Vee Tire Co. Snowshoe XL Tire 26x4.8 Clincher Blk 120tpi Studded Silica Compound B37504

Use these every winter without fail. Keep me upright on the ice.;

I use this as a rear tire I have a studded cake eater on the front. No complaints as a rear tire good float on snow plenty of grip on ice... ice and snow are slippery still gotta take it easy.. good value for the money.;

So far so good on the first ride. Will update at the end of winter on durability;

So there's two unfortunate problems with these tires.

One is that not all of the studs stick out evenly so not all of the studs engage with the ground. That's a problem for traction on ice which I definitely found out in the first 10 minutes of my first ride. And some studs are crooked so they technically work but how long they'll last before being ripped out is questionable. The studs themselves aren't great either. They work but there's better studs out there. I'd suggest buying the studdless version and then doing it yourself with concave studs. Those work like velcro to the ground.

Two is the tread pattern on the tire. I found myself constantly having to battle to keep the tires going the direction I wanted. They would pull to either side at any PSI lower than 20. And at lower than 10 PSI they are practically forcing you to either side at all times. This makes for a pretty uncomfortable ride. The rubber compound itself also isn't great as I found that snow really likes to stick to the tires whereas other brands aren't as bad.

Are they better than nothing? Absolutely. Are they well-priced? Definitely. Will you probably upgrade to a different set? Well I did. Dillinger's didn't have any of these problems though they do cost significantly more. These aren't a bad tire but they also weren't good enough for what I wanted or for how often I ride. They're a good entry-level consumer model. If you're an enthusiast then you need to pay enthusiast prices with different brands and models.

These are a pretty solid 3/5 stars. If the price was higher I'd rate these 2/5 stars. At a higher price with your own studs 3/5 stars. At the price they're at now and with your own studs 3.8/5 stars.;

Not really pleased with these tires. I have had other studded tires before and the rolling resistance is much greater with these than with previous tires. Also this is my second winter on this set and I noticed a few defects. See attached photos. I will finish the winter on these but will look for better(and likely more expensive) options for next year.;