Bought a set of these a few years ago to use on my 29er for commuting. Rain, snow, icy patches, dry pavement, dirt, you name it, it works. In sandy terrain the tire sipes will tend to pick up a lot of the fines but washing them off with a good stiff brush every so often takes care of that. Now have them mounted on a spare set of wheels for my cross bike. Very durable as well considering it is supposedly a softer compound rubber. Would definitely buy again.
Road in winter for the last two years in KY. There is more ice than snow. the first winter i fell 3 times and cracked a rib. last winter i bought these after my first fall and didn't go down again. the warmer it gets the stickier they get so i would wait to put them on till the highs are consistently under 60 degrees. i will buy these again.
I purchased the 42mm tire - they mounted up around 38-39mm as expected. I put them on my cross bike with disc brakes for winter training. I still had clearance for the Planet Bike fenders although it was a little tight.
The tread pattern is unlike any bike tire I've owned before - they're are very car tire-like. Tires channeled water and slush very nicely off to the sides of the tire instead of carrying it around and you (and your bike) ending up wearing it. They felt very confident on icy or questionable slick conditions. I didn't get a chance to try in snow deeper than 2 inches, but performed well in an inch or so.
A tad more roll resistance as expected, but smooth rolling - again I had the 42mm. So far tire wear has been good with no flats (only about 400 miles so far)
BTW - I saw reviews that described them as hairy; I concur. They are fuzzy from the tire mold, but they kept the inside of my fenders clean!
Use: First Time Used
Conditions: Snow/Ice, Single Digit Temps
Tire Pressure Lowered Tire Pressure but not sure to what PSI
It snowed all day in Denver and I picked up my bike from bike shop late in the evening. I rode the bike home and these tires performed as I expected from previous posts. The road was slick with ice and snow but the tires gripped to the surface, never slipping. I slightly deflated tire pressure as well. Looking forward to my commute to work tomorrow.
These tires have very, very good traction, especially on chip seal. They do tend to pick up little bits of gravel, and probably glass. Even with them on I can keep up with the regular guys with standard road tires, though I'm probably working a bit harder.
I ride 11 each way, mostly on bike path, but in the winter, melt and freeze on underpasses and slippery wood bridges were handled. I still slowed because I have fallen before with mountain bike tires, but never had a problem. Did ride slow one day in packed ice and didn't have a problem. Easily kept up with traffic at 15-20 mph. Transitions great to dry pavement. Did 63 miles last year to Thanksgiving Dinner at the in-laws. Seem to be wearing well. Mounted on spare wheels on an All-City Macho Man.
Haven't ridden these much yet. Out of the box, the manufacturing seems typical Continental... which is very good. The tread is carefully molded (many, many, many mold vents)to produce a deep tread with lots of sipes. This tread produces outrageous amounts of grip on chip-seal. Also typical Continental, they aren't really 37mm. The mounted 34mm on my rims. (Which formerly had 32 mm gatorskins which were really 30mm)
These tires were put on my cross bike for winter use.They have excellent cold and snow condition grip. They are just like car snow tires and have a tire compound that allows for maximum grip in cold conditions.
My daily commute in the great lakes area requires a hairy (bridge freezes before roadway) overpass with high speeds and congestion. Soft rubber with brush-like high contact area makes the ride less dangerous than it looks. Excellent daily transition and consistent performance from ice and snow at 35 PSI, to dry roads at 85 PSI. So far (400 miles) no siginificant wear