in the park. Studs poke into hard, compacted snow and ice to give traction.

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simonmb replied to flat4 | 5 years ago
1 like

flat4 wrote:

You have the wrong type of snow in the test.

I guess it was the only type of snow available.

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CygnusX1 replied to simonmb | 5 years ago
0 likes
simonmb wrote:

flat4 wrote:

You have the wrong type of snow in the test.

I guess it was the only type of snow available.

That's just excusing lazy jouralism 3 why aren't the road.cc hacks hunting out hard packed snow and ice instead of larking around in the local park?

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Sadoldsamurai | 5 years ago
0 likes

Wot no helmet?

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leqin | 5 years ago
0 likes

could you duct tape over the zip? to shut it up and smooth its transition through the frame

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joules1975 | 5 years ago
1 like

Worthwhile investment? hmmm...

1. How do they ride in 'normal' mode?

2. What's the price of a decent set of 'normal' road tyres and a decent set of spike tyres, and then

3. is it really that hard to swap those normal tyres over?

4. for the number of days of dodgy weather we have, is either option actually worth bothering with?

I suspect the answer to 1. is OK but not as good as a decent 'normal' road tyre.

I'd imagine the answer to 2. is the two sets combines will be pretty similar in price (I'm thinking the pretty decent Conti Ultra Sport or similar and the basic Schwalbe winter tyres).

Answer to 3. is really not very. Longer than zipping those reTyres together.

And 4. .... probably not.

If the tyres ride pretty well and you are doing a long distance ride of some sort where you are going to get changable conditions, maybe they'll be worth it. Otherwise, not so much.

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EddyBerckx | 5 years ago
0 likes

Great idea. Would be interested to see how they handle on road though, both icy and normal. How tight do they fit? Any slippage and so on?

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cougie | 5 years ago
0 likes

A genius idea - but at 67 Euro a tyre - it's a bit of an investment for the few snowy/icy days I'd be riding in.  Great for hardened commuters though. 

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zedbedboy | 5 years ago
1 like

So how easy to zip on are those outers going to be  on those 3/4 days per year when the zip on the everyday tyre is clagged with road crud. Judging by how the zip on my seat pack jams up - not very easy!

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