lyl

Good day - I am not really that knowledgeable about bicycles however I am currently commuting to work which is about 20 minutes one way in summer and a bit longer in winter. I wanted to purchase a decent pair of studded tires for the ice and snow (we have long cold winters in the Prairies) however I was put back at the cost of $150 per tire or more that I found. Don't get me wrong, I would spend money on something like this if I could but where I park I am prone to theft (lost one bike and major parts off another) so I am not able to afford invest in anything nice. My current ride is a Norco mountain bike (no suspension) that I bought used for $80. If this is stolen or parted off it will hurt me but I won't cry like loosing my new Marin a few years back.

I found instructions on Youtube on how to stud your own tires so I followed the advice. I purchased new knobby tires (previous ones were slick for summer) and I drilled holes through the knobs on the outer edges (none in the middle). Then I screwed 1/2 inch screws (with a round head) starting from the inside so they stuck pointy side out. After this I cut an inner tube so it was flat and I lined it inside the tire so it served as a second skin between the screws and the tube, not glued but just placed in. I put about 170 screws in the tire when finished and it was installed as my front tire. I drove it for a almost a week and immediately noted the increased drag, certainly more work pedaling to work but when we had freezing rain i felt quite confident on corners. However on day five I found the tire completely flat after work, it was fine in the morning but something obviously went wrong.

I am hoping for some advice on what went wrong and how this could work? I admit I am not sure what caused the flat as the screw heads are round and I don't know how they could puncture a tube even if they were able to somehow make contact?

79pmooney

Have you removed the tube and looked for the hole? That should tell you a lot. If you lined up the tire's label with valve (or some other way of knowing where the tire sits on the rim), the hole location will tell you where to look for the cause. (The nature of the hole and where it is on the tube will also tell you a lot.)

I'm guessing that either a screw was pushed in so the tube had to stretch too much to get around the head or one inner tube simply isn't enough protection.

I made my own snow tires 45 years ago with roofing nails. Pushed them through from the inside. Lined the tire with the carcass of a tubular. Cut the nails from the outside with bolt cutters. Took me a few rides to get the liners smooth enough to not cause flats but I got there. Didn't ride these very long because I was riding into campus at a very large university and couldn't get past the nightmare idea of hitting a co-ed in a skirt with those sharpened nails.) This was a Peugeot UO-8. I put these tires on the stock wheels I no longer rode - the famous chrome steel. Stopping with tires that heavy was a gradual process.

Ben

prairiepedaler

I haven't heard of a home-brew studded tire which has had any sort of longevity. Even commercially available studded tires can eventually cause a chaffe flat (speaking from personal experience). Depending on how heavy you are, buy a studded for the front and a knobby for the rear - one that has had good reports from other winter riders. I'm using an interim set of knobbys right now - Trek Connection. So far so good. When it gets really slick out it is time to go full studded but until then these seem to be doing the job. They have the same tread profile as an Alpha Bite.

kingston 

DIY studded tires will never work. Just buy a pair of these. Under sixty bucks including shipping.

Even if you get the good ones it will be under a hundred. Add some German lights to the order while you're at it.

Milton Keynes

When the weather gets bad enough to require studded tires, I just put my bike on the trainer.

wolfchild

The problem with DIY studded tires is that they are very heavy, have very high rolling resistance, the screws wear very fast on pavement and they are dangerous when cornering on pavement. Not worth the time and effort to make them and not worth the poor performance....I recommend that you buy proper studded tires, it's worth the investment, they handle much better than DIY studded tires and they will last for a long time.

lyl

Ok regarding buy a pair of studded tires the most affordable I can find would be these as recommended by kingston, not cheap in Canada however, they are $65 each.


However my tire is 26 x 1.95 and this is 26 x 1.75, this means it is skinnier and not as good for winter? Would I be loosing out on traction here?

Gresp15C

The slightly narrower width should be OK. I ride 700c x 35 studs in winter and the traction is sufficient.

Check your Craigs List. I've noticed in my locale that a lot of people sell barely-used studded tires. Maybe they chickened out, or got sick of it, or got a new bike with a different size rim, whatever. Under "bicycle parts" category, there are 5 pairs of studded tires on the first page alone!

HerrKaLeun

What tire size?

