Winter came and I had to do something with the bike so as not to fall on the ice. I could buy ready-made studded bicycle tires - it would cost me 4-5 thousand rubles. Not only because of the thirst to save money, but also from the eternal desire to do something with my own hands, I decided to make winter bicycle tires myself.
Purchased: 2 budget tires for 250 rubles each. each; 400 pcs. 13 mm. self-tapping screws (about 100 rubles).
Tires were chosen with large “teeth” so that self-tapping screws could fit comfortably into them. The tire had a total of 80+140+80 teeth. I didn’t want to screw in 300 self-tapping screws, so I inserted one screw into the side rows. As a result, about 190-200 screws were inserted into each tire. This made the tires about 200 grams heavier.
So, the tires have been purchased, and the screws too. We need to get to work. First you need to make guide holes in the tires. Without them, the screws will often go crooked and come out in the wrong place. It is very important that the screws “peek out” from the center of the “tooth” - this will extend the life of the tire. To do this, I took a drill and started drilling holes. It was, to put it mildly, difficult, so I came up with new way: I clamped the nail with pliers, heated it over the fire and used it to make holes in the tires. It was no longer difficult, but it still took a lot of time. And then a brilliant idea came to my mind - making holes with an awl! I didn’t have an awl at home, so I had to buy it. Making holes with an awl is the best option.
The holes are ready, it's time to screw in the screws. I bought 13 mm self-tapping screws with a press washer. It is very important to buy with a press washer, because. only they have a fairly wide "hat". I screwed the screws into the tire with a regular screwdriver. The tire was not turned inside out. The main thing is that the screws are screwed in evenly. There is no need to plant them with glue. The self-tapping screw needs to be screwed in so that at the exit it slightly bends the rubber under itself with the thread.
Here's what I got:
The last photo shows that on the side rows the screws are inserted one after another. In the center, too, sometimes there are empty teeth, the order there is: 1-2-1-1-2-1-1-2-1, etc.
The screws are screwed in, let's move on. Now they need to be sharpened. I didn't have a sharpener, so I asked a friend to sharpen the tenons. The self-tapping screws were very strong and the sharpener was more likely to wear off than they were. But, anyway, we managed to sharpen them. One tire had slightly longer studs; I put it on the front wheel, because it carries less load and the quality of handling depends on it. The side row of screws can be ground less (the main thing is that they are not sharp), because they will only work when turning. A tire with machined screws looks like this:
This is the front wheel. The spines on the back are one and a half times shorter.
The screws are screwed in and ground, but that's not all. So that the caps of the self-tapping screws do not damage the camera, you need to make a lining. To do this, I brutally cut two cells - one old and one, dare I say it, new. Now you can collect the wheel. When laying the camera, be careful not to scratch it on the spikes.
Yesterday I tested my homemade winter bike tires, riding about 25 km on snow and about 35 km on asphalt. When driving on asphalt, a rather loud noise is created, but this cannot be called a big drawback. When driving on snow and ice, the tires showed their best performance - while my friends on regular tires constantly fell on the ice, I drove absolutely without bothering, as if on asphalt :) If you compare studded tires with regular ones, albeit with an evil tread , under emergency braking, the difference is simply monstrous. Heaven and earth! With studded tires, when braking sharply at high speed on ice, it does not skid at all; the studs leave a deep mark on the ice.
There is only one drawback - it is difficult to maintain a high driving speed and a little more difficult to drive in general. You can feel this when driving on asphalt, but driving on ice/snow is a real pleasure.
As I already said, yesterday I had to drive about 35 km on bare asphalt. A friend who has much more experience said that when I get home I will have to change the tires, since the studs will wear off from the asphalt. But it turned out that the screws were practically not worn out. They were just sharpened and became less sharp, but the length remained the same. However, it’s worth noting that it’s not necessary once in a while - I was just lucky with the purchase of high-quality screws. In general, although it is not advisable to drive on asphalt with such tires, it is possible if you do not maintain a high speed.
And finally, a short video:
When winter came and it became impossible to drive on summer tires, I was faced with a problem - I needed studded tires. Having considered the options for factory tires from Nokian and their prices, I firmly decided to stud the tires myself. Having scoured the Internet, I came across one detailed description of wheel studding, but that option did not inspire me at all, since the labor intensity did not quite correspond to the result obtained. Later I read on some forum a mention of the possibility of studding using self-tapping screws. Having decided to work on this idea, I rushed to the shops. So, in the end we purchased:
- 2 KENDA KINETICS tires - 460 rubles pcs;
- 3 tubes rubber glue- 30 rub pcs;
- 220 self-tapping screws - ~50rub;
To install the screws, I chose rows of treads running on the sides of the central part of the tire. To begin with, I had to drill holes in the appropriate places with a drill with a diameter of 2 mm. (I would like to warn you that there is no need to drill large holes!) In total, there are more than 108 holes in the tire. Next, you need to degrease inner side tires, I used smelly acetone for this. (Remember, all work with such nasty stuff as acetone must be done in a ventilated area and preferably with gloves and goggles. Those who are most concerned about their health can wear a rubber apron). Now we take glue and coat the screws with it and screw them into the inside of the tire. Believe me, it is not difficult, the self-tapping screws, lubricated with glue, are easily screwed into the intended holes. After all the self-tapping screws are screwed in, you need to wait time for the glue to “set.” At this time, we take the camera and cut strips 5 centimeters wide from it. We wash them of talc, dry them and degrease them. By this time, the glue on the screws should already have dried (30 minutes is enough) and we will proceed to the second part of production winter tires. We coat the inside of the tire and the cut strip from the unnecessary tube with glue. Let it sit for a couple of minutes and glue the rubber strip inside the tire, right on top of the screw heads. I advise you to glue in small sections of 10-20 cm, this makes it easier to deal with quick-drying glue. It is necessary to ensure that the rubber strip fits tightly to the tire in all places. After this, you can leave the tire to dry for 20 hours.
The mighty heads of the self-tapping screws appear under the rubber strip.
Here you are holding your first homemade tire in your hands, but something clearly confuses you... Oh, yes! The sharp screws sticking out a centimeter remind you of wheels from racing motorcycles for ice tracks! This can be fixed. Find the most powerful wire cutters, and bite off the excess. It is necessary to bite off so that about 3-5 mm remains outside. Exactly all the same, it will not work, you can not try. To be honest, the most painful procedure in the manufacture of these tires is precisely the shortening of the protruding screws. Moreover, this is proportional to the hardness of the metal of the screws. The total time to make one tire is approximately 8 hours, but it is worth it, so be patient and strong.
A few tips for using these tires.
- 1. Always inflate the tubes in such tires to the maximum, otherwise, when hitting a hard object, the tire will “pierce” the screw head to the rim, and this will result in two holes in the tube at once. So far I have been experimenting with pressure, punching the chamber three times, and each punch produces two holes.
- 2. Remember - the tires you made are not a complete analogue of the WXC 300 :), so don’t forget and drive carefully.
- 3. Do not leave the tires wet for a long time, the self-tapping screws will begin to rust.
- 4. In any case, show off your custom tires to people you know and not so well.
Now my observations and feelings:
A few words about tires. KENDA KINETICS was worth the investment. They don't row very well on loose snow. But they have very soft rubber that does not harden in the cold. If you stud the central tread, you can certainly increase the “raking” properties of the tire (BUT I DO NOT ADVISE DOING THIS, BECAUSE THE CENTER IS THE BIGGER LOAD, and the probability of a puncture increases by ~30%).
During the ride, the spikes were sharpened quite a bit. Literally a little bit. But since bare asphalt is rare in winter, the problem of stud wear is practically absent.
Today we will talk about how to install studs on a bicycle tire yourself to make winter studded bicycle tires. We will also consider methods for installing homemade studs on bicycle tires with your own hands in order to ride a bicycle in winter
A bicycle, of course, means riding more in the warm season, but some extreme cycling enthusiasts do not leave their “iron horses” alone in the winter, organizing winter rides in nature or simply using them as a regular vehicle.
Operating a bicycle in winter requires not only excellent physical fitness of the cyclist, but also places special demands on the bicycle. So, a few useful tips on winter use of a bicycle:
· Be sure to install winter studded tires. If you frequently drive on ice or packed snow, you need tires with at least 200-350 studs; for driving on city streets, there may be fewer spikes - from 50 to 200 pieces.
· If the bicycle only has caliper brakes, then at least one of them (front) must be replaced with disc brakes. The thing is that V-brake brakes operating on the rim clamp significantly lose their effectiveness in the cold due to icing of the rims. The wheel can make up to 10 revolutions from the moment you press the brake. What kind of safety can we talk about when a bicycle travels a distance of 20 meters in 10 revolutions? In cold weather, disc brakes also work worse than in summer, but are still significantly more effective than V-brake brakes.
