Originally Posted by
gecho
In addition to putting studs on I sometimes sharpen them, though I wait until the pavement is covered. I'll put the bike in the repair stand outdoors (carbide dust is bad for you) and give the top of each stud a few swipes with a diamond file to de-mushroom them. It creates a nice sharp edge. Generally its just the center ones that need work.
Part of me wants to sharpen them to a point, but that would be a lot of effort and needlessly remove too much material.
And another task gets added to winter bike maintenance. A file has been ordered.
I'd wondered about such in the past as the studs wear down, but with not having a file to handle the carbide studs, thinking it would be too tedious to do, and having studs wear through the tires and cause flats, and the tire liner to prevent the latter actually causing flats itself, I never pursued it. There was also the thought of swapping all the outer row studs with the inner ones but wow... That would be a job. Plus there's that wearing-through-the-tire issue.
So, I've now installed a Mr. Tuffy liner to see if that takes care of the studs-wearing-through-the-tire-issue-without-causing-flats-itself, and stud sharpening.
Meanwhile, our 8" of snow from Fri's storm is quickly disappearing as here in the Twin Cities we're having a Dec heat wave, including a record high today of maybe 54F, and unprecedented severe storms possible this evening, and a wind warning with winds gusting to 80 mph tonight. I think the road bike will be coming out tomorrow for the next week, giving me plenty of time to put a new front derailleur on the winter bike, touch up some paint, sharpen some studs, probably clean and oil the new chain after only 200 miles and lots of briny slop, and...
Why do we do this?
