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Riding Alps in winter/ legality of studded tires? Riding Alps in winter/ legality of studded tires?
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Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 8 Oct 2009
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Riding Alps in winter/ legality of studded tires?
Is it possible to ride a bike through the alps during January? The Budapest-Bamako rally route goes over the mountains and it would be a shame to have to skip that part. If the roads are icy, are studded tires legal? And if so, where can I find the best info on studding tires? Is there a way that I could just install them when I need them?

While I have no experience riding in mountains during winter here in Canada, I have lots of experience riding un-studded bikes in the prairie cities all through winter (with a sidecar and without). No hills at all, but lots of cold wind, ice, and blowing snow. Am I way out of my league here thinking I can tackle windy European winter roads?
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Old 8 Oct 2009
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It's certainly possible - I've been through the (French) alps in winter many times on a bike. In general the authorities keep certain key routes open and close others once they're blocked with snow. If you stick to the key routes your biggest problem is likely to be rust from all the salt that gets used. That and the climate. It can get seriously cold on some of the passes. I was at 6000ft when I took the picture below last winter. It was -12C and that was only November.




If you're heading for the heat of Mali any clothing good enough to get you through the alps is unlikely to be necessary once you're out of Europe!

You can get real time information on which roads are open / shut from various on-line sources. Below is a link to a French service.

Critère de recherche
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Old 8 Oct 2009
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of course it's possible to travel through the alps in january, but you have to reckon with very slippery streets during this time and the roads up/down to the passes are usually very curvy - in combination with a wall of rock on one side and a bad slope on the other it's not the safest place for biker. so think twice about your plan if the forecast is snowy. although they use salt, the streets could be snowcovered in this case.sometimes the temperatures could sink far beyond -20°C here in the nothern alps (my personal extreme was skiing at -27°C, measured on base station).if you decide to go, you should check your route: many of the passes are closed during winter and only the important ones are open for traffic. of course this can be done online, but a good map will also show you the regularly closed roads....and on a sunny day you will get wonderful impressions, but i think you know already ;-)
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Old 9 Oct 2009
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Old 10 Oct 2009
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Thanks guys, that is some great information. I have ridden in -20 to -30C fairly often, and once at -40C before through a snowstorm (now that was fun!), so I'm not too worried about the temperature. And if you say they keep salt on the roads, that's good news. But would the police stop me for riding in weather like that? I've been stopped here in Saskatchewan by cops who believe biking in winter is illegal. I got into a bit of a disagreement over this, so I'm just hoping I don't have to go through the same thing in Europe...

So... -20 to +30 in a few days?? That will be interesting!
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Old 10 Oct 2009
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Hi Dan

There are a few things that might stop you but being told that biking in winter is illegal in the middle of Europe isn't likely to be one of them. Going back to your original post you're more likely to be stopped for riding with studs in your tyres than without them.

If you're en route to Mali you're unlikely to be spending the time trying to force a way through passes blocked with snow and probably going to stick to the open cols. Occasionally I've been stopped by the police at the bottom of open passes after (and during) heavy snowfalls and told that I'll need to fit snow chains if I want to continue. That might be a problem on a bike although there are several posts both here and on other sites about fitting "chains" to bikes using cut down car chains, rope, nylon zip-ties etc. I've had a go at it but as usual with things done half heartedly it didn't work so I've no experience of what its like to ride a bike with chains. On a car / 4x4 it feels like something expensive has broken in the suspension but that might just be the way I put them on :confused1:. Usually though its just a case of go slowly and admire the scenery.

Are you doing the rally on a 125? Post up some more details
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