· When driving on winter roads, the chain is sure to become clogged with dirt and road reagents. After each ride, be sure to clean and lubricate the chain.
· When driving in snow, the sprockets and gear shifters become clogged with snow very quickly. It is recommended to periodically stop and clean the gear shift mechanism.
· If there are cracks or chips on the paintwork of your bicycle, paint over the damaged areas, otherwise rust will eat away at the frame, and in the summer you will no longer have anything to ride on.
· The bushing and carriage seals “harden” in the cold, letting dirt and other nasty things in. We recommend disassembling and replacing the grease of the bushings and carriage once every two months.
· It gets dark very quickly in winter, so be sure to install a red flasher and reflectors on your bike to indicate your presence in the dark, and install a headlight on the front, preferably an LED one.
Many cyclists ask themselves the question in winter: whether to switch to studded tires or not. One of the decisive factors against studs on a bicycle is the considerable price of high-quality winter tires. Just one bicycle tire with spikes can cost five thousand rubles - people are not always willing to spend that much on bicycle tires.
But by the way, such tires are worth the money - the studs reliably bite into icy areas, allowing the bike to maintain its trajectory.
No desire to buy? You can do it yourself
Let's say right away that the roll-up when self-studding It’s unlikely to be preserved, but decent contact with the ice surface can be achieved.
What do we need for self-made studded bicycle tires:
An old tire with a high tread (a completely worn one will not work);
- awl;
- a couple of hundred self-tapping screws with a press washer;
- silicone or shoe glue;
- old bicycle tube;
- pliers;
- screwdriver;
- file.
All necessary materials found? Begin!
Decide what kind of drawing you are going to do. It is optimal for most cases to insert the spikes in three rows - on the sides and in the center. You can do without a center to maintain the roll and give the rubber the properties of a winter grip for turns and in narrow icy tracks.
You can also stud in four rows - this is especially reasonable if the checkers in the tread have an even number.
Having decided on the patterns of the studs, mark the punctures along the centers of the lugs (bumps) of the tire.
Turn the tire inside out and start screwing the self-tapping screw into the pierced hole - a small part of it should come out right in the center of the lug. The task is tedious and long.
At the next stage we begin to make a fur coat. For this we need an old bicycle tube. Cut it, lay the inside of the tire (not to the very edge of the cord), measure and align everything again and start attaching it with glue. The purpose of the fur coat is to protect the working bicycle tube from cuts from the heads of the screws.
The next stage involves grinding down the screws to an acceptable level. You can leave the side ones, but you will have to cut off the radial spikes. Leave the edges of the radial screws protruding no more than 1-2 mm. With the sides - to taste.
What to cut with? – wire cutters, pliers, file, grinder. Using wire cutters or pliers you will make a rough cut, and with a file you will level it to a condition close to what we see on factory tires.
That's all.
Features of self-made winter bicycle tires
Not the most ideal roll;
- Quite a massive mass of the structure;
- An archaic stud, inferior to what we see on factory tires;
- Cheap and cheerful!
Video instruction
Is all this necessary?
The Vashen spike is for those who race downhill, or participate in country racing, or on bicycle trips.
It is customary to clean downhill trails before skiing, but this will not make the ground softer - the stud increases traction with the frozen ground, this is important and you can feel it.
In winter country racing without spikes it is objectively more difficult to work at full strength. As long as the snow is soft, it’s good, but the sections on the slopes are different.
In cycling tourism, the spike is safety. When you are riding along the trails, think about how dangerous it is for a wheel to go off on a sudden icy bump, and even off the trails - in the forest, in snow-covered areas, bicycle studs save lovers of winter cycling trips.
Buy good bicycle tires for winter, or make them yourself, as described above in the article. There will be less pressure, but there will still be more advantages to using it.
Cycling is a pleasant pastime for many people. But for those who like to ride a bicycle in winter, other studded tires are available. Next we will need a tool: a good, suitable screwdriver for self-tapping screws, a 7 (8 mm) screwdriver or drill, a drill (2-3mm chalk, an awl, a tire spacer. We mark the tire, the places where the spike will sit. You can use chalk or a marker . We mark evenly. We take into account the fact that large quantities studs increases the weight of the tire, and with too little studs the necessary grip will not be provided. This requires a creative approach. You should also not forget about the weakening of the tire due to the cord breaking with a drill and screws. We drill the marked places with a drill with a diameter of 2-3 mm. We insert between the sides.
I “made” the tires in one evening using a screwdriver, by eye. Between the tube and the tire there is a gasket - a strip of adhesive in one layer. The self-tapping screws are the smallest, 2.5x10. Impressions: the tires are extremely inconvenient to install, the new screws are prickly. On ice and compacted snow, traction is very good. The motorbike leaves the icy rut at a very slight angle without any problems. It holds the road when braking and turning. It is impossible to drive on loose snow - the resistance force is too great. The photo shows the wheel after 400 km. Half is on ice, the other half is on asphalt. #eleven.
Use a screwdriver to press the screw into the slots, with the head on the outside. We tighten it so that the first turn of thread appears above the nut. We visually and manually check that the tire is well compressed by the stud head on the inside and the washer and nut on the outside. And so with each thorn. Be careful, the ends of the screws are dangerous! The following may be harmed: body and limbs, clothing, parquet flooring, varnished/polished objects and particularly sensitive animals! Do not forget that at speed and when rotating, such a wheel can seriously injure both its owner and those around him. When assembling the wheel between the tube and the tire. Today I decided to renew the worn out screws on the rear wheel of my bicycle. Why only in the back? Because they haven’t worn out on the front one :) Although the front wheel is mainly responsible for handling, I wanted to update the screws on the rear one in order to get rid of slipping and skidding on ice.
So, although the self-tapping screws on the front wheel have worn out a little, they still need to be rolled and rolled, and I don’t see the point in replacing them, they work well. On the rear wheel, the screws have worn out almost completely and they have very little effect: I began to slip a lot on ice, and the rear wheel often drifts off. There were no falls, but control over the road weakened.
I would like to talk in more detail about how self-tapping screws wear out. Only the center row is sewn. The side rows work very rarely, so they hardly wear out on both wheels. The front wheel is lightly loaded, so they practically do not wear out there. On the rear wheel everything is more serious. Let's imagine that we have a wheel with new screws. After 10-20 km of driving on asphalt, the screws will noticeably wear out. Then the wear rate will decrease. After 40-60 km of asphalt, the screws will protrude from the rubber just a little, but will still provide good grip on ice. After this, the wear rate will be reduced even more, and only after 100-200 km of asphalt will they wear out so much that they stop working. Therefore, do not be alarmed if you notice that after a few kilometers asphalt pavement The brand new screws have noticeably worn out :) I've driven a little over 400 km this winter so far and only now I decided to stud the tires again. Moreover, we must remember that the winter of 2011-2012 until mid-January was practically snowless and I had to drive almost exclusively on asphalt. I think if the winter had been normal, my thorns would have lasted until spring.
I will also mention gaskets. After the tube was cut through with screw heads 3 times, I decided to take extreme measures and made a gasket between the tube and the tire from three old tubes on the rear wheel, and on the front wheel from an old semi-slick tire. The bike became noticeably heavier, but I got used to it and can now maintain a fairly high speed.
So, this is what old worn out screws look like. They hardly help anymore:
And this is what the new ones look like, just screwed in. They look scary, but you only need to be afraid for the linoleum :)
Replacing screws is not difficult. I just unscrewed the old ones and screwed in the new ones. Of course, I didn’t touch the side rows. It took less than an hour to unscrew the old screws. It took a little over an hour to screw in the new ones. The rubber, by the way, was practically not worn out and the new screws fit quite tightly. I also want to draw your attention to the fact that although I use the most budget tires (250 rubles per piece), its condition can be assessed as excellent, despite the fact that I drove at least 300 km on asphalt and only a little more than a hundred on snow (it’s winter , damn it, snowless). Those. self-tapping screws reduced tire wear when driving on asphalt.
Last time I asked a friend to sharpen my screws to the required length. I didn’t want to disturb the person a second time, so I decided not to grind off the screws at all. As you can see in the photo, they protrude from the rubber by 0.5 cm
I hoped that I would drive a few kilometers on the asphalt and they would wear out. Actually, that’s almost what happened, only they didn’t wear off, but broke off a little at the ends. After just a couple of (quite heavy, by the way) kilometers of asphalt, they were without sharp ends, and after 10 km of asphalt and 20 km of snow (well, snow doesn’t count), the screws are quite suitable, slightly hypertrophied spikes that hold perfectly on ice and protrude just 1.5-2 mm. Now that they have become shorter, their wear will be noticeably reduced and you can drive safely
Actually, the result is this: there is no need to grind down the new screws, you just need to drive literally 2-3 km on asphalt.
