Originally Posted by
JohnDThompson
Yes. Back when mountain bikes were a New Thing, we made our own studded tires for riding on snow and ice by screwing sheet metal screws through the tread from the inside. Then we'd cut the beads off an old tire and insert it between the studded tire and the tube to protect the tube from all those metal screw heads. It worked well enough to allow riding on snow and ice, but on dry pavement the additional weight was not helpful.
For puncture resistance, modern tire liners and/or self-sealing tubes are a superior solution IMHO.
+1. We did this on our 20" tires to ride on the ice in the creek.
If your looking for puncture protection a liner from an old tube isn't bad.
A better set of City tires would be next (Michelin/Schwalbe) and then the Mr Tuffy liners would be next. IMO.
I always sprinkle tire talc in the tire also, I have found that it does help to reduce flats.
Avoid the self sealing tubes. I hated them back in the 80's, talked myself into them when I started riding last year (I thought hey they had to have improved after 25 years right?) then immediately knew why I hated them after the first nail went through the tire and both sides of the tube (It is difficult to patch with goo running out so you end up throwing them away anyway).