Originally Posted by
wolfchild
Commercial tires such as Nokians and Schwalbes work great on black ice...I have experimented with homemade tires made with screws and they were good on the icy trails but horrible on pavement, they also wore out very fast, were too heavy, and had too much rolling resistence.
thats why the screws are in the valleys. only engage with any force if the wheel sinks into snow or something soft. Means clear pavement is lesd an issue, rolling resistance is less, but you lose some usefulness on slick ice. Made my second set last winter. Should be good for this coming winter as well. Heavy? Yup, but I'm in no hurry in winter.