Studded tires for a bicycle allow its owner to enjoy riding a bicycle in ice and snow, without fear that he will not be able to cope while moving and will fall on a bad road. After all, the road is often simply unpredictable during winter driving.
Studded tires are similar to car tires, with a durable metal tread that is located on both sides of the tire. It makes it possible to drive on icy surfaces without problems, but only if the tires are not overinflated.
The studs on the tire themselves are various shapes:
- pointed;
- flat.
In addition, studded tires come with different numbers of studs.
One type is double-row tires. They are located on the sides. When the wheels are well inflated, they practically do not come into contact with the surface, only when turning. This applies to weather conditions when there is no ice on the asphalt surface. But if you need to drive on an icy surface, the tire should be less inflated. And the weather will work exactly those side metal spikes that are necessary for contact with the slippery surface.
Another type is four-row tires. They are similar to double-row tires, but the difference is that they also have two additional rows of studs. That is, the number of studs on the tire has been increased by one and a half times. They are more powerful and make it possible to move comfortably where there are no normal roads. But first of all, they are designed for driving on icy surfaces, but at the same time making it possible to drive on roads.
Important when using this tire:
1.do not carry out strong pumping. And then the cyclist will not care about steep turns and descents.
2.And then this makes it possible for the tire to have good grip on a slippery surface.
3.No sudden braking and studded tires will last quite a long time.
And after installing studded tires, you need to go through the break-in process. But this must be done very carefully. This is necessary in order not to harm the studs and the tire themselves. The running-in process itself is carried out on asphalt and for an hour with the bike moving slowly. This will provide the studded tire with more long term service in good condition and without loss of studs. And then any bike ride will be a joy, even in winter.
Winter came and I had to do something with the bike so as not to fall on the ice. I could buy ready-made studded bicycle tires - it would cost me 4-5 thousand rubles. Not only because of the thirst to save money, but also from the eternal desire to do something with my own hands, I decided to make winter bicycle tires myself.
Purchased: 2 budget tires for 250 rubles each. each; 400 pcs. 13 mm. self-tapping screws (about 100 rubles).
Tires were chosen with large “teeth” so that self-tapping screws could fit comfortably into them. The tire had a total of 80+140+80 teeth. I didn’t want to screw in 300 self-tapping screws, so I inserted one screw into the side rows. As a result, about 190-200 screws were inserted into each tire. This made the tires about 200 grams heavier.
So, the tires have been purchased, and the screws too. We need to get to work. First you need to make guide holes in the tires. Without them, the screws will often go crooked and come out in the wrong place. It is very important that the screws “peek out” from the center of the “tooth” - this will extend the life of the tire. To do this, I took a drill and started drilling holes. It was, to put it mildly, difficult, so I came up with a new method: I clamped a nail with pliers, heated it over the fire and used it to make holes in the tires. It was no longer difficult, but it still took a lot of time. And then a brilliant idea came to my mind - making holes with an awl! I didn’t have an awl at home, so I had to buy it. Making holes with an awl is the best option.
The holes are ready, it's time to screw in the screws. I bought 13 mm self-tapping screws with a press washer. It is very important to buy with a press washer, because. only they have a fairly wide "hat". I screwed the screws into the tire with a regular screwdriver. The tire was not turned inside out. The main thing is that the screws are screwed in evenly. There is no need to plant them with glue. The self-tapping screw needs to be screwed in so that at the exit it slightly bends the rubber under itself with the thread.
The screws are screwed in, let's move on. Now they need to be sharpened. I didn't have a sharpener, so I asked a friend to sharpen the tenons. The self-tapping screws were very strong and the sharpener was more likely to wear off than they were. But, anyway, we managed to sharpen them. One tire had slightly longer studs; I put it on the front wheel, because it carries less load and the quality of handling depends on it. The side row of screws can be ground less (the main thing is that they are not sharp), because they will only work when turning. A tire with ground screws looks like this
The screws are screwed in and ground, but that's not all. So that the caps of the self-tapping screws do not damage the camera, you need to make a lining. To do this, I brutally cut two cells - one old and one, dare I say it, new. Now you can collect the wheel. When laying the camera, be careful not to scratch it on the spikes.
Yesterday I tested my homemade winter bike tires, riding about 25 km on snow and about 35 km on asphalt. When driving on asphalt, a rather loud noise is created, but this cannot be called a big drawback. When driving on snow and ice, the tires showed their best performance - while my friends on regular tires constantly fell on the ice, I drove absolutely without bothering, as if on asphalt :) If you compare studded tires with regular ones, albeit with an evil tread , under emergency braking, the difference is simply monstrous. Heaven and earth! With studded tires, when braking sharply at high speed on ice, it does not skid at all; the studs leave a deep mark on the ice.
There is only one drawback - it is difficult to maintain a high driving speed and a little more difficult to drive in general. You can feel this when driving on asphalt, but driving on ice/snow is a real pleasure.
As I already said, yesterday I had to drive about 35 km on bare asphalt. A friend who has much more experience said that when I get home I will have to change the tires, since the studs will wear off from the asphalt. But it turned out that the screws were practically not worn out. They were just sharpened and became less sharp, but the length remained the same. However, it’s worth noting that it’s not necessary once in a while - I was just lucky with the purchase of high-quality screws. In general, although it is not advisable to drive on asphalt with such tires, it is possible if you do not maintain a high speed.
Using homemade winter studded bicycle tires. Advantages and disadvantages
I recently wrote about how to make studded tires for a bicycle. Some time has passed, I managed to ride it and now I’m ready to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of this bicycle tire.
First, about the advantages.
Although some people say that they drive normally in winter on regular tires, but, whatever one may say, the difference is obvious. Especially when braking. But it is the quality of braking that is most important when cycling in winter. Well, everything is clear with the advantages, let’s move on to the disadvantages and difficulties.
Flaws
Of course, these tires are a little more difficult to ride. But that's not the main thing. When driving on asphalt, the studs on the rear wheel wear off noticeably, so the rear wheel won’t last me for the whole winter (the front one is ok) and I’ll either have to make a new tire, or unscrew the worn-out screws and screw in new ones. But in this case, the tire rubber can wear out quickly, because. A new batch of self-tapping screws will most likely not go along the existing thread, but will create a new one. But this is not the main thing. When I decided to stud a bicycle tire for the first time, one of the main reasons was the lack of winter bicycle tires on sale, or rather, they were very rare, and therefore there was no choice of options. But now they are on sale, and there is some choice, and you can probably buy any of them in online stores.
But looking at the arrangement of metal and rubber studs in bicycle tires, and understanding how and where there is a desire to ride in winter, my mood did not improve. It’s as if the employees of tire manufacturing companies who come up with products care about their products from too idealistic positions. Either asphalt and smooth ice, or compacted snow alternately with a snow-free road. And the studs are specially made so that they are more likely to get lost on hard surfaces, and you would have to buy another bicycle tire.
As a result of the reasoning - spend money on what is available or do what is much cheaper, but exactly as needed, I chose to do it.
Choosing a base - tires
First, I decided on the parameters - what should be the tire. And taking into account the previous experience of studding old ones with a partially worn tread, I decided that only a new one and not a random one that can be obtained for free (or almost for free), but chosen from catalogs, or from those suitable ones that are on sale. IN as a last resort, I decided to wait for the one I ordered from the online store, but the one that would be more suitable.
1. – should be folding, since it is much easier to remove and install in the cold than with a wire frame – tires with an aramid frame are softer and more manageable. Yes, and pierce with an awl, drill, holding the direction of piercing and drilling, under the right angle easier, as well as screwing in a thorn screw. If the tire can be turned flat. It is easy to press it with a clamp to the plane of a workbench or plywood (board).
2. – must be with Kevlar cord, since puncturing a tire in the cold and then gluing it is not an easy task due to that very frost. I already had experience of a tire bursting in the winter – I drove over a broken section metal fence with a protruding rod that is not visible under the snow. Then he sealed not only the camera, but also the tire - the gap was one and a half centimeters. The cold procedure took more than two hours. The fire had to be lit in order to glue at a positive temperature.
3. - The main point is the location of the rubber spikes of the tire, because they will have to install metal spikes. So that the height is no more than 4 mm - less than that of branded winter ones by 1.0 - 1.5 mm, and the location and quantity would allow driving on hard surfaces with less loss. And so that when turning and passing sloping ice surfaces, the spikes are in the place of the most beneficial application of forces - holding abilities. And it is imperative that the spikes be located more often along the contact path, for less mechanical losses when driving on ice.
