If you’re like me, a total electric scooter junkie, you won’t let a little snow or ice stop you. But in these harsh climates normal tires won’t cut it, we need tires with some serious studs to get us rolling Mad Max style!
There are a few things that are often associated with winter riding and that is an increased risk of injury due to slippery roads. But with the right winter tire setup for your electric scooter and a cautious mindset we’re not going to have to worry about that any more than on a sunny summer’s day, except we’ll be a lot cooler, in all senses of the word.
With years of experience riding in the harsh northern Scandinavian winters, I’ve tested about every option there is, winterized a large number of scooters and taught many riders how to adapt to the new challenges snow and ice poses.
In this guide we’ll take a hard look at the best winter tire options, put them to some serious testing, and find the tires that provide the best riding as well as braking performance on snowy and icy roads. But before you go and invest in a set of new rubber, make sure you have a scooter with adequate water resistance to handle the heightened water damage risk involved with winter riding.
Different Winter Tire Options For Electric Scooters
We have two ways we can get us some good grippy winter rubber. We can either get a pair of purpose-built studded winter tires, or we can choose to go the DIY route and install studs on a tire of our choice.
DIY Self-Studded Tires
Using a stud-kit we can create our own DIY-solution to our winter riding needs. You can either attach them to your original tire, or get a new set of rubber with better tire pattern and rubber compound fit for the winter. Using the kit we can then add studs in a pattern that is optimal to our style of riding. I’ve helped quite a few friends set up their rides with this solution and it works great.
There are both permanent and removable stud sets available, this lets you choose if you want to swap tires twice a year, or if you want to add/remove studs from your original tire.
Cost: $20-50 for a stud kit plus installation tools, extra cost if you want an additional tire setup.
Installation: Bit for screwdriver included in set, attention to details, each tire needs around 30-50 studs.
Time Requirement: About 30 minutes to an hour for completion.
Our Recommendations
Studded Winter Tires
The gold standard for winter riding. These tires are purpose built for the winter and come with optimized stud placement.
Cost: $80-150 per tire depending on size and brand
Installation: Knowledge of switching tires otherwise may need professional help($30-50 additional cost).
Time Requirement: About 1 hour for completion.
Our Recommendations
Pneumatic Studded Winter Tire 255X80
Few models they fit:
Apollo: Ghost, Phantom
Kaabo: Mantis, Warrior
Segway: P100, GT
10″ Tubeless Studded Winter Tires
Few models they fit:
Segway: F2, G2, Max, G30 & Similar
Tires You Should Avoid During The Winter
Most tires can, with varying results, be used on snowy/icy roads. But one tire type in particular has the same issue in the winter as it does during rainy summer days, standard solid tires.
These tires have, due to their intended design of being puncture proof, a much harder rubber compound. Although great for those who want to avoid flats completely, it does heavily impact the traction between the road and the tire on all sorts of terrain. Making them the least safe option to use when it comes to winter riding, unless of course they have studs. But do note that they are still subpar in comparison to studded pneumatic tires.
Tire Pressure Optimization For Winter Traction
I’ve talked a lot about having the correct tire pressure in my electric scooter tire pressure to increase range and reduce resistance. However, when it comes to winter riding, we want to do just the opposite.
We want to increase the contact area between the tire and the road because this leads to much better traction. For a better riding experience and enhanced safety we will choose to sacrifice a little of our scooter’s range per charge in order to increase its riding capabilities on snow and ice.
We recommended you set your tire pressure about 10% to 15% below the manufacturer’s recommendations. This will greatly increase your scooter’s traction.
Check out our in-depth walkthrough on the science behind electric scooter tire pressure.
Braking Distance Test Results
Earlier this year when ice and snow had conquered the roads where we live, we did a large brake test using every different type of tire in order to fully back up our own preferences. The test were done on both an icy and a snow packed road. Here you can compare the braking distance results of the most commonly used electric scooter tires.
On Ice (temperature 28°F/-2°C)
Studded Pneumatic Tires: ~12-15 feet (3.6-4.5m)
- Best performance
- Most consistent braking feel
- Predictable behavior
Studded Solid Tires: ~18-22 feet (5.5-6.7m)
- Decent performance
- Less forgiving
- Slightly unpredictable slippery behavior
Regular Pneumatic Tires: ~25-30 feet (7.6-9.1m)
- Decent performance when ice has texture
- Highly dependent on ice condition and rider brake behavior
- Prone to sudden loss of traction
Solid Tires: ~35-40 feet (10.6-12.2m)
- Worst performance
- Highly unpredictable behavior
- High risk of complete loss of control
On Snow (temperature 25°F/-4°C)
Studded Pneumatic: ~8-10 feet (2.4-3m)
Studded Solid: ~12-15 feet (3.6-4.5m)
Regular Pneumatic: ~15-18 feet (4.5-5.5m)
Solid: ~20-25 feet (6-7.6m)
Final words
As you can see all tires aren’t equally equipped to handle slippery winter roads. Studded pneumatics will give you a far superior riding experience on ice, closely followed by the studded solid tires. Whilst riding on snow packed roads you can make due with a pair of normal pneumatics as long as they have good pattern depth and you adjust the tire pressure for maximum traction. The only no-go when it comes to winter riding are standard solid tires, their hard rubber compound provides little to no grip on icy/snowy roads and is a surefire way to get yourself into trouble.
But do remember, no matter how great your electric scooters tires are. You will always want to pack a large portion of common sense. That means you need to adapt your riding style to the terrain. Slow down, plan ahead and you will have a great time riding your electric scooter throughout the winter season. For some tips on best riding praxis and how to properly winterize your ride, take a look at our winter riding guide.
Ride safely fellow ride junkies, and stay frosty(I mean warm)!
