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I've just finished one and half way through the second. 60 odd in each tyre. with a old inner tube halfed and a good inner tube placed inside it to stop pinch flats. It;s nearly done but I wouldn't do it again. I dont have the patience!!
Just me or do none of you lot actually enjoy getting sideways?
Wish I had opened this sooner.
Just me or do none of you lot actually enjoy getting sideways?
Welcome back GW, we've missed you. 🙂
I don't mind a bit of sideways action, but there's a difference between 'a bit' and not being able to make any progress on a ride.
I opted for the chains route as I run tubeless and couldn't be faffed with a major tyre change-over. Has worked fine so far...
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Chains: Any good on ice? I reckon no good at all, but it would be good to be wrong on that.
al.
Just re read this and I am off to the garage......................
Funny you should say that...
I dont get alot of black ice here on the coast but do get ice as in puddles white in colour and frozen thaw thats ridged on the roads and i get by on the Surly pugsley fine with its 4" tyres...but thats cause the footprint is about 10" by 5" at 5 psi...
if you pedal smoothly it just cruises over...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/coastkid71/5223145029/in/set-72157625354108987/
if we got alot of ice esp black ice then full Nokian Spikes would be ordered up for the 29er...
Riders in Alaska get several winters out them so £50 each for them isnt too bad, problem is conditions change here so quick 😮
I ride chains especially for especially for ice, a chain every other spoke bed on my 29er. The chains are in good nick after 100 miles on unsalted cycle paths.
muddyfox courier wrote:
"Reading a number of posts it seems one or two have been predrilling their knobs before screwing with less than perfect results.
Oh dear oh dear.
A construction worker ( such as myself ) ,would not bother with any knob pre-drill japes and would simply use a self drill screw and ram it sraight through using a professional quality , hi torque , battery drill from the likes of Hilti."
The point of the pilot hole is that it means you're guaranteed to get the screw in the right place- you can drill from the outside through the knob, easy. Makes no difference to the end results other than getting all the screws in the right place.
I've done 2, one more succesful than the other. One with pop rivets- which has the plus side of not threatening the inner tube, and looking good, and not lacerating your hands, but has the downside of not being all that good. And the other just with the simple screws approach which works very well indeed. I went out of my way to find some horrible ice to ride over on my commute today 
Very pleased. Took me at most 2 hours, cost me £2, plus sacrificing some old tyres.
I might redo it with mud tyres though, just for better snow and snowmelt manners.
As this thread has been resurrected I thought I'd comment that the tyres I made last winter are getting more successful use still with no punctures.
I have an opinion to express though. I disagree with pre-drilling holes, because the drill will cut lots of threads in the tyre carcass. I put the screw through from the outside first, remove and then screw from the inside, using the (barely perceptible) hole left from the first stage as a guide. That way the tyre structure is less harmed, as the sharp point of the screw pushes through between threads. You also get the screw were you want it.Even if it takes ages, I think that is best.
N
put the screw through from the outside first, remove and then screw from the inside, using the (barely perceptible) hole left from the first stage as a guide.
That's what I did.
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12mm screws, dremmeled to points down and lined it with an old inner tube. Had a cycle up and down the snow covered street loads of grip, its all ready for tomorrows am ride.
😀
Anyone tried this tubeless with Stans liquid or similar - eliminating the tube would seem to be quite benificial - no pinching, no extra layers required to protect from screw heads, lighter, etc - or am I missing something obvious??
I doubt there's any difference to the impact on the carcass between sticking a screw through it or a 1mm drill bit.
I'm going to have a crack at tubeless with mine but tbh I'm not expecting much from it, I've a feeling the holes will constantly reopen. We'll see though.
Anyone tried the cable tie method
Well the screw method didn't work for me.
"I put the screw through from the outside first, removed and then screwed from the inside, using the (barely perceptible) hole left from the first stage as a guide. That way the tyre structure was less harmed, as the sharp point of the screw pushed through between threads. I also got the screws were I wanted them. Even if it took ages, I thought that was best".
I used and angle grinder to reduce the length of protruding screw to approx. 5mm. I lined the tyre with an old tube. I inflated to 40 psi.
It lasted 40 mins of road and very bumpy frozen lumpy snowy/ icy cycletrack. So I thought I'd got a pinch puncture- the next tube lasted approx. 20 mins of smooth road riding. The nice guys in the pub let me change the tyre in the bar (Big Respect to The Red Lion, Llandybie) and it lasted a similar amount of time. Sitting fixing tubes in with a pint of Winter Hog Ale in front of me I could see the imprint of the screw head on the inner tube by the puncture.
I used No.8 screws, ground down. Panaracer FireXC tyre, with the screws through the knobs.
Where did I go wrong? I'm a big bloke mind you, 105kg at the moment.
Im going to grind the screws very short, maybe only 2- 3 mm and remove the middle ones perhaps.
I made mine with the pre-drill and screws technique last year. I used a pair of michelin ATs and used tubless solution on stans Flow rims. They inflated a treat and worked just like a regular tubeless setup. They held air fine despite having approx 100 screws in each tyre.
I cut my screws down to about 2mm - most of the ready to buy ones don't use tall spikes.
Some of these home made ice tyres seem a lot of work to avoid paying for a set of Ice Spikers.
But it's more fun to brew your own 🙂
Just made a pair using an old Conti Explorer for the front, with 3 rows of 23 screws, central and one on each edge, then a Conti Edge for the rear with 2 rows of 22 screws offset and off-centre in the paddles. Seem to work a treat thought I've only been fooling around in the yard as yet. On the compacted tractor tracks they are fantastic and seem to be pretty good in the deeper stuff upto about 30cm. I've got innertubes full of stans and another tube to cover the heads. No pilot holes, just a bit of hit and hope which took about an hour and a half.
Lets see how they do heading up the hill in an hour or so!
Neil
I guess about 2 hours to make and fit my own. It doesn't really strike me as 'alot of work' and its not exactly technically difficult.
Infact, its not due to thaw here until xmas day, so I should go an put them on for my commute.
Just spent an hour with battery drill an old Tioga XC pro and 80x12mm screws - job done - looks out side and 8" of fresh soft stuff- pooh - now where is that Pugsley thread? 🙂