Anlas Wintergrip Plus M+S rated winter tires

[1moreroad]

Snow is rare here, and it always melts in a day except. I am sincerely impressed with your commitment to riding. The one time I tried snow riding on our bikes was exhausting. I finally had to park it at the bottom of the driveway after almost crashing trying to ride up and literally sliding back down. 

[Wintersdark]

2 minutes ago, 1moreroad said:

Snow is rare here, and it always melts in a day except. I am sincerely impressed with your commitment to riding. The one time I tried snow riding on our bikes was exhausting. I finally had to park it at the bottom of the driveway after almost crashing trying to ride up and literally sliding back down. 

Yeah, without the right tires it's basically useless.  With normal street tires, actual snow is virtually impossible to ride in.  Even with these tires, you're limited to a light coating of snow before it's a problem.  You can manage deeper snow with dirt tires (TKC80's, Shinko 805's) but they're largely useless come highway speeds and icy pavement.  

With these, though?  I left work (picture above) without any issue.  Just rode away as I normally would - if maybe a bit gentler than I'd do with sunny, clear and dry pavement.  No issue doing the speed limit all the way home. 

Likewise, snow is fairly uncommon here - Calgary is a very, very dry place.  Most roads get pretty reliably cleared fast, though snow elsewhere sticks around basically all winter because it's bloody cold.  Some roads never get plowed, though, so they just get snow packed down and (hopefully) covered in gravel.  Either way, these are really ideal for that sort of condition. 

Places where people get deeper snow more frequently...  Yeah, there's not really a good solution there.  Maybe a KLR with big knobblies and a willingness to lay it down now and then.

[Wintersdark]

So, 800kms in on these tires now. 

Today's ride home from work included fresh falling snow as well as the remnants of Saturday's snowfall.  No clear pavement anywhere, roads varying from as pictured to muddy slushy messes.  

Getting more confident with trusting them, and learning where the boundaries of traction are.  Definitely need to watch where you're putting wheels though when the snow and slush piles up deeper - after an inch or so, it's still rideable but you need to exercise some care turning - it feels a lot like riding a dirt bike in such situations.  You still get grip, and things aren't sliding around willy nilly, but it's not the "on rails" sort of grip us primarily street riders are familiar with.  At this point I'm comfortable at 80kph on the highway in the snow (100kph limit, and I feel 80kph is perfectly reasonable for anyone who can't see pavement, even in a car).

With "normal" tires, snow and slush an inch deep was basically impossible to ride in, so I'd call that a win.  

Even in TCS2, I haven't had traction control activate at all.  

Awesome.

[betoney]

53 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

At this point I'm comfortable at 80kph on the highway in the snow (100kph limit, and I feel 80kph is perfectly reasonable for anyone who can't see pavement, even in a car).

@Wintersdark - Glad to hear that the tires are working OK for you but that's the only positive comment I have.  It looks like an absolutely miserable experience.

[Wintersdark]

10 hours ago, betoney said:

@Wintersdark - Glad to hear that the tires are working OK for you but that's the only positive comment I have.  It looks like an absolutely miserable experience.

Hahaha it's fun.  Maybe I'm a bit broken - I'm willing to accept that as a possibility - but I *love* riding, all the time.  I'm warm, dry, and happy, no miserableness at all.  

Drove in today in the wife's Jeep - it snowed all day after I got home and into the night, and was unsure of how the roads would be - and half the trip was spent shivering and miserable waiting for the damn heat to actually do something useful.  I need to put together an automotive 12v adapter for my heated jacket liner - I'm too spoiled by being really warm all the time

 

[2and3cylinders]

Followed you over from the McCruise thread.  Do they use salt by you.  That's the biggy twitch for me since I had no room for my old winter Rat bike (72 Honda SL350).  A third of my riding is below 42 ~ 55 but as soon as it shows they salt and unless it rains hard and long enough even when it's dry the roads are white and you can see the salt dust kick up.  It's just not worth the time, effort and expense cleaning the bike after every ride.  And it's cold, snowy, gloomy and wet here all winter, November thru May...

 

Good luck and rubber side down!