4. – dimensions of the tire’s rubber studs. So that the size of the tenon, along or across, should not be less than 8 by 8 mm, since it will be impossible to hold the tenon under load - the rubber tenon will tear in the direction of the load on the metal tenon.
The tire we found and liked in all respects had 444 studs measuring 9 by 11 mm and 8 by 11 mm, 4 mm high, located in the best way for the planned winter rides on ice, asphalt and rocky dirt roads.
They turned out to be – KUJO DH 2.25 K, for installation on the rear wheel, and KUJO DH 2.35 K, for installation on the front, according to the condition of turning, and therefore at a greater angle than the rear wheel, to run into (slide over) ice obstacles.
Produced by – IRC.
They also had embossed inscriptions that were pleasing to the eye - MADE IN JAPAN, and sidewalls made of red rubber, softer in the cold, prettier than an all-black tire.
Basically, as if everything was about the tires, now we need to find what will then be metal studs.
Finding suitable tenon screws
Shopping fasteners I had to spend a long time, because what some offered could be worse than what could be found somewhere else. Only two sellers had visual stands to select screws, but for clarity, there were only one, two standard sizes, and not all that could be on sale. And I had to search the sites for links to articles by home-made people who were ahead of me in this idea.
In all the articles I read, self-tapping screws with sharp ends of screws or washers with curved pointed edges (homemade or furniture ones with a threaded recess - a washer-nut with horns) riveted with rivets or regular rivets were used. Both of them have one feature - to tear and tear everything that they touch or run over - clothes, wallpaper, linoleum, etc. Another reason for not using washers is that those for furniture need to be secured with a screw and a flat washer, but even with a thread locker they can be easily lost. But the main thing is that it is impossible not to get hurt when putting on or taking off such a tire, even with gloves or mittens made of strong, thick leather. An attribute that you will definitely need to take with you along with other tools if the spikes are so sharp. How to harden them is also a problem. And the losses when moving with such washers are large. In general, no washers.
In the end, the choice was made on self-tapping screws with a washer head, hardened, galvanized with a drill tip.
The drill ends of these screws do not scratch your hands and do not cling to fabric, fleece, or down jackets. They don’t stick into linoleum, they don’t tear wooden surfaces under light load. But since the tips are made for drilling metal, they are more hardened (harder) than ordinary self-tapping screws. I tested it by trying to scratch the glass with self-tapping screws and sharp regular drills. With drills I was able to scratch with less pressure and right away.
The sizes were 7.5 mm, 9 mm, 13 mm, and 16 mm in length, and the diameters were 3.8 mm and 4.0 mm, which were quite suitable for installation in tires with different rubber thicknesses.
True, the 2 smallest sizes had caps with a diameter of 7.75 mm and without washer-like extensions. The rest have head-washers with a diameter of 10.7 mm. For some reason, sellers call them prewashers.
Since the studs were found and purchased, I could also buy the tires I liked, which were waiting for me at the Trial-Sport store.
Combining theory, guesses, other people’s and one’s experience into a single whole
First I had to think about the installation method - screwing in tenon screws, how to drill and pierce the tire so as not to damage the cord. Trying it on a cut piece from an old tire, cutting off the drilled piece at different angles and at different speeds, with drills of different diameters - from 1.0 mm to 4.0 mm, and changing the sharpening, I came to the conclusion. You need a drill with a diameter of 2.0 mm - 2.5 mm, sharpened at an angle of 45 degrees or more, with a zero or negative angle of the cutting edge, the attacking part of the drill. The best performance was when drilling with such a prepared drill, but in the opposite direction, as when unscrewing, the cord threads were not damaged at all. But even with right rotation, the results were not bad - the cord broke in isolated cases.
The technology is this: first pierce the tire with an awl where the spike will be installed. At an angle where the tenon is installed. Pierce from the outside so that the awl sticks out 15-20 mm inside the tire, so that you can see the place and the angle - the direction of the hole. Take a drill with a drill and the direction of rotation switched to the opposite direction. The maximum speed is not more than 1000. It is more convenient if it is a cordless drill with speed control with a start trigger. Note the place and direction of drilling, pull out the awl and immediately drill into the resulting hole. Put the drill with a drill aside, take a second drill - an electric screwdriver with a Phillips screwdriver installed in the chuck - a pin that matches the number of the cross for the drill screw. Put the screw-drill on the tip of a Phillips screwdriver (pin) and screw it into the hole at an angle of drilling - piercing with an awl. Check that the screw drill - spike, comes out exactly in the right place, marked with an awl.
And do the same 443 more times, and then for the second tire the same amount - exactly 444 identical procedures - “Chinese labor”. A little “trick”, so as not to pierce the tire for each stud separately, was to puncture as many holes as the number of studs intended to be installed on a given day (work shift). Then he stuck parquet nails into the resulting holes, and took them out only before drilling, one at a time. Then he again inserted nails into the resulting holes, but thicker - 3 mm thick, immediately after drilling. And when he had drilled enough for the day, then he took out three-millimeter-thick nails one at a time before screwing in the tenon screw. So the holes did not “disappear” - they did not tighten, and it was faster and more accurate than repeating all the procedures with each spike.
First, a row of outer ones, at appropriate angles, pierced and inserted parquet nails (they are inserted easily) - you can immediately see whether the holes are straight and correctly marked by the protruding row of nails. Then the other extreme row, and then the rest along the rows. But not all around, but a section - a sector into which the tire was divided, like on working days. Observing accuracy and attention, each stage of work can be easily visually controlled using evenly placed nails.
The work listed above took approximately 30 working hours – two weeks in the evenings.
It could be done faster, but I worked out the control technology, and it’s so beautiful—the result of the work is visible and predictable.
Attention - you need to pierce the tire with an awl once for one tenon, accurately marking the location of the hole according to the drawing, taking into account the angle along the red dotted line - 3-5 degrees from the black dotted line, no more.
Tire 26 by 2.25 inches, used stud screws different sizes- the middle row is the smallest, blued, then - slightly larger galvanized, and on the outer rows the largest with a pre-washed cap.
Close-up – tire 26 by 2.35 inches. It can be seen that the screws are screwed into the outer rows at an angle favorable for holding the ice. All the spines are the largest, with a pin-shaped cap.
I called a trial specialist I know and asked: “Are there any unnecessary thick rubber tubes left with the nipple torn off?” It turned out that there are as many as 3 pieces. It was from these chambers that I cut out the strips. I cut the sides in the middle and used the outer part. Two chambers with a wall thickness of 1.5 mm and one with a wall thickness of 3.5 mm are heavy, the whole chamber weighed 600 grams, like a tire.
Thick-walled chamber, cut off in the middle of the sides. For insertion into a rear studded tire – protects the bicycle tube from the heads of the studded screws. There is also more load in the middle rows of tenon screws; small-diameter caps are more prominent.
I installed a thick-walled strip under the rear tire, and a thinner one under the front. One thinner one is a spare one. Inflatable bicycle tubes, used by Schwalbe, at a price of 240 rubles - ordinary, but made of high quality rubber. I bought it at Leader-Sport, on the street. K. Marx.
Rear tire from the inside, visible inner tube with marks from the heads of the stud screws. There were no breakthroughs, there was no hint of abrasion - the “gaskets” can be thin.
Tests
This most exciting and interesting thing happened from the Tyomnaya Pad station and while crossing Lake Baikal on the ice.
At first, of course, I was driving to the central passenger station on the asphalt.
The first impression is the sound, like from a dog running on linoleum or parquet with its claws extended, but stronger. We are driving with a friend whose wheels have no spikes. But since there is no ice, we drive quickly and as if without tension, although we are careful not to slip and away from the cars.
Skating tests on the rink were surprising, but only for a moment - normal skating, turns and braking without problems. But there were no cars with pedestrians at the skating rink.
So no unusual impressions appeared. Tried to brake sharply, turn around - normal. It seemed that without spikes, the friend is less confident, but this did not seem like a certain indicator. We go by train to the Dark Pad. How will it be there?
We arrived, looked down the trail and … drove. At first slowly, and then somehow inexplicably confident and risking more and more. Braking with the rear wheel, helping and sometimes dragging with one foot through the snow like motocrossers, and even accelerating and bouncing in some areas. Horror. Suicide slope.
I look around - my friend is gone, his bike too. I had to hurry up and search. It turns out that he braked with the rear wheel and found that it had no effect on the steep slopes of the track, he began to slow down with the front, but this did not help on the snowy trail either. He began to accelerate and ran into a piece of soil bare from snow. The front wheel, braked and he had rims, stopped them both and threw one over the handlebars of the other down the slope. But somehow silently - he did not have time to be frightened and scream. And then the bike flew away. One lies below, in deep snow, silently, and the other, turning its wheels in an inexplicable position, ten meters away. The one without wheels responds with some phrase from a joke and unprintable about a close relative. Snowdrifts took both flawlessly - they flew next to huge stones and lying tree trunks.
