These need bedding in before winter comes.

First impressions – they’re noisy! I can feel the vibration through the handlebars and hear the spikes even at a reasonably high pressure of 5 Bar. These are meant to be good for clear conditions at high pressure. Drop to low pressure for ice to engage the spikes. I is possible that the noise will reduce as they bed in. Some of the vibration in the handlebars may be from the deeper tread.

Perhaps I needn’t have been so worried about the fewer spikes on the Marathon Snow. They only had the outer set and deeper tread in the middle. They’re also £6 cheaper per tyre. I bought from Spa Cycles who have both the Winter and Snow. The Snow wasn’t in stock when I visited.

I’ll run these in for 30 miles gentle riding then swap back to summer tyres. Then I need figure out whether to fit them to mine or Lindsay’s bike when the weather gets cold. If they remain noisy I expect I’ll delay fitting them and wish I’d bought the Schwalbe Snow. If we have black ice patches and solid frozen sections as in previous years then I expect I’ll be glad I have these.