Titmawz

for my daily commuting needs I have my two fixed gears. A Windsor Hour and a conversion Raleigh Record Ace. Recently I have acquired a Giant OCR 2 road bike which is my Sunday bike for the long rides.

Roody

I never tried DIY studs but I agree about the durability of the store-bought kind. My first set lasted me about three years, and they were hand-me-downs that another BF member had already put a lot of miles on. (Thanks mechbgon!) I keep them on all winter too--not just on the snowy days, but from November til April.

Also about having a studded tire on the front only--it does help some, but you will end up walking your bike up the hills if it gets real icy.

benajah

Ive got down to two bikes from a previous collection of five. I have one road bike that is currently set up for long distance (leather saddle, 25mm or 28mm tires, light but not crazy light wheels, horizontal top tube).
I also have a cyclocross bike with two wheelsets...a cyclocross wheelset (road wheels) and a touring wheelset (29er MTB wheels) that makes it so I can switch the bike over from from a light touring bike over to a cyclocross bike in about 5 minutes by swapping wheels and taking off the rear rack

Robert Foster

What do your wheel sets cost? I have some stock wheels I hardly ever use except to loan out to people that need a wheel now and then. I have some Shimano 550s that were about $300+. Some Mavics that were about $400+ and some Dura Ace that are over $1200 I got a deal so I didn't pay half of that. In some cases a back up bike would be less expensive. My MTB has relatively stock wheels and I don't have a back up set for it. But I got it at a garage sale for next to nothing and put a suspension fork and new chain ring and cassette on it.

AdamDZ

I'd agree that you need at least two bikes since you should have a backup bike. Both should be able to carry some cargo, although only one needs to be your primary hauler. Above that? Whatever you want

I was actually thinking about that the other day: how many and what kind of bikes I'd need if I ever get rid of my car. I figured one capable of major hauling, probably Yuba Mundo, one longtail (no sideloaders, just bags) for lighter duty and as my primary ride, one touring bike unless the lighter longtail can serve that purpose, and probably one light bike for fun riding: 700cc, flat bars. But I'm sure I won't stop there if I had the space to store them

benajah

I have Easton EA90 SLX on my road bike, I used to race on these wheels and love them but I don't race anymore since I had a kid (not enough time to train) normally about 700 or 800 but I got them for about 500. I have some Bonti race x lites that came on a Trek Madone I used to have. Lots of people don't like them but I have been very happy with them. My utility/commuting/touring wheels are Alex rims with XTHubs that are 29er MTB wheels. My cyclocross bike is a Surly Cross Check and you can use either road or MtB hubs as they space the dropouts in between so you slightly spread or compress depending on hubs.

trustnoone

N+1

By daily ride and week-end training bike is a cross with a summer road and winter snow wheel-sets. Now I just need three more wheel sets: indoor training, and faster climbing set, and a tub cx pair.

There is also a spare circa '92 Specialized Allez in the garage

Any worse and the jeep is the back-up back-up.

Yes, still looking for at least one more race bike and after that a mountain bike. So, the equation is more correct as n+2.

VintageRide

Since 1978, when I bought my first high end Italian racing bike, it's all I had until 2008 when I bought a Giant NRS3. I upgraded that bike too much with XTR components etc. then stripped it and sold the frame and bought a '06 Giant Anthem and built it up with the parts from the NRS. The Anthem was too pretty and expensive so I bought a '04 Giant NRS1 which was my go anywhere bike ( which I could not stop upgrading ). Then late last year I got the touring bike itch, stripped the NRS1 , keeping a few parts for the touring frame build and selling the rest to partially fund it. I'm still trying to finish it as my budget is rather limited at the moment, but it will end up costing over 3000.00 because I have a problem with buying more expensive parts. When you start adding fenders, racks, Brooks seat,and saddle bags it really ads up. So basically, I'm at three but if I had the room probably five. Five good quality bikes would still cost less than a basic new car to buy and make more sense. I remember a police officer a few years ago that loved riding and collecting road bikes. You can imagine having 15-20 of them in a two bedroom apartment. His wife must have been very understanding.

gerv 

The only problem with having 5 bikes ready to roll is that it does take a lot of energy and money. It also tends to detract from time spent riding.

Although, in my case, it has actually doubled the amount of riding I do between my house and the bike shop.

bragi

I can see why it may be practical in some cases to have an extra bike or two, but I still think it's probably easier to have just one:
1. My only bike is suitable for all of my utility and recreational riding. (I go to work, I ride around town, I tour once or twice a year; that's it.)
2. Beaters are not as fun to ride as nice bikes, and the bike I have now is pretty nice.
3. With one bike, maintenance is cheap and easy. I do most of my own maintenance, and the bike is pretty much always in excellent shape. Sometimes things do break, but then you just make the repair right away, because you only have the one bike to worry about. (I got a flat last night, my first in over 2.5 years, and fixed it in well under 15 minutes.)

