Test: Any reader with an affinity for bicycles will probably be familiar with Specialized - but many do not know that the US manufacturer has also been developing and producing tires extremely successfully for several years. We looked at winter tires with the Icebreaker 138.
The profile
The profile of the tire from Specialized looks extremely promising at first glance: high profile depth, lugs arranged in the direction of travel with transverse grooves and generously spaced promise good grip on snow and ice. The placement of the spikes is interesting: The 138 metal rivets are located extremely far out in the edge area of the tire. In theory, this placement should allow the driver to vary the tire's characteristics by adjusting the air pressure.
The practice – asphalt
Specialized specifies a pressure of 138 to 2,7 bar for the Icebreaker 5,9 (the crooked values result from the conversion from PSI). We are brave and fill the hose with 6 bar and set off. From the first step on the pedals we are downright enthusiastic: the tire is extremely quiet for a studded tire and the rolling resistance is surprisingly low. The reason for this lies in the well thought-out placement of the spikes: under high pressure, the metal rivets placed on the edge hardly touch when driving straight ahead. However, if you lean and the bike into the curve, the background noise increases and the grip on asphalt or other hard surfaces such as manhole covers decreases. So some caution is required here.
The practice – ice cream
Before we venture onto the ice with the Icebreaker 138, we reduce the pressure to three bar. This means that the tire has a much larger surface area on the road. The rolling resistance increases noticeably, but so does the grip: although the tire tends to slip on ice when braking and cornering, it is still easy to control. With an adapted driving style, we could not find any problems with the grip anyway.
The practice – snow
We are also quite impressed by the performance of the Icebreaker 138 in the snow: The tire offers reliable grip, also due to the large contact surface with its 38mm width. The only criticism is the tire's tendency to clog up with snow and lose a lot of grip as a result. The snow can be quickly removed from the tire with a light tap, but this is not always easy in city traffic.
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