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I am sure someone on here has made some, lets see what you have done & any tips as to the best way of making them?
Looks like I might need a set soon
Ta
I've used this method for the last couple of years. Works OK enough ...
http://www.dutchbikeco.com/_blog/Dutch_Bike_Co_Weblog/post/Seattle_Snowpocalypse/
Nick
I've got a half finished attempt you can have for the cost of postage. It's a Conti Vertical with about 100 screws in it, I never got round to taping it up and will never use it.
Thats neat Nick, not seen that idea before either, saves you spiking tires.
how long do the zip ties tend to last?
Not convinced by the Ziptie method, Tempted to get busy with a hole punch and some cheap screws...
What I really want to see is ultra ghetto DIY tubeless Snow spikes! Anyone?
[url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/studded-snow-tyres-home-made ]here it is....[/url]
lunge - MemberI've got a half finished attempt you can have for the cost of postage. It's a Conti Vertical with about 100 screws in it, I never got round to taping it up and will never use it.
Yes please lunge, what is your email? or my email is in my profile, if you want to get in touch 😉
Ziptie = puncture nightmare!
I tried the zip tie method last year on the front (luckily), I got a rear puncture on the way home, which would have been a real pain had I done both wheels. The zip ties did save me when I went over a patch of ice, the front gripped, but the rear slid about. Unfortunately the combination of salt, snow and grit ate through my alloy nipples and when I got home I had four broken spokes(luckily sorted on warrranty.)
Just buy a set of spikes - available in all sorts of sizes and styles including road bike tyres and far superior to a home made job
ski, YGM.
My Nevegals-with-screws did fine last year... The screws did wear fairly fast but there's plenty of meat left. TBH the mistake I made was the original tyre choice, should have gone with a mud tyre I think, as the soft snow performance was pretty poor. Tempted to sacrifice my swampthings to the gods of bodge this year.
Just depends how you value your time and how much you like messing about with things like this... Took me a tyre, a couple of hours and about £5 worth of parts, which means it's not really all that cheap compared to just buying a proper spike. But I enjoyed doing it and testing it so that's worthwhile.
I wondered if staples would do the job? Stapled through from the outside so you have a bar of sorts across the tread.
Northwind - MemberThe screws did wear fairly fast
Northwind, did you Dremel the tips off the screws before you used them?
Benchgrinder, but aye, same idea. Otherwise they were just too tall and exposed.
TandemJeremy - MemberJust buy a set of spikes - available in all sorts of sizes and styles including road bike tyres and far superior to a home made job
^^^ This ^^^
Work out the price of tire, screws and most importantly Time. Thats time bodging it and time fixing issues out and about.
If there were no off the shelf options that were any good I would say go bodge tastic, but I don't see the point when this isn't the case.
Each to their own though.
I did 2 versions.
In spring 2009 I used 100 aluminium pop-rivets from inside with 12mm steel washers on the outside, all across the tyre. Off-road they were excellent, but on wet tarmac just awful, noisy and skittish.
Wear rate very high on the exposed rivet heads after approx 100 mixed miles. Unlikely to make 200 miles. No rip-outs or punctures running at 25psi.
Cue Mark II in spring 2010. I used 50+ stainless steel pop-rivets from inside with 6mm steel washers on the outside, just around the edge of the tread. Bingo...it just works all-round. Wear is much reduced as the studs are not always running on the road, and you can inflate for wet tarmac and reduce for off-road. No rip-outs or punctures in over 100 miles again.
Pop rivets and washers from ebay.
Always use a sharp point to make the hole in the tyre, not a drill as that cuts the threads in the carcass.
Deburr the rivet on the inside and use nail-varnish to smooth the hole.
No tape needed, at least with regular inner tubes. Not tried very light tubes in this application.
Cheap, effective but a lot of hard work with the pop-rivetter.
I've yet to have a puncture using zip ties, altough using this set up on a commuter bike (Specialized Langster). The ties last for weeks (with a few replacements), doing 15 mile a day commute, 5 times a week (on road). So long as you are clever where to place the knobbly bit of the zip tie (alternative edges of tyre) then they don't wear down if there is no snow.
Cost of these are next to nothing as well, and you can cut them off whenever and use the original tyres again.
They do not work on ice though.
Toons link is very interesting - unfortunately it would be cheaper to be ice spikers
I've got a pair of "Slow Reezay" 2.2" Swamp donkeys which I will never use for DH again as they were quite frankly pretty shite, but as a basis for DIY Ice spikes they could possibly be quite good I reckon...
Silly soft rubber, Dual ply carcase and not too wide either (2.2 "Maxxis Inches").... I have other spare tires I could try it on too, no real "Costs" there TBH as they are essentially old worn out scrappers...
What do people generally use for their DIY "Studs"? M3 x 10 long screws? I did spot various Ice studs (For ATVs and the like) on the interweb and wondered if these could be Heated and pressed into the tread blocks or even just self tapped in rather than put holes through the carcase...
Thoughts?
I Would think you would have to pilot drill them, and then self tap.
I used 12mm self tapping screws.
The ice is thawing now so not managed to get out on them again yet...
Made these last year
[url= http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5050/5281074493_8dc6c7c151.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/ir_bandito/5281074493/ ]DSC_0486[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/ir_bandito/ ]ir_bandito[/url], on Flickr
Need to grind the tips down some more, and fit a proper tyre-liner. They gripped like fury on ice, but the screw heads gave me a few punctures (and I ripped my gloves changing the tube!)
But, they cost me one pair of old tyres, £4 of screws, and a couple of hours in an evening.
TJ is undoubtedly right that the real product is better - Tungsten carbide is markedly harder than some wood screws, but for the duration of actual use, versus the cost of the real deal, and the fact that I rather enjoyed the experiemtnation on my little ice tyre project, I'll stick with homebrew.
I ran mine tubelss with stans spooge and no tape. They were fine.
toons
Have a look at these
The lovers of the Mountain Bike, that are forced to not stir for the bad conditions of the paths in the brushwood, made clammy by the conditions of the weather report during the winter, and whereas the snow and the ice are like it master for the whole winter, applying these small and innovative products on the tyres of their bicycles they succeed in never stopping their training and to have a good time . Even if in way some timid, is begun to organize competitions, whereas the conditions of the weather report allow it, also on the snow. Bestgrip has also planned for them small nails to insert in their thin plugged coverages. The biker can compete without incurring in dangerous and ruinous falls.