It's nice to see an Adventure bike being used! 
Definately fit for purpose!
Definately fit for purpose!
Riding with salt on the road
- Thread starter WaterMonkey
- Start date
Tuesdays fog was just oil based by the looks of me / my bike. Gross!!
Doesnt Germany have a rule whereby on the 1st Nov to March you must fit winter tyres? Maybe because of this they use a more friction product eg grit rather than grit and salt?
For Germany,the Winter tyre laws aren't quite applicable to calendar dates.....more the weather conditions.
For instance,if it was snowy in August you'd be committing an offence without "Winter" tyres.
The Winter tyres are marked on the sidewalls with an 'M+S' rating.
I fitted some IRC M+S rated tyres to my Vespa PX for my trip to the Scooterist Meltdown doo in Kalkar.
As it happened,the weather was just wet,but the tyres are incredible on wet tarmac so I use them all year round except in really hot weather as they go off quite quickly when overheated (pretty rare in UK though).
Their regs state.....
"You must not use summer tyres in Germany during winter weather conditions – standard tyres
fitted in the UK are generally summer tyres.
Germany’s winter tyre regulation applies to all motorised vehicles using roads in Germany
including those registered abroad.
Winter weather conditions include black ice, snow, ice, slush and frost which may be present
even if the temperature is above 0C.
Winter, or all season tyres designed for use in wintry conditions will normally be marked with
‘M+S’, a snow flake or snowy mountains symbol.
Some 'M+S' tyres sold in the UK are summer tyres and would not meet the German
requirements so we recommend checking with your tyre supplier or manufacturer if you are
unsure.
If your car is only fitted with summer tyres you cannot drive in winter weather conditions and
could be fined €60 just for doing so and €80 if you actually obstruct traffic. You could also be
prevented from continuing your journey unless you get the tyres changed or the weather
conditions improve.
You must not use spiked tyres. "
Note their reference to Wintry CONDITIONS and not to "Between the months of.....and...."
Finland used to (it may still) enforce studded tyres to be used from a certain date.
Proper snow tyres make such a huge difference that it's hard to argue against them apart from the original on-cost and the charge if you get hem swapped at a tyre fitters. My Volvo S60 was virtually undriveable on Michelin Exalto 2 tyres on just ½" of snow. I stuck a couple of Conti' snow tyres on the front really to see what if any improvement was made. I was stunned by the huge improvement.
My wife's MX5 is now 5 years old and done around 30,000 miles, original tyres are swapped for snow tyres each winter and swapped back each spring. OK, it costs £40.00 per swap but it's a small price to pay for her safety and the ability to use the car when it would otherwise be useless.
This time the originals were worn enough that it wouldn't be worth putting them back on next spring so she'll get the first set of new summer tyres then.
My wife's MX5 is now 5 years old and done around 30,000 miles, original tyres are swapped for snow tyres each winter and swapped back each spring. OK, it costs £40.00 per swap but it's a small price to pay for her safety and the ability to use the car when it would otherwise be useless.
This time the originals were worn enough that it wouldn't be worth putting them back on next spring so she'll get the first set of new summer tyres then.
The M+S marking does not satisfy legal requirements for winter tyres; In the alps, it is the winter tyre symbol of 'Snowflake in the mountain' that the police check for:
(To confuse things,some M+S tyres do have the full snowflake symbol, others like my general purpose M+S do not.)
(To confuse things,some M+S tyres do have the full snowflake symbol, others like my general purpose M+S do not.)
Two separate symbols that don't necessarily appear together.The M+S marking does not satisfy legal requirements for winter tyres; In the alps, it is the winter tyre symbol of 'Snowflake in the mountain' that the police check for:
(To confuse things,some M+S tyres do have the full snowflake symbol, others like my general purpose M+S do not.)
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