[fjray]

On 2/1/2020 at 11:53 AM, 2and3cylinders said:

Followed you over from the McCruise thread.  Do they use salt by you.  That's the biggy twitch for me since I had no room for my old winter Rat bike (72 Honda SL350).  A third of my riding is below 42 ~ 55 but as soon as it shows they salt and unless it rains hard and long enough even when it's dry the roads are white and you can see the salt dust kick up.  It's just not worth the time, effort and expense cleaning the bike after every ride.  And it's cold, snowy, gloomy and wet here all winter, November thru May...

 

Good luck and rubber side down!

Through May?  All of March, April and May?  I live pretty near east of you and I am riding just about every day now.  And then every day in April and May.  And I live in the dreaded lake effect snow belt.  I don't worry as much about the cleanliness of the bike. More of a problem than that is not riding.

[2and3cylinders]

You get more snow but it's usually warmer and sunnier by you for some crazy reason.

Maybe I'm not remembering how good it gets early in the year but I don't have the time or energy to wash my bikes after salty rides.

I am hoping to get out today on the VTR cuz the FJ is stripped for maintenance and mods.

[ABlast82]

I've been very interested in these tires since i found this thread. Not so much for actual snow riding but more to extend my season into early march and late november. Like the idea of better grip in colder temps. And sooner or later the gov is going to start pushing the winter rating onto bikes since its now required from oct 1 to march 31 in bc.

[betoney]

1 hour ago, ABlast82 said:

sooner or later the gov is going to start pushing the winter rating onto bikes since its now required from oct 1 to march 31 in bc.

Please explain this, I have never heard anything like this before.

[tktplz]

On 12/2/2019 at 11:03 AM, Wintersdark said:

Heated helmet and jacket, thermally insulated riding overalls, stock heated grips.  I'm warm and toasty

I'm 60.....I'm never warm and toasty. I live in NW Louisiana and I have a feeling I didn't move far enough south, LOL! I use heated grips at 60 degrees and up to 70-75.  

Edited March 8, 2020 by tktplz

[ABlast82]

@betoney in bc it is now required by law to run either the 3 peak winter rated or m&s tires on all passenger vehicles from oct 1 through march 31. I figure its only a matter of time before someone in the gov realizes that bikes are not included in that and rewrites the regulations. When i lived in the lower mainland, i kept my bike insured all year to take advantage of the milder weather, now that i live in the Okanagan I can usually get out on the bike around this time and usually in nov.  

If they do include bikes into the regs, ill either be running a short season (which would suck) or run these tires to avoid a fine if they get checked.

[Wintersdark]

2 hours ago, tktplz said:

I'm 60.....I'm never warm and toasty. I live in NW Louisiana and I have a feeling I didn't move far enough south, LOL! I use heated grips at 60 degrees and up to 70-75.  

The heated liner comes with warnings not to wear it directly against skin, and they're apt.  It gets so hot at max setting it's literally painful.  I wear it just underneath a summer textile riding jacket and over a t-shirt down to around -20C, and seriously if I'm not riding fast enough I'll overheat and have to turn it down or get soaked in sweat.  

And yeah, I have my heated grips on pretty much year round, too.  Warm hands are happy hands!

 

Edit: In all seriousness, I'll be wearing the heated liner most of the year - anything short of ~20C, and hell yeah.  It's so nice to be warm and snuggly.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Wintersdark

[Wintersdark]

1 hour ago, ABlast82 said:

@betoney in bc it is now required by law to run either the 3 peak winter rated or m&s tires on all passenger vehicles from oct 1 through march 31. I figure its only a matter of time before someone in the gov realizes that bikes are not included in that and rewrites the regulations. When i lived in the lower mainland, i kept my bike insured all year to take advantage of the milder weather, now that i live in the Okanagan I can usually get out on the bike around this time and usually in nov.  

If they do include bikes into the regs, ill either be running a short season (which would suck) or run these tires to avoid a fine if they get checked.

The tires are great.  Even if you don't ride in snow/slush, they get WAY better grip in colder temperatures.  When the roads are dry, I'm confident now at hard lean even in freezing temps.  I mean, if you're never going to ride in ice/slush/snow, a good set of Road 5's or similar rain tire gets good enough grip down to around freezing and in BC that's typically adequate, but yeah... The winters really do make a significant difference.

[2and3cylinders]

But shouldn't they be swapped out for regular season riding temps?