Sixty Fiver

Wrong on so many points... save for the fact that, if you are going to run just one studded tyre it needs to be on the front.

Stud Your Own Bicycle Tires

My DIY tyres have lasted through numerous winters and many thousands of miles.

Anyways...

As to the ideal number of bikes... I always tell people that having an A bike and a decent B bike are a good way to go if they need to be riding every day as a backup is a good thing.

gerv 

So, in your experience, a sheet metal screw will stand up to the same abuse as a carbide stud? How so?

Sixty Fiver

"Colossal waste of time. DIY studdies would need carbide screws to work. Your DIY tire would hardly last one winter I suspect whereas I am into my third winter on a pair of Nokians and likely to see 2 or 3 more. "

Don't think I have ever said a sheet metal screw is tougher than a carbide stud but we have been making diy studded tyres here for decades and running them for 1000's and 1000's of km... it is the off camber placement that keeps them from wearing when you ride in a straight line and don't need studs.

Retired my last diy studded tyre after 4-5 seasons of riding and at least 20,000 km.

Many people here prefer their diy studs over commercial tyres as they have a little more bite on hardpack and perform extremely well on ice.

Sixty Fiver

Anyways... I always ponder the possibility of just having a single bicycle that can do it all and if it was just commuting and touring one bike could handle both those things and one could also pull a trailer with a decently built bike.

A second bike would be nice for winter (if you live in a wintery hell )as then you could really tweak it for that kind of riding and it could be used as a B bike.

gerv 

So the studs aren't constantly engaging (as long as you can ride in a straight line...). That seems reasonable... but doesn't that create a bit of an issue when trying to go in a straight line up an icy hill?

BTW... nice page on creating your own.

I do have one extra question. Do you file down the screws a little after you get them on? A sheet metal screw can be pretty sharp.

Roody

I wonder about that too. I"d hate to go down on a bike that had dozens of sharp screws sticking out the sides of the tires.

LesterOfPuppets

Eeek! I've laid it down a few times and haven't contacted the front tire yet (knock on wood). The most common ice riding bail mode is to lay it down, which usually keeps you away from the front tire and the rear triangle helps keep rear tire and legs from interacting too much. Hardest part is mounting the tires.

Sixty Fiver

I do touch up the points after I build studded tyres although the act of riding knocks that point down pretty quickly.

If it gets really icy one just has to deflate the tyre a little and this will bring the points in contact with the road / ice... I don't use a rear studded tyre on my single bike but use a set of studded tyres on my extrabike with extra centre studs in the middle on the rear.

Sixty Fiver

In the past five years of winter riding I have gone down twice... and having the studded tyres made the going down a lot more controlled than it would have been on non studded tyres.

gerv 

So if you can't afford the $150 a set of studded tires would cost, Sixty's page offers an interesting approach -- tires that should roll well and studs that should not wear out that quickly. I do agree that studs help navigation in the snow and ice, even if you do go down once in a while (I did this week...)

bragi

You just drive screws into the tire, put a liner in to prevent flats, and hope for the best? I can't say this won't work, because I've not tried it, but it seems too easy to be true.

LesterOfPuppets

Ideally you drill a pilot hole outside-in through knobs so you can make sure your screw goes through a knob as you sink screws from the inside. My first one I just took potshots from the inside and the screws not in knobs were the first to pop out.

Get some nice panhead screws. The first example I saw in Flagstaff in 1990 used flathead countersunk, but the dude really built up his Mr. Tuffy with duct tape.

Sixty Fiver

Follow the instructions, which I have improved on since this was first written on cave walls, and you will have a dependable winter tyre that cost you $5.00 in materials over the cost of the tyre you used.

bragi

Will this work only with knobby MTB tires? What adjustments are needed if you want to use road tires? Would it be more effective if the screws were backed with small washers?

LesterOfPuppets

I don't think I'd use road race tires. You'll want a fair amount of rubber for the screw to sit in. If you're going 700c and kinda skinny, something like the Vittoria Randonneur 28s might work out (probably want to use a cheaper facsimile though). Then there's the problem of the screws protruding a long ways from the rubber. They'll be more like spikes than studs. That increases their likelihood of pulling out of the tire. You'll probably want to nip the ends off all your screws if they protrude very far.

A lot of CX tires probably have too small knobs to work well. I had this one pair back in the day called Tioga Mud Dawgs, if I remember correctly, that had pretty big knobs. Go for something like those if you're going CX.

More current CX tires that look like good candidates: Panaracer Fire Cross, Kenda Kross Supreme.

Man, if only they made the Tufo Cubus in clincher, those look awesome!