alanf

Wow, is the long bike homemade? Clever idea!

badmother

There is plenty homemade longtails in the Utility forum. My son is using our third homemade longtail (Dogbike 2) to take his snowboard (+ bag + extra chlotes + helmet) to school every day. That one has got "normal" studded tyres, but I rode both on road and on a narrow trail with a 20" folder with homemade studded tyre in front and homemade chain on the rear. Worked great. Was out looking for my son who said it was not possible to ride there. Young peopel of today..

The screws I got is a bit on the long side, need to take some off with the angel grinder. I always ride with the dog and he is in big trouble if he gets in the way of my front wheel

Sixty Fiver

Yep... I was originally inspired by badmother to build this bike and it has performed flawlessly since day 1.

The thread is the Utility Cycling Forum is here... https://www.bikeforums.net/utility-cycling/377128-home-built-xtracycle.html

badmother

Studded for 20" folder and chains for 20" folder and 26"MTB. Testrode 8 km in -10C.

alanf

How do you find the ride with the chains?

badmother

Great ride. Use it on the front of a MTB and the rear of the 20" folder. Not as "vibrating" as you would think.

Sixty Fiver

It is really nice if you can have two sets of wheels and tyres or two bikes for winter as here we could be looking at cold and dry, warm and dry (like it is now) or viciously cold, snowy and icy (last week).

Our weather can turn on a dime.

wpryan

Here are three home made studded bicycle tires. The one in the middle was my first try, but it wasn't very effective on the front. I use it in back now for a little extra drive traction. The one on the left is the latest, and it works well. I got a ton of use out of the one on te right last winter. The two outside tires use 3/8 in. sheet metal screws driven into the outer nubs at an angle away from the tube.

OVERthetop

Here's a pic of a set of studded tires I made this season.
">

haggerd

OVERthetop, you made those?! They're a work of art.

alanf

OVERthetop, are those regular car studs?

OVERthetop

I made these this winter using automotive tire studs.

Tequila Joe

Fantastic ice tires; what frame is that? I remember seeing a White Industries prototype that had a similar front suspension system.

nwmtnbkr

I would agree--nice looking Girvin K2 Proflex bike, OVERthetop. Tequila Joe, here's a link to a retailer who has a better photo of the bike and the photo. https://www.bikepro.com/directions/proflex/856.html

erbfarm

so how do the homemade studded tires compare w/ the store bought kind? I mean, does the bike handle the same? do you feel just as safe on the homemade version? I'd sure like to do something w/ all these knobby mtn bike tires I have lying around, but I also want to be safe in the winter for my 5 mile trips to the dentist and such. I'm solely a pavement rider and just wondered how the sheet metal screw studs would feel on the road (which will have ice and packed snow on it much of the winter here in NH) vs what the $100 carbide stud tires would ride like. Anyone know?

Sixty Fiver

I have never used commercially made studded tyres... I am too Scottish to pay that kind of money for them.

Our roads were a skating rink last night and I was running on those 700:35 cross tyres with the front being studded and was blowing past cars, pedestrians, and other cyclists who could not handle the roads.

Was riding this set up... it's the lightest and fastest winter bike I have ever cobbled together and I built it up for my friend but had to do some test riding to make sure it would be suitable for a new winter rider.

I might be studding the rear tire as well.



My last self studded tire just got retired after 4 seasons of winter riding... the screws were starting to tear through the tire casing and I need to build up a new 26 inch studded tire.

erbfarm

well, I guess my real question is, if you go w/ the version of self-made studs that has you driving a screw from the outside of the tire to the inside, wouldn't the pressure of riding just push the nails further into the tire and pop the tube (even if you dremel off the points on the inside of the tire)? If I drive the screws from inside to outside, I'm afraid the points will just wear down right away (and also ride really strangely) since I'll be on pavement the whole time.

wpryan

I drive the 3/8" sheet metal screws into the outer knobs at an angle away from the tube. Sorry for the crayon attachment, but using MS paint is like using an etch-a-sketch.
I've never used the commercial studs because this works really well for me. I always have a big front fender in case one flies off the tire, but I haven't had any problems.

bones_mcbones

this will not work on my slicks

Sixty Fiver

You can stud slicks although there is more chance that the screw will tear out because it does not have any lug to support and cushion it.

Just finished building a new tire using a 2.2 Fisher Fat Trax (a classic mud tire) and 104 sheet metal screws... wish I could find another one of these tires as the tread pattern was simply ideal and the position of the studs is perfect.

Because I have a postal scale here I can tell you the studded tire weighs 920 grams.

Sixty Fiver

920 grams... mounted.

Sixty Fiver

I weighed my old tyre and it was 900 grams.

When you are looking at using a tyre with aggressive lugs you are going to have a heavy tyre to start with... I have studded folding tyres and cut down on tyre weight.

I have an old pair of Panaracer Fire XC Pro tyres (folding) that I am going to stud next... they are a good winter tyre on their own and with studs should be pretty awesome.

bnelson

where do you find the carbide studs

nwmtnbkr

wpryan,

Thanks for the instructions. I used your method to create my own DIY studded tires. I got cheap knobbies and hope the tread pattern is good for snow; there wasn't much selection to choose from.

Sixty Fiver

Built a new winter tire last night (104 studs) while I taught a workshop in tire studding... got to test it this morning and actually went looking for ice.

Needless to say...it performed very well.