You can get the Schwalbe marathon with over 200 studs from bike24.de for $30-40 depending on size in 26x2" or 770cx2"

Goofball

Why doesn't someone invent bicycle tire chains? Perhaps I'll do it, oh wait, "the price is right" is on, nevermind

SalsaShark

Ive got a pair of used 26" Schwalbe Winter tires (not the marathons, only 2 rows of inner studs per tire on these) you can have if you pay shipping. Might be pricey to Canada, though?

baldilocks

I bought Schwalbe Marathon Winter Tyre - RaceGuard last year. Unfortunately the price went up, but they have exceeded my needs. One day when I should have drove, I rode and half way to my job the street looked like a sheet of glass. I was more concerned about the cars that were around me. You might be able to find them for less on ebay or somewhere. I would just bit the bullet.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/...mtprd 343679US

BlazingPedals

Unless you're on ice a lot, plain old knobbies work just as well. I had to get studs one year when commuting and icy roads seemed particularly bad, causing me to fall several times. One thing I learned was that the cheapies I got used stainless studs, which wore quickly. More expensive tires used carbide studs (harder.) Didn't matter to me, since I only needed them that one year.

dedhed

We used to wrap the rear tire in sash chain when we were kids.

https://www.perfectionchain.com/prod...mp-sash-chain/

dedhed

The only place I've seen DIY studding really work is my motorcycle ice racing buddies or snowmobile tracks. Those tires have substantially more rubber and they screw in from the outside.
Back in the day they just used sheet metal screws, but now carbide studs are readily available.
https://www.igripstore.com/igrip-sho...SABEgI5SPD_BwE

Miele Man

Yes, knobbie tires can work on ice if those tires have a QUALITY tread compound. Cheap knobby tires have knobs that freeze in cold weather and then act just like skate blades = no traction at all or very, very little. A quality knobby tire run at low pressure will give you surprisingly good traction on ice. I used to take my bicycle to a city built outdoor temporary ice rink at night and then lower the air pressure on the tires and practice riding on that ice. I was quite surprise at how good the traction was and how easy it was to keep the bicycle upright. I practiced braking and other things and it sure improved my riding skills on ice and it did so in a safe location. After that I had no qualms or trouble riding on streets that were icy. In fact I was able to ride my MTB here in town up a hill that most cars couldn't get up.

The BIGGEST hazard on icy streets are drivers who do not have winter tires on their vehicles or who do not have the sense to slow down.

Cheers

Miele Man

You can actually buy dedicated bicycle tire chains.

Slip Not Traction

Bike Tire Chains Setup




Cheers

downhillmaster

Homemade studded tires are a decent idea but I have had much better success zip tying an oxy acetylene torch to my front fork.

dedhed

I tried that, the problem was the tanks. I would need a trailer.

spelger

Bit hard using a trainer commuting to work.

prairiepedaler

Have a looksee at my review of the Schwalbe K-Guard Winter tire. They were c$23ea when I bought them. At that price you could reasonably use a set for a season then toss the rear, or swap front for rear. But, I wouldn't recommend using those in the rear for two seasons in a row (as you'll read why).

MikeyMK

If you stud your own tyre, you should insert a fractionally smaller tyre inside it. This should have minimal tread (preferably a slick) with the beads cut off. This will give your tube absolute protection against the studs.

Self-tapping screws are best for studs. Very stubby ones.

I have no experience with proper ice, such as frozen lakes or frozen coastal roads. But in my experience with thick snow, big soft tyres with very low pressure was the way forward. No studs required. The wheels want to tram-line terribly, and any disturbed snow/ice knocks a wheel off line, but big tyres that are all squishy are able to morph over all this, allowing the rim to remain relatively stable.

lyl

Thanks for the offer, I would have bit on this but already pulled the trigger on two new tires at $65 each, sounds like the same model with the two rows of studs.

SalsaShark

If so, you will be happy with them. They are nice tires!

lyl

So my winter tires arrived with the two rows of studs as expected and I am about to install them. However I started to think, since there are two more rows of holes, just ready to be studded would it be possible to purchase studs and insert them myself? Has anyone actually studded their own tires with actual studs into proper holes? I was looking on amazon for studs but cannot determine what size would actually fit.