Looking at the action described above, for the first time I became proud of my cycling. After all, he never slipped, although he was afraid a lot.
Further down, on the Angasolka river, there was a super test. I go down the path to the bridge, and from it to the hilly ice - snow on top, under it a layer of wet sludge, and ice at a depth of 5-10 cm. I reached the tree, looked around, and my friend was walking around this ice mess on the slope with a bicycle on his shoulder. She shouts that it is impossible not only to drive, but even to walk - it is slippery and wet. Once you fall and you have to go wet.
I let go of the tree and food, no sensations, normal driving, only splashes of sludge to the sides. I even liked it and rode in different directions, because the ice on the river is lumpy and inclined, like the slope. Amazingly, no uncertainty, the ride is easy, like on dry and hard gravel. I didn’t want to go further, an absolutely unusual feeling from ordinary confident skating - you go easily, shift, accelerate, brake, but this is a very slippery and uneven place, more slippery than just ice. I haven’t walked through such places yet, but on the contrary, I avoided them.
While we were driving to Lake Baikal, out of interest, I chose the opportunity to drive on the ice of the river, where it is under slush, wet, bumpy, and whatever - the driving is absolutely normal, there is no stress, so as not to slip. It’s easy to slide onto the ice and drive back onto the shore where the trail runs.
On the shore of the lake, several skiers took skis and poles in their hands and went to the snow drift so that they could ski along it to Slyudyanka.
Looking at the absolutely flat and smooth ice, I was a little confused - how would it go? But having driven onto it, I heard the noise from the spikes and that’s it... no other feelings - just like on a flat road. I accelerate, I brake, I make such turns that I almost fell several times, I jumped and bucked as best I could and... NOTHING. It’s even strange, because you can ride on smooth asphalt in exactly the same way. I began to mock myself and my bike, but no amount of maneuvering or braking allowed me to slip or skid, either on the ice or on thin crust. True, I turned over the steering wheel several times, both straight and sideways. That day, only my friend had problems - he was driving no faster than 6-9 km/h, and then on low tires. At normally inflated speeds, even 3 km/h, the problem was falling and slipping every 5-10 meters. I can’t imagine how many bruises and bumps I brought home. True, I brought it too - from flying over the handlebars. One of the flights was caused by sharply braking with one rear wheel.
The main impression is one thing - NO IMPRESSIONS - ordinary skating without problems and uncertainty. Self-studded tires “hold” on ice or a dense snowy road much better than new tires on clean summer asphalt.
Another time, to the Angasolka River, I drove along the highway and gravel road for almost 20 km - I didn’t lag behind, even sometimes went ahead on the descents, although everyone with whom I rode in a small “gang”, except me, was riding on branded spikes.
We went down to Lake Baikal past the village of Angasolka along a frozen dirt road. I, on the crooked and wet ice on the Angasolka River, and those on branded spikes, along the trail. The owners of the “company” tried it, one even fell, and stopped taking risks - driving on wet ice, and on Lake Baikal they didn’t risk sharp maneuvers, but in a straight line they could race with the company guys on equal terms. True, at the “firm” they could afford to press the rear brake sharply and strongly - the rear wheel skidded slightly to the side, and I could fly over the steering wheel.
It’s a pity that I didn’t take a camera and there are no pictures of those tests. Twice I rode in company with Diagran (who knows) on his spikes, both on the highway and on the snow and ice of Lake Baikal - you can’t keep up with him even on highways on asphalt, he drives on ice at 35 km/h on ordinary branded spikes - a monster.
On the train, when setting up the bike, there was no fear that you could tear your clothes or fleece gloves on the homemade spikes, I took it on purpose.
By spring, it became noticeable how the drill bits of the tenon screws became dull and became semicircular, but this did not affect the grip strength on ice and compacted snow. True, due to the fact that the spikes have become a little shorter, it seems to be easier to drive on asphalt and ice. And also - the more dull the drill bits become, the slower their abrasion occurs - the contact surface area increases. It becomes approximately equal to the area of hardened studs, like branded bicycle tires, without Pobedit inserts. In the first winter I rode about 700 km with studs, I don’t know more precisely, since the bicycle speedometer “died” after 600 km. On asphalt and concrete with ice, it turned out to be about 100 km, about another 250 km on gravel and dirt roads, the rest about 400 km on ice and dense snow.
I think that with my use, it will be enough to drive at least 1500 km before replacing some studs.
Theory confirmed by practice
The proposed stud installation angle was derived from the assumption that the greatest shear load on the stud is during braking. And in order for the spike to “bite” into the ice in the best way, it must be installed at a negative angle to the plane of the support when moving forward.
The side spikes are also at a negative angle to the plane of support from the corresponding side, as when driving on a slope or when turning at speed. And since, under shear load, the studs will deflect in the elastic rubber of the tire, this deflection will be smaller due to the greater thickness of the rubber behind the stud and the greater elasticity of the thicker layer of rubber.
I did not glue the gasket between the bicycle tube and the heads of the self-tapping tenon screws, since the gluing will not be tight, and water and dust will get into the leaks - dirt will be in it, and inserting and removing this gasket is not particularly difficult.
How will water get there?
Let's say you had to drive in wet places, and then remove the tire and tube in the warmth - water from the internal volume of the rim will flow into the tire.
And you need a lot of glue - 2-3 full tubes per wheel. If the result is mediocre, the gluing quality is poor. After all, the raised caps will interfere with the ability of the rubber of the cut tube to stick to the inside of the tire. And with a thick layer of glue, “chewing” sounds will be made, which happened when I glued bicycle tubes to road bicycle wheels on an excessively thick layer of glue - poor quality gluing. And since high-quality gluing cannot be achieved, then why do it poorly? After all, if you have to replace any spike, you will still have to tear off the glue.
I hope that what happened in the end, and which gave me the opportunity to be convinced of the correctness of my guesses and the work I put in, will help those who are not afraid to spend work, accuracy and attention for the final result - riding a bicycle where it was impossible before, but with These tires are safe and pleasant.
Recently, to make the ride easier, I decided to pump up the tires more. Actually, I didn’t pump them up too much, just the way everyone usually pumps up their tires in the summer. I went on business, and on the way back my rear tire went flat. At home, I pulled out the tire and found two strange holes on the tube, despite the fact that the tube lining was intact. I didn't bother and just taped the camera. The next day I went on a night ride and on the way my front tire went flat. Thoughts began to creep into my head that this was the work of self-tapping screws, or rather, the heads of self-tapping screws that could damage the camera. I disassembled the wheel, pulled out the inner tube, and sure enough, the entire inner tube had noticeable marks from the heads of the screws, and the hole was located exactly along the edge of the mark. In short, it was clear that the cause of the damage to the camera was the screw head.
There are 3 or 4 such damages on the camera. Moreover, this is not a hole, i.e. The chamber does not allow air to pass through. But, of course, you don’t want to travel with such a camera, because the crack can open at any moment. Let me remind you that I used an old camera as a gasket. As you can see, it is clearly not enough.
On a note
After inspecting both wheels, it turned out that only the camera on the front wheel was damaged. The rear wheel camera is fine. This is most likely due to the fact that the length of the screws on the front wheel is 2 times longer than on the rear. This is logical: when braking, 2-3 central screws bite into the asphalt/ice and, if they protrude strongly, they dig into the camera with the edge of the cap. Almost the same thing happens when hitting curbs. From this we can conclude that it is not advisable to leave the screws protruding more than 1.5 mm. In addition, if there are a lot of screws in the central row, then when braking a larger number of screws will work, which means there will be less impact on the camera.
What to do?
It became clear that the spacer camera alone was not enough. Also, adhesive tape will not be enough. In several places on the Internet I saw that people used a piece of linoleum as a gasket. I didn’t have any extra linoleum, but I remembered about the old semi-slick tire collecting dust on the balcony. I cut off its sides and inserted it into the front tire. I had to cut it down a bit to make it fit. If you do the same, cut the tire very carefully, because... if you cut off the excess, there will be a gap between the ends of the tire spacer, which will damage the tire. To avoid this, I sealed the joint with a piece of rubber from a bicycle first aid kit.
The wheel has become noticeably heavier and this is bad. On the other hand, if everything is done correctly, I will be almost completely protected from punctures and will be able to heavily inflate the tires to make the ride easier. Some may say that in winter you need to drive at low pressure, but when there are studs, increase the area work surface there's just no need.
Because I had one extra tube spacer left, so I decided to add it to the rear wheel. A gasket of two chambers should be enough.
