drewdiller

I'm in Minnesota. I started winter commuting in January 2010. I liked my Nokian W106s, but I didn't like how the tires handled snow.

I was aware of the "fat bike" niche. This summer, I lucked out and got a very lightly used Pugsley for a grand. Score. Decided to give it a silly paint job.

Two steps foward, one back: Endomorph tires don't have studs.

I managed to find some UgiGrip studs here in the US, via Ebay, 1,000 pieces for $42. I don't know how to buy more. Typical US-supplied snowmobile carbide studs are $1 per stud. I don't want to pay $400 for a pair of DIY modified fat tires, especially when the tires themselves are so expensive.

Why buy more? Here's why:

The inner tread of my endos are more worn than the outer tread. I need some shorter studs for the inner rows. UgiGrip has some 8mm studs listed on their site (versus my 11mm studs). I just don't know how to buy them.

EDIT: I've called a few car tire and snowmobile shops in my area. No luck so far.

See large version of attached.

IMG_4366..jpg

bnelson

did you use all 1000

irclean

You may just find that those "outer" studs may give you all the grip you need, assuming of course you're gonna be riding with low tire pressures.

Hezz

I noticed that you have disk brakes. You might try wrapping the tire and wheel spirally with a light gauge cable. This will only work with disk brakes and is removable so you don't permanently mess up the tires. Low air pressure will probably be good enough for the front tire.

In fact, with low air pressure on the rear tire. That outside row of studs may be all you need. If the tire is lower in air pressure more of them will contact the ground on a more consistent basis. You should be able to get the right combination of grip and rolling resistance by altering the air pressure.

AEO

cable or chain sounds like a good idea, since it is equipped with disc brakes.

Leebo

1000 studs ? sounds bomb proof.

drewdiller

Yep, I'm not going to use all 1,000 =)

I decided to buy some Larry tires as I heard they steer better... which turned out to be quite true. New tread = deep lugs = problem solved.

himespau 

I like the John Deer paint job. Not really a Deer man myself, but I get what you're going for.

drewdiller

Yeah, was just playing around. I'm probably going to have it redone professionally in a drastically different theme.

electrik

"Good" is good... lets us know how much the set weighs when your finished!

drewdiller

So, I could give you a weight, but apparently my gram scale is inaccurate. It weighed a 5 lb bench plate as 5.25 lbs.

Glue and liners are going in tomorrow.

Hezz

Looks pretty good. What did you end up doing to get the studs the right length. Just mount them from the back or get shorter studs.

drewdiller

The initial tires this thread was started for were some pretty worn down Endomorphs. These are some brand new Larry tires. Fresh lugs == problem solved.

Also, the lugs are longer, much easier to work with.

ghettocruiser

...

wolfchild

This is AWSOME ! I love it when people think outside the box. Be sure to post more pics.

drewdiller

All done! Finished up with two "Stop Flats 2" liners (29er size), fastened with 3M Super 77 spray adhesive.

Follow the instructions on the Super 77, if you go that route. Spray each surface, do not press together until dried for 10 minutes, then press together. It was a two person job for me, pretty awkward to handle a bunch of super sticky tape.

I also applied some talcum powder to the tubes before putting 'em in. Didn't want them to stick to any sloppily applied glue.

Hezz

All I can say is, "that is a serious winter ride !".

drewdiller

The fun part is that I've been messing around with it in my basement long enough that I lost a bunch of my fitness! Doh.

Hezz

Ya, that always happens to me to. It takes me about a month or more before I can mentally deal with winter. In that amount of time you can loose a lot of fitness and power output.