[Closed] Ice and snow tires? recommend me one pls

The big craze last year was to make your own... using a knobbly tyre and some screws...

If we end up with the same weather as last winter I know I'll be looking at doing this!

The big craze last year was to make your own... using a knobbly tyre and some screws...

as my team mates for strathpuffer will tell you; it's not worth the time and effort.

i had continental ice spikes; which were good but too narrow to mtb on.

I would have liked some nokian 294 (is the only one in 29er) but didn't have time to import them.

I want to see if my ice spikes will go on a pompino...

Yea I did that too...
v v heavy tho and eventually you get a flat when a screw goes back through the tire pinches a bit of tube, then pops back into place.
mending a puncture in -10c is tricky and getting a tire back on which is full of self tappers is a potential death trap!
lining the tire with a cut up inner tube helps with punctures but not with weight!
was fun for pulling the kids around on a sledge but not for my 12 mile commute...

Only got experience of the Conti Spike Claws. Mine were the 240s (they do a 120 version with half the studs). Very good on ice, not so great on snow - just too narrow to "float" at all, so would cut though. This was okay in very little snow, but in any sort of depth you just couldn't push them for long.

Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pros or Nokian Extreme 294

Get into your lbs now to order because they don't seem to carry stock in this country perhaps because we have a balmy tropical climate what with the global warming 'n all.

Otherwise I have found German sites like [url= http://www.starbike.com/php/suchen.php?lang=en&b=Nokian&q= ]Starbike[/url] useful although they take ages to deliver.

balmy tropical 😉
not where I live anyway...
I found this interesting:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8615789.stm

larry or endomorph 😉

i have conti 120s for commuting but they only any good on the roads where the snows been cleared , found 1.8inch mud tires good in 2 or 3 inches but hopeless in anything more

as my team mates for strathpuffer will tell you; it's not worth the time and effort.

Why is this? last year, mine took about 45 minutes each, including cutting down the screws.

I run tubeless, so the punctured inner tube thing wasn't an issue and I chose glycol based tubeless sealant so it wouldn't freeze.

I only got round to making them at the end of the cold snap, so I only got to use them up the road and on one short experimental ride, but they were great!

Do an 'advanced' forum search for 1 year back - loads of discussions were on here then.

Assorted guidance and useful info:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp

http://www.icebike.org/

http://www.snowbikers.com/snow_tyre.html

http://www.schwalbetires.com/new_spike_tires_home

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jan/06/tips-cycling-in-snow

it's not worth the time and effort.

and eventually you get a flat when a screw goes back through the tire pinches a bit of tube

I disagree with both these posts.

Heavy and slow yes. But done properly it's well worth it. To line the tyres I use a set of 1" continental super lightweight mtb slicks with the bead cut off. More puncture proof than a plain set of tyres.

Hope it's a cold one, I look forward to shredding sheet ice.......

Thanks midnight, I was around for that stuff.

I'm more interested in tomthumb's experiences with the DIY route, and the reasons why he thinks it wasn't worth it.

out of the 4 of us I bought tyres (ice claws) and the other three made them.

The people that made tyres were claiming around 1 hr per tyre + a pair of tyres and a big bag of rivets. (end up saving no money!)

i think one of the threes tyres survived without puncturing. the other two had lots of trouble with rivets pulling out, rivets tearing tubes etc. then you have the difficulty of changing these tyres the studs F*** with your hands when taking them on and off (this is the same with bought tyres) it also does this when making them apparently.

I have no experience of making them myself; but by the end of the weekend i think everyone else wished they had bought tyres.

Oh and add to that that the bought tyres are considerably lighter.

Hope that helps

I had the conti 120s and my experience was much the same as trail rats - they were fantastic on ice tho - being able to turn and brake on sheet ice was weird.

I didn't find them particularly heavy or narrow.

what i should add to this is that i commuted on 2.4 racing ralphs at about 1.25 bar in the snow and they were good.

I was the only one at work some days.

Thanks Tom, handy to know.

In respect of

rivets pulling out

Whilst I found mine to be heavier with 100 or so screws in them, they're not so heavy as to make me think 'oh my god these are sooooo heavy'

I use Nokian WCX ones - great on ice and packed snow but when it's a foot deep you're struggling to be honest 🙂 I rode all winter for training purposes on them and it got pretty bloody annoying after a few weeks. Struggling to stay on the narrow bumpy bit of packed snow in the middle of a trail in the dark for an hour or two isn't great fun - snow was just too deep to do anything else. By far the best fun to be had was riding country lanes rather than trails, the cars made it nice and smooth.

If it snows again this winter, these are what I'll be running:

[img] [/img]

http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=31968

Used Schwalbe Ice Spikers on a hardtail last winter, great for riding on sheet ice and compressed snow - spent a lot of time riding back roads when the Peak trails were basically drifted out.

If you like running at all, check out [url= http://www.icebug.se/Default.aspx?m=4 ]Icebug[/url] - Swdish running shoes with tungsten studs embedded in the soles, fantastic on sheet ice, frozen slush etc.