Honestly, I don’t know what will come of this and how much more difficult it will be to drive. I decided on a desperate act: to make a lining between the tube and the tire from... a tire. It sounds scary, but in reality, everything is so =) She was found on the balcony old tire semi-slick, the sides were cut off. The tire itself was also cut and shortened a little, because it simply did not fit inside the working tire. I sealed the resulting joint with a piece of rubber so that the corners of the tire would not damage the tube. The resulting gasket was installed on the front wheel. On the back, I used as many as three (how many were old, I put in that many) cameras as a spacer.
Naturally, the bike became noticeably heavier after such abuse. To be honest, I assumed that I would not be able to maintain even 20 km/h all the time. However, I drove normally for about 35 km.
After driving about 100 km on these wheels, I disassembled the rear wheel to see how the tube felt. On the rear wheel, let me remind you, 3 old tubes act as spacers. Upon detailed inspection, no damage, tears or scratches were found. On the camera there were only soft, not sharp prints from the heads of the screws and nothing more. As I thought, this turned out to be an impenetrable option. The wheels, although noticeably heavier, are still quite possible to drive.
Separately, I would like to say about the wear of screws. The fact that the rear wheel will not be enough for the whole winter is for sure. The central screws on it were very worn out.
Basically, what else can you expect in such a snowless winter? If there was snow, everything would be fine. But I think when the screws protrude only 0.2-0.3 mm, the erasing process will slow down. When they wear off completely, I plan to unscrew them and screw in new ones. I'm thinking of screwing in more, because... The more self-tapping screws (and they don’t weigh much), the less wear they will have. On the front wheel, the screws stuck out 2-2.5mm and still do. Even the central ones have not worn off. This is very good, considering that it is the front wheel that is responsible for control on the road.
Today we will talk about how to install studs on a bicycle tire yourself to make winter studded bicycle tires. We will also consider methods for installing homemade studs on bicycle tires with your own hands in order to ride a bicycle in winter
A bicycle, of course, means riding more in the warm season, but some extreme cycling enthusiasts do not leave their “iron horses” alone in the winter, organizing winter rides in nature or simply using them as a regular vehicle.
Operating a bicycle in winter requires not only excellent physical fitness of the cyclist, but also places special demands on the bicycle. So, here are some useful tips for using your bike in winter:
· Be sure to install winter studded tires. If you frequently drive on ice or packed snow, you need tires with at least 200-350 studs; for driving on city streets, there may be fewer spikes - from 50 to 200 pieces.
· If the bicycle only has caliper brakes, then at least one of them (front) must be replaced with disc brakes. The thing is that V-brake brakes operating on the rim clamp significantly lose their effectiveness in the cold due to icing of the rims. The wheel can make up to 10 revolutions from the moment you press the brake. What kind of safety can we talk about when a bicycle travels a distance of 20 meters in 10 revolutions? In cold weather, disc brakes also work worse than in summer, but are still significantly more effective than V-brake brakes.
· When driving on winter roads, the chain is sure to become clogged with dirt and road reagents. After each ride, be sure to clean and lubricate the chain.
· When driving in snow, the sprockets and gear shifters become clogged with snow very quickly. It is recommended to periodically stop and clean the gear shift mechanism.
· If there are cracks or chips on the paintwork of your bicycle, paint over the damaged areas, otherwise rust will eat away at the frame, and in the summer you will no longer have anything to ride on.
· The bushing and carriage seals “harden” in the cold, letting dirt and other nasty things in. We recommend disassembling and replacing the grease of the bushings and carriage once every two months.
· It gets dark very quickly in winter, so be sure to install a red flasher and reflectors on your bike to indicate your presence in the dark, and install a headlight on the front, preferably an LED one.
Many cyclists ask themselves the question in winter: whether to switch to studded tires or not. One of the decisive factors against studs on a bicycle is the considerable price of high-quality winter tires. Just one bicycle tire with spikes can cost five thousand rubles - people are not always willing to spend that much on bicycle tires.
But by the way, such tires are worth the money - the studs reliably bite into icy areas, allowing the bike to maintain its trajectory.
No desire to buy? You can do it yourself
Let’s say right away that it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to maintain the roll-up when studding yourself, but decent contact with the ice surface can be achieved quite easily.
What we need to make our own studded bicycle tires:
An old tire with a high tread (a completely worn one will not work);
- awl;
- a couple of hundred self-tapping screws with a press washer;
- silicone or shoe glue;
- old bicycle tube;
- pliers;
- screwdriver;
- file.
Have all the necessary materials been found? Begin!
Decide what kind of drawing you are going to do. It is optimal for most cases to insert the spikes in three rows - on the sides and in the center. You can do without a center to maintain the roll and give the rubber the properties of a winter grip for turns and in narrow icy tracks.
You can also stud in four rows - this is especially reasonable if the checkers in the tread have an even number.
Having decided on the patterns of the studs, mark the punctures along the centers of the lugs (bumps) of the tire.
Turn the tire inside out and start screwing the self-tapping screw into the pierced hole - a small part of it should come out right in the center of the lug. The task is tedious and long.
At the next stage we begin to make a fur coat. For this we need an old bicycle tube. Cut it, lay the inside of the tire (not to the very edge of the cord), measure and align everything again and start attaching it with glue. The purpose of the fur coat is to protect the working bicycle tube from cuts from the heads of the screws.
The next stage involves grinding down the screws to an acceptable level. You can leave the side ones, but you will have to cut off the radial spikes. Leave the edges of the radial screws protruding no more than 1-2 mm. With the sides - to taste.
What to cut with? – wire cutters, pliers, file, sharpener. Using wire cutters or pliers you will make a rough cut, and with a file you will level it to a condition close to what we see on factory tires.
That's all.
Features of self-made winter bicycle tires
Not the most ideal roll;
- Quite a massive mass of the structure;
- An archaic stud, inferior to what we see on factory tires;
- Cheap and cheerful!
Video instruction
Is all this necessary?
The Vashen spike is for those who race downhill, or participate in country racing, or on bicycle trips.
It is customary to clean downhill trails before skiing, but this will not make the ground softer - the stud increases traction with the frozen ground, this is important and you can feel it.
In winter country racing without spikes it is objectively more difficult to work at full strength. As long as the snow is soft, it’s good, but the sections on the slopes are different.
In cycling tourism, the spike is safety. When you are riding along the trails, think about how dangerous it is for a wheel to go off on a sudden icy bump, and even off the trails - in the forest, in snow-covered areas, bicycle studs save lovers of winter cycling trips.
Buy good bicycle tires for winter, or make them yourself, as described above in the article. There will be less pressure, but there will still be more advantages to using it.
Cycling is a pleasant pastime for many people. But for those who like to ride a bicycle in winter, other studded tires are available. Next we will need a tool: a good, suitable screwdriver for self-tapping screws, a 7 (8 mm) screwdriver or drill, a drill (2-3mm chalk, an awl, a tire spacer. We mark the tire, the places where the spike will sit. You can use chalk or a marker . We mark evenly. We take into account that a large number of studs increases the weight of the tire, and with a small number the necessary grip will not be provided. A creative approach is needed here. We should also not forget about the weakening of the tire, due to the cord breaking with a drill and self-tapping screws. We drill the marked places with a drill with a diameter of 2-3 mm. We insert it between the sides.
I “made” the tires in one evening using a screwdriver, by eye. Between the tube and the tire there is a gasket - a strip of adhesive in one layer. The self-tapping screws are the smallest, 2.5x10. Impressions: the tires are extremely inconvenient to install, the new screws are prickly. On ice and compacted snow, traction is very good. The motorbike leaves the icy rut at a very slight angle without any problems. It holds the road when braking and turning. It is impossible to drive on loose snow - the resistance force is too great. The photo shows the wheel after 400 km. Half is on ice, the other half is on asphalt. #eleven.
Use a screwdriver to press the screw into the slots, with the head on the outside. We tighten it so that the first turn of thread appears above the nut. We visually and manually check that the tire is well compressed by the stud head on the inside and the washer and nut on the outside. And so with each thorn. Be careful, the ends of the screws are dangerous! The following may be harmed: body and limbs, clothing, parquet flooring, varnished/polished objects and particularly sensitive animals! Do not forget that at speed and when rotating, such a wheel can seriously injure both its owner and those around him. When assembling the wheel between the tube and the tire. Today I decided to renew the worn out screws on the rear wheel of my bicycle. Why only in the back? Because they haven’t worn out on the front one :) Although the front wheel is mainly responsible for handling, I wanted to update the screws on the rear one in order to get rid of slipping and skidding on ice.
So, although the self-tapping screws on the front wheel have worn out a little, they still need to be rolled and rolled, and I don’t see the point in replacing them, they work well. On the rear wheel, the screws have worn out almost completely and they have very little effect: I began to slip a lot on ice, and the rear wheel often drifts off. There were no falls, but control over the road weakened.
