Studded tires..

Jay H · 11-12-2003, 08:28 AM

For cars, studded tires are made for ice, right? I'm pretty sure they are not that much useful for deep snow but for icy conditions, true? I'm buying a set of beater bike wheels and was going to mount some studded snow tires for it but was just curious about off-road conditions in snow...

Jay

11-12-2003, 08:44 AM

Ice or hard-pack snow. On pavement they're just loud and bad performing. I wouldn't put them on your car, but on a beater bike, I'd say it would be a fun and inexpensive experiment!

Andrej

Matt Stryker · 11-12-2003, 12:04 PM

Andrej is right. Chains are of limited use in snow, since they give a bit more grab to the tire, but studs pretty much spin just as much as normal tires in loose packed stuff.

Be careful when braking, they stop QUICK. At least on the cars I've seen them on.

Jay H · 11-12-2003, 12:11 PM

I'm told the best pattern to use for road riding and off-trail riding is not to put studs in too much along the centerline of the tire but mostly on the sides and then play with air pressure to either minimize or maximize contact of the studs on regular straight line riding. Studs on bare roads wear out fast and I think I'm going to follow the pattern of the Nokian Mound and ground 160s:

Linky here

(as you can see, studded bike tires are $$$)

and put them mostly on the side treads. I try to stay off-road in winter but sometimes if the snow is too deep, it's tough.

I just need to buy some screws at a hardware store and start putting them into my old bike tires. Then cut up an old inner tube and use that as a liner to keep the screw heads from popping the inner tube and voila, homemade studded bike tires.

Jay

brentl · 11-12-2003, 01:44 PM

Of course a beater bike for Jay(the biking nut) is around $1000.

It aint no CCM!!

Brent

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David_Moechnig · 11-12-2003, 04:18 PM

I've done the screws in an old tire trick, works great even in loose snow. I suggest a 6-32 screw with a fender washer on the inside of the tire to prevent pull-out. Get screws that when tightened down protrude past the nut about 1/8". Keep any studs out of the center of the tire and more toward the edges in an even pattern. Since weight is no longer a concern get the "thorn-proof" tubes and line the inside of the tire carcass with 2-3 layers of duct tape. This will allow you to run down to 20psig tire pressure (on a mountain bike tire)without worrying too terribly much about pinch flats. They made terrible amounts of noise running on clean asphalt and were really cool at night because you could see sparks coming off the screws. I delivered the daily paper in my younger days and this was one of the traction ideas that I had that actually worked really well. The neighbors weren't too impressed when the snow melted because I really tore up grass but oh well.

Jay H · 11-12-2003, 04:35 PM

I guess duct tape would work too, I was planning on useing old inner tubes cut to size. I've seen snow rims that used to be custom made by taking two normal ATB rims and putting them next to each other and then cutting off the inner rim walls and welding them together! Made for a super wide rim so you could get really fat tires and low pressures.

I bought a set of cheap Araya Rims, STX-RC hubs for $54, including skewars from Nashbar with a coupon so I thought of making snow tires.

Brent, pretty good guess!!!

My Marin that I commute in was my first mountain bike after college. Paid ~$1000 for it in 1995 but has since replaced almost everything on it.

There are two schools of thought for commuters, one that gets the cheapest bike out there and basically abuses it and the other that get nice but dated bikes because as a commuter, I really spend most of my time riding that bike, be that to work or to run errands, etc. so why skimp on the bike you spend alot of time on.

Jay

Eric Kahn · 11-13-2003, 09:47 AM

Riding a bike is one thing but riding a bike in the snow with all the cage drivers slipping and sliding around you sounds like attemped suicide, I will not even ride my 900 pound harley touring bike if there is a chance ofice or snow out, just way too risky

Hopfully the roads or paths you are going to ride on have a low traffic count, would not like to see you punted by some idiot in a cage talking on their cell phone in the snow while driving

Jim_F · 11-13-2003, 01:47 PM

I used an old sew-up cut to fit as a liner for my home made studded tires. They were good for slick icy spots. Tire chains worked best for me in snowy conditions, either loose or hard pack.