evenin lads,

just had a crack at making snow chains, as per pics below.

tested them out last night on millstone hill (aberdeen)

really good, grip on the climbs thru ice/snow was fantastic…..coming back down the hill was awesome.

for a first attempt I’m fair chuffed with ’em.

I had doubts about how well they would perform over bare rock….better than I expected was the answer.

I’m interested in how chains would compare against those spiked tyres, inc the homemade spiked tyres that people make…..how would the spikes fair on ground where theres no ice/snow???

anyone know? gies a clue!

cheers 🙂

EDIT: hold on pics look tiny, let me see if I can resize.

Now that is a lot nicer than the cabletie method and I’m guessing a LOT cheaper than spikes at 60p each!

What happens if you flat?

@ hammy, £4.79 per wheel for 2m of chain (from homebase) & 1 bag of tie wraps £3.50

@ badlywired, dread to think buddy, reckon it’s a shove back to the car 😆

Go tubeless then flats not such an issue as you can repair without removing tyre

Any reason for the inconsistent/random spacing?

FWIF I’d have thought the durability of the proper stuff (over a basic steel chain/screws) would win every time.

“Any reason for the inconsistent/random spacing?”

Look again.

Then again. Then again… until you get it! 🙂

This will be the third year I have used my bought ice pike tyres that just work 0- seriuously good. faff free and not that expensive – this is what I have
http://www.thebikechain.co.uk/Continental-Spike-Claw-120-26×2.1-200911270100/

Any reason for the inconsistent/random spacing?

FWIF I’d have thought the durability of the proper stuff (over a basic steel chain/screws) would win every time.

——

just thought I’d try something different al.

rear wheel is chained every 2nd spoke, 16 chains in total.

front wheel thought I’d try something a wee bit different, still 16 chains but just a different arrangement…..chain, chain, gap, chain, gap, gap, chain, repeat

I bought some Schwalbe ice spikers the other week, having tried them on my dads 5. Thought I would just get one for the front as they are expensive and I am a student, Nextdaytyres kindly gave me 2 though 🙂 found them very good when i tried them, fine over any ground, however a little skittery over the bare rocks round the puffer route.

I’ll be matching my homemade spike tyre against a Schwalbe snow stud this year. If it ever snows again anyway. Be interesting to see how they compare.

Nice one 😀

I’m surprised they work that well, the whole point of snow chains on a car is because they are pretty smooth so therefore can not dig in to the snow, bike tyres dont have that problem. On ice I’m surprised they offer much more grip too because surely the spacing on the rear also leaves enough time for the tyre to contact, defeating the object?

I’ve always found that any normal tyre works fine in snow, especially those with more lug spacing, but I think on ice I would want proper spiked tyres.