When is wintery weather TOO wintery?

[ro]

Though the main roads are clear, there has been enough ice around since Saturday to make getting out of my road tricky. It shows no sign of disappearing soon - if anything, it's been getting worse as any snow that thaws just re-freezes as slick ice. It seems defeatist that all the advice here is just to give up riding in such conditions when people in other places cope with much worse - I can't help feeling that this is a pretty simple traction problem in need of a technical fix. Since it's evidently possible to pull wheelies on solid ice with the right kit, there must be a way for me to safely get to the end of my road!
OK, so spiked tyres are probably not the right thing for our relatively moderate and more variable conditions, but perhaps "snow claws" are just the thing:

[Scotty]

Germans eh? Think of everything... :
Robin, are you an insomniac or on night shift? :-?

[Jon_W]

I think I mak get some of those.... means I could get off of the estate better......

[virginie_morisot]

snow claws.. i like it !

[ro]

The shipping charges from Germany are quite high in proportion to the cost of the item, so if anyone else is interested, it might be worth doing a group buy. Still, I'd really like to hear from someone who has tried them first.

Robin, are you an insomniac

I do try to sleep less.

[Morticia]

I don't put the bikes away at all, but after coming off it on my first snow attempt, I will not ride on it anymore. If I can't walk on it, I won't ride on it. So the poor babies have been on the garage for two weeks now :'(

[Morticia]

Ro, would the claws work on ice? Cos if they do, where do I get some?

[ro]

Ro, would the claws work on ice? Cos if they do, where do I get some?

MV Motorad sells them and claims they work on snow or ice. Their primary market is Germany, a country notorious for having regulations for everything (including a legal requirement to have snow & ice capable tyres or chains on cars through the winter), so it seems likely they work as advertised.

[Loops]

Now those look like a good idea! I'd certainly be interested in a set if we could get a good deal on them...

[HensonA]

They look realy good ... if we were guarantted this type of weather for consistently long periods each winter then they could be a worthwhile investment....but for the 5 claw set (as in Ro's photos) the cost is c. 110 Euros + delivery on the linked MV Motorad website