I would like to talk in more detail about how self-tapping screws wear out. Only the center row is sewn. The side rows work very rarely, so they hardly wear out on both wheels. The front wheel is lightly loaded, so they practically do not wear out there. On the rear wheel everything is more serious. Let's imagine that we have a wheel with new screws. After 10-20 km of driving on asphalt, the screws will noticeably wear out. Then the wear rate will decrease. After 40-60 km of asphalt, the screws will protrude from the rubber just a little, but will still provide good grip on ice. After this, the wear rate will be reduced even more, and only after 100-200 km of asphalt will they wear out so much that they stop working. Therefore, do not be alarmed if you notice that after a few kilometers of asphalt the brand new screws have noticeably worn out :) I have driven a little over 400 km this winter so far and only now I decided to stud the tires again. Moreover, we must remember that the winter of 2011-2012 until mid-January was practically snowless and I had to drive almost exclusively on asphalt. I think if the winter had been normal, my thorns would have lasted until spring.
I will also mention gaskets. After the tube was cut through with screw heads 3 times, I decided to take extreme measures and made a gasket between the tube and the tire from three old tubes on the rear wheel, and on the front wheel from an old semi-slick tire. The bike became noticeably heavier, but I got used to it and can now maintain a fairly high speed.
So, this is what old worn out screws look like. They hardly help anymore:
And this is what the new ones look like, just screwed in. They look scary, but you only need to be afraid for the linoleum :)
Replacing screws is not difficult. I just unscrewed the old ones and screwed in the new ones. Of course, I didn’t touch the side rows. It took less than an hour to unscrew the old screws. It took a little over an hour to screw in the new ones. The rubber, by the way, was practically not worn out and the new screws fit quite tightly. I also want to draw your attention to the fact that although I use the most budget tires (250 rubles per piece), its condition can be assessed as excellent, despite the fact that I drove at least 300 km on asphalt and only a little more than a hundred on snow (it’s winter , damn it, snowless). Those. self-tapping screws reduced tire wear when driving on asphalt.
Last time I asked a friend to sharpen my screws to the required length. I didn’t want to disturb the person a second time, so I decided not to grind off the screws at all. As you can see in the photo, they protrude from the rubber by 0.5 cm
I hoped that I would drive a few kilometers on the asphalt and they would wear out. Actually, that’s almost what happened, only they didn’t wear off, but broke off a little at the ends. After just a couple of (quite heavy, by the way) kilometers of asphalt, they were without sharp ends, and after 10 km of asphalt and 20 km of snow (well, snow doesn’t count), the screws are quite suitable, slightly hypertrophied spikes that hold perfectly on ice and protrude just 1.5-2 mm. Now that they have become shorter, their wear will be noticeably reduced and you can drive safely
Actually, the result is this: there is no need to grind down the new screws, you just need to drive literally 2-3 km on asphalt.
Studded tires for a bicycle allow its owner to enjoy riding a bicycle in ice and snow, without fear that he will not be able to cope while moving and will fall on a bad road. After all, the road is often simply unpredictable during winter driving.
Studded tires are similar to car tires, with a durable metal tread that is located on both sides of the tire. It makes it possible to drive on icy surfaces without problems, but only if the tires are not overinflated.
The studs on the tire themselves come in different shapes:
- pointed;
- flat.
In addition, studded tires come with different numbers of studs.
One type is double-row tires. They are located on the sides. When the wheels are well inflated, they practically do not come into contact with the surface, only when turning. This applies to weather conditions when there is no ice on the asphalt surface. But if you need to drive on an icy surface, the tire should be less inflated. And the weather will work exactly those side metal spikes that are necessary for contact with the slippery surface.
Another type is four-row tires. They are similar to double-row tires, but the difference is that they also have two additional rows of studs. That is, the number of studs on the tire has been increased by one and a half times. They are more powerful and make it possible to move comfortably where there are no normal roads. But first of all, they are designed for driving on icy surfaces, but at the same time making it possible to drive on roads.
Important when using this tire:
1.do not carry out strong pumping. And then the cyclist will not care about steep turns and descents.
2.And then this makes it possible for the tire to have good grip on a slippery surface.
3.No sudden braking and studded tires will last quite a long time.
And after installing studded tires, you need to go through the break-in process. But this must be done very carefully. This is necessary in order not to harm the studs and the tire themselves. The running-in process itself is carried out on asphalt and for an hour with the bike moving slowly. This will ensure that the studded tire will last longer in good condition and without losing its studs. And then any bike ride will be a joy, even in winter.
Winter came and I had to do something with the bike so as not to fall on the ice. I could buy ready-made studded bicycle tires - it would cost me 4-5 thousand rubles. Not only because of the thirst to save money, but also from the eternal desire to do something with my own hands, I decided to make winter bicycle tires myself.
Purchased: 2 budget tires for 250 rubles each. each; 400 pcs. 13 mm. self-tapping screws (about 100 rubles).
Tires were chosen with large “teeth” so that self-tapping screws could fit comfortably into them. The tire had a total of 80+140+80 teeth. I didn’t want to screw in 300 self-tapping screws, so I inserted one screw into the side rows. As a result, about 190-200 screws were inserted into each tire. This made the tires about 200 grams heavier.
So, the tires have been purchased, and the screws too. We need to get to work. First you need to make guide holes in the tires. Without them, the screws will often go crooked and come out in the wrong place. It is very important that the screws “peek out” from the center of the “tooth” - this will extend the life of the tire. To do this, I took a drill and started drilling holes. It was, to put it mildly, difficult, so I came up with a new method: I clamped a nail with pliers, heated it over the fire and used it to make holes in the tires. It was no longer difficult, but it still took a lot of time. And then a brilliant idea came to my mind - making holes with an awl! I didn’t have an awl at home, so I had to buy it. Making holes with an awl is the best option.
The holes are ready, it's time to screw in the screws. I bought 13 mm self-tapping screws with a press washer. It is very important to buy with a press washer, because. only they have a fairly wide "hat". I screwed the screws into the tire with a regular screwdriver. The tire was not turned inside out. The main thing is that the screws are screwed in evenly. There is no need to plant them with glue. The self-tapping screw needs to be screwed in so that at the exit it slightly bends the rubber under itself with the thread.
The screws are screwed in, let's move on. Now they need to be sharpened. I didn't have a sharpener, so I asked a friend to sharpen the tenons. The self-tapping screws were very strong and the sharpener was more likely to wear off than they were. But, anyway, we managed to sharpen them. One tire had slightly longer studs; I put it on the front wheel, because it carries less load and the quality of handling depends on it. The side row of screws can be ground less (the main thing is that they are not sharp), because they will only work when turning. A tire with ground screws looks like this
The screws are screwed in and ground, but that's not all. So that the caps of the self-tapping screws do not damage the camera, you need to make a lining. To do this, I brutally cut two cells - one old and one, dare I say it, new. Now you can collect the wheel. When laying the camera, be careful not to scratch it on the spikes.
Yesterday I tested my homemade winter bike tires, riding about 25 km on snow and about 35 km on asphalt. When driving on asphalt, a rather loud noise is created, but this cannot be called a big drawback. When driving on snow and ice, the tires showed their best performance - while my friends on regular tires constantly fell on the ice, I drove absolutely without bothering, as if on asphalt :) If you compare studded tires with regular ones, albeit with an evil tread , under emergency braking, the difference is simply monstrous. Heaven and earth! With studded tires, when braking sharply at high speed on ice, it does not skid at all; the studs leave a deep mark on the ice.
There is only one drawback - it is difficult to maintain a high driving speed and a little more difficult to drive in general. You can feel this when driving on asphalt, but driving on ice/snow is a real pleasure.
As I already said, yesterday I had to drive about 35 km on bare asphalt. A friend who has much more experience said that when I get home I will have to change the tires, since the studs will wear off from the asphalt. But it turned out that the screws were practically not worn out. They were just sharpened and became less sharp, but the length remained the same. However, it’s worth noting that it’s not necessary once in a while - I was just lucky with the purchase of high-quality screws. In general, although it is not advisable to drive on asphalt with such tires, it is possible if you do not maintain a high speed.
Using homemade winter studded bicycle tires. Advantages and disadvantages
I recently wrote about how to make studded tires for a bicycle. Some time has passed, I managed to ride it and now I’m ready to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of this bicycle tire.
First, about the advantages.
Although some people say that they drive normally in winter on regular tires, but, whatever one may say, the difference is obvious. Especially when braking. But it is the quality of braking that is most important when cycling in winter. Well, everything is clear with the advantages, let’s move on to the disadvantages and difficulties.
