Raptor Ready: Winter tyres

Rain washes flint, glass and grit onto the road, so winter brings more punctures and less grip. Your tyres are the only part of the bike touching the road. Get them right and most winter riding problems go away.

• A puncture protection belt. A tougher layer under the tread that stops flint and glass reaching the tube or sealant. This is the biggest difference.
• Tougher sidewalls. Potholes and debris cut the sides of a tyre. Look for sidewall or bead-to-bead protection.
• A grippier compound. Softer rubber grips better on cold, wet roads. Many winter tyres pair a harder centre for wear with softer edges for cornering grip.
• Tread matters less than you think. Road tyres are too narrow to aquaplane, so a slick winter tyre grips just as well. The rubber does the work.

A winter tyre feels slightly slower, but you'll spend far less time at the roadside.

Your RL1 and SL1 come with 30mm tyres and have room for up to 34mm. For winter, 32mm is the sweet spot: more grip, more comfort and fewer pinch flats, with clearance to spare. The GR1 takes up to 45mm.

That clearance means your Raptor works all year round, with no need for a separate winter bike. A wider tyre runs at lower pressure, putting more rubber on the road, and at the right pressure it rolls just as well as a narrow one.

Fitting mudguards? Spin the wheel and check there's a clear gap between tyre and guard all the way round.

Pressure is the easiest way to get more grip. Lower pressure gives a bigger contact patch and a more comfortable ride. Go too low, though, and you risk pinch flats and a tyre that squirms in corners. Use these as a starting point, set with a track pump.

• In the wet, drop 5 to 10 psi.
• Run the front a few psi lower than the rear.
• Never go above the maximum printed on the tyre or the rim, whichever is lower.
• Check before every ride. Tyres lose air over a few days, tubeless especially.

Tubeless: sealant inside the tyre plugs most small flint punctures as you ride, often without you noticing, and you can run lower pressure without pinch flats. The catch is upkeep: sealant dries out and needs topping up.

Tubes: simple, cheap and easy to fix anywhere. But every puncture means stopping, and at lower pressures you're more likely to pinch a tube on a pothole.

Running tubes on your Raptor and want to switch? Get in touch with our sales team and The Workshop will set your wheels up tubeless.

• The centre has worn flat and the tyre looks squared off rather than round.
• The wear indicators have gone. Many tyres have small dimples in the tread that disappear as it wears.
• You can see the fabric through the rubber, or there are cuts deep enough to fit a fingernail in.
• You're getting more punctures than usual.
• The sidewall is cracked or bulging. Replace it straight away.

Rear tyres wear much faster than fronts, so check the rear first.

Pick out any flint or glass stuck in the tread with a small pick or your fingernail, and look for cuts. A 2 minute check stops a small piece of flint working its way through.