Snow chains for bike tires??
 

We've had a bit of the white stuff here in N. Texas today which will turn to smush and freeze overnight.

I'm seriously considering biking in tomorrow just fer grins. My Commuter is a fixed gear bike with 700x25c tires.

Is there anything I can do to temporarily increase traction?? I've thought about putting zip ties around my back tire every inch or so, maybe do the front too and just open up the brake and not use it.

Suggestions??

Hmm.... It would have to be metal to be effective and I wouldn't use anything that can come off and play nasty with the spokes. But I have no experience, just my gut reaction.

A.

If you do the zip ties thing, make sure you don't get a flat.

... and you don't have rim brakes I suppose?

Rim brake on the front, read my op.

In europe people would wind nylon rope around moped wheels for traction in snow..... I suppose that's work if you have the clearance to do so - of course if you're on any clean areas it'd be bumpy as hell.

I wouldn't sacrifice your front brake for something that may or may not increase traction.

How much clearance in your frame do you have? It seems to me if you have room for some small chains, you have room for 32mm cross tires.

I used to live in Maine, and found that commuting on snow/ice wasn't a big deal. The thin tires will tend to cut through snow and find the pavement far better than a car tire will. Just go slow and you should be fine.

About the narrowest studded tires out there are the Nokain A10 700x32. I imagine they might be a little narrower than 32 mm, maybe 30. That probably still won't fit your bike though, plus people have complained about their performance. Maybe get a tire with some sort of inverted tread and lower the pressure?

an old tire a handful of machine screws and a lot of duct tape... make your own studded tires

I can't imagine zip ties really doing anything. In any case, your front tire is far more important than the rear. If your rear skids, the bike fishtails and you shift your hips to put it back in line. If your front skids, you go down fast.

Studed tires can made pretty cheaply, but it's probably not worth the trouble for Texas. If it's just snow/slush, you don't need them anyway. Just go slow, and maybe use some nobby tires. If there's actually ice, get some studs or be _very_ careful.

Or if you get short screws like I was able to buy from my LBS, you can just screw into the knobbies and not have to worry about covering anything in duct tape.

Anyway, I seriously looked into making tire chains for a while, but eventually concluded that it would not yield the best results for riding on the streets, and would add a lot of rolling resistance. So, I decided to go with studded tires instead. However, I did find a couple of sites that may interest you concerning making chaings:

http://www.mtnbikeriders.com/2007/02...y-tire-chains/

http://web.archive.org/web/200605121...ne/chains.html

I think the zip ties are a very good idea that would be fun to do. I bet they'll work well.

The issue isn't the snow and slush, it's traction while on ice. I doubt your ice would be that bad.

what a hassle - do something else for fun