Flaws
Of course, these tires are a little more difficult to ride. But that's not the main thing. When driving on asphalt, the studs on the rear wheel wear off noticeably, so the rear wheel won’t last me for the whole winter (the front one is ok) and I’ll either have to make a new tire, or unscrew the worn-out screws and screw in new ones. But in this case, the tire rubber can wear out quickly, because. A new batch of self-tapping screws will most likely not go along the existing thread, but will create a new one. But this is not the main thing. When I decided to stud a bicycle tire for the first time, one of the main reasons was the lack of winter bicycle tires on sale, or rather, they were very rare, and therefore there was no choice of options. But now they are on sale, and there is some choice, and you can probably buy any of them in online stores.
But looking at the arrangement of metal and rubber studs in bicycle tires, and understanding how and where there is a desire to ride in winter, my mood did not improve. It’s as if the employees of tire manufacturing companies who come up with products care about their products from too idealistic positions. Either asphalt and smooth ice, or compacted snow alternately with a snow-free road. And the studs are specially made so that they are more likely to get lost on hard surfaces, and you would have to buy another bicycle tire.
As a result of the reasoning - spend money on what is available or do what is much cheaper, but exactly as needed, I chose to do it.
Choosing a base - tires
First, I decided on the parameters - what should be the tire. And taking into account the previous experience of studding old ones with a partially worn tread, I decided that only a new one and not a random one that can be obtained for free (or almost for free), but chosen from catalogs, or from those suitable ones that are on sale. As a last resort, I decided to wait for the one ordered in the Internet store, but the one that would be more suitable.
1. – should be folding, since it is much easier to remove and install in the cold than with a wire frame – tires with an aramid frame are softer and more manageable. Yes, and piercing with an awl, drilling, holding the direction of puncture and drilling, at the right angle is easier, as well as screwing in a tenon screw. If the tire can be turned flat. It is easy to press it with a clamp to the plane of a workbench or plywood (board).
2. – must be with Kevlar cord, since puncturing a tire in the cold and then gluing it is not an easy task due to that very frost. And I already had the experience of a tire rupture in winter - I drove along a broken section of a metal fence with a sticking out bar, which is not visible under the snow. Then he sealed not only the camera, but also the tire - the gap was one and a half centimeters. The cold procedure took more than two hours. The fire had to be lit in order to glue at a positive temperature.
3. - The main point is the location of the rubber spikes of the tire, because they will have to install metal spikes. So that the height is no more than 4 mm - less than that of branded winter ones by 1.0 - 1.5 mm, and the location and quantity would allow driving on hard surfaces with less loss. And so that when turning and passing sloping ice surfaces, the spikes are in the place of the most beneficial application of forces - holding abilities. And it is imperative that the spikes be located more often along the contact path, for less mechanical losses when driving on ice.
4. – dimensions of the tire’s rubber studs. So that the size of the tenon, along or across, should not be less than 8 by 8 mm, since it will be impossible to hold the tenon under load - the rubber tenon will tear in the direction of the load on the metal tenon.
The tire we found and liked in all respects had 444 studs measuring 9 by 11 mm and 8 by 11 mm, 4 mm high, located in the best way for the planned winter rides on ice, asphalt and rocky dirt roads.
They turned out to be – KUJO DH 2.25 K, for installation on the rear wheel, and KUJO DH 2.35 K, for installation on the front, according to the condition of turning, and therefore at a greater angle than the rear wheel, to run into (slide over) ice obstacles.
Produced by – IRC.
They also had embossed inscriptions that were pleasing to the eye - MADE IN JAPAN, and sidewalls made of red rubber, softer in the cold, prettier than an all-black tire.
Basically, as if everything was about the tires, now we need to find what will then be metal studs.
Finding suitable tenon screws
I had to spend a long time shopping for fasteners, because what they offered alone could turn out to be worse than what could be found somewhere else. Only two sellers had visual stands to select screws, but for clarity, there were only one, two standard sizes, and not all that could be on sale. And I had to search the sites for links to articles by home-made people who were ahead of me in this idea.
In all the articles I read, self-tapping screws with sharp ends of screws or washers with curved pointed edges (homemade or furniture ones with a threaded recess - a washer-nut with horns) riveted with rivets or regular rivets were used. Both of them have one feature - to tear and tear everything that they touch or run over - clothes, wallpaper, linoleum, etc. Another reason for not using washers is that those for furniture need to be secured with a screw and a flat washer, but even with a thread locker they can be easily lost. But the main thing is that it is impossible not to get hurt when putting on or taking off such a tire, even with gloves or mittens made of strong, thick leather. An attribute that you will definitely need to take with you along with other tools if the spikes are so sharp. How to harden them is also a problem. And the losses when moving with such washers are large. In general, no washers.
In the end, the choice was made on self-tapping screws with a washer head, hardened, galvanized with a drill tip.
The drill ends of these screws do not scratch your hands and do not cling to fabric, fleece, or down jackets. They do not stick into linoleum, do not tear wooden surfaces under a small load. But since the tips are made for drilling metal, they are more hardened (harder) than ordinary self-tapping screws. I tested it by trying to scratch the glass with self-tapping screws and sharp regular drills. With drills I was able to scratch with less pressure and right away.
The sizes were 7.5 mm, 9 mm, 13 mm, and 16 mm in length, and the diameters were 3.8 mm and 4.0 mm, which were quite suitable for installation in tires with different rubber thicknesses.
True, the 2 smallest sizes had caps with a diameter of 7.75 mm and without washer-like extensions. The rest have head-washers with a diameter of 10.7 mm. For some reason, sellers call them prewashers.
Since the studs were found and purchased, I could also buy the tires I liked, which were waiting for me at the Trial-Sport store.
Combining theory, guesses, other people’s and one’s experience into a single whole
First I had to think about the installation method - screwing in tenon screws, how to drill and pierce the tire so as not to damage the cord. Trying it on a cut piece from an old tire, cutting off the drilled piece at different angles and at different speeds, with drills of different diameters - from 1.0 mm to 4.0 mm, and changing the sharpening, I came to the conclusion. You need a drill with a diameter of 2.0 mm - 2.5 mm, sharpened at an angle of 45 degrees or more, with a zero or negative angle of the cutting edge, the attacking part of the drill. The best performance was when drilling with such a prepared drill, but in the opposite direction, as when unscrewing, the cord threads were not damaged at all. But even with right rotation, the results were not bad - the cord broke in isolated cases.
The technology is this: first pierce the tire with an awl where the spike will be installed. At an angle where the tenon is installed. Pierce from the outside so that the awl sticks out 15-20 mm inside the tire, so that you can see the place and the angle - the direction of the hole. Take a drill with a drill and the direction of rotation switched to the opposite direction. The maximum speed is not more than 1000. It is more convenient if it is a cordless drill with speed control with a start trigger. Note the place and direction of drilling, pull out the awl and immediately drill into the resulting hole. Put the drill with a drill aside, take a second drill - an electric screwdriver with a Phillips screwdriver installed in the chuck - a pin that matches the number of the cross for the drill screw. Put the screw-drill on the tip of a Phillips screwdriver (pin) and screw it into the hole at an angle of drilling - piercing with an awl. Check that the screw drill - spike, comes out exactly in the right place, marked with an awl.
And do the same 443 more times, and then for the second tire the same amount - exactly 444 identical procedures - “Chinese labor”. A little “trick”, so as not to pierce the tire for each stud separately, was to puncture as many holes as the number of studs intended to be installed on a given day (work shift). Then he stuck parquet nails into the resulting holes, and took them out only before drilling, one at a time. Then he again inserted nails into the resulting holes, but thicker - 3 mm thick, immediately after drilling. And when he had drilled enough for the day, then he took out three-millimeter-thick nails one at a time before screwing in the tenon screw. So the holes did not “disappear” - they did not tighten, and it was faster and more accurate than repeating all the procedures with each spike.
First, a row of outer ones, at appropriate angles, pierced and inserted parquet nails (they are inserted easily) - you can immediately see whether the holes are straight and correctly marked by the protruding row of nails. Then the other extreme row, and then the rest along the rows. But not all around, but a section - a sector into which the tire was divided, like on working days. Observing accuracy and attention, each stage of work can be easily visually controlled using evenly placed nails.
The work listed above took approximately 30 working hours – two weeks in the evenings.
It could be done faster, but I worked out the control technology, and it’s so beautiful—the result of the work is visible and predictable.
Attention - you need to pierce the tire with an awl once for one tenon, accurately marking the location of the hole according to the drawing, taking into account the angle along the red dotted line - 3-5 degrees from the black dotted line, no more.
The tire is 26 by 2.25 inches, screws with spikes of different sizes are used - the middle row is the smallest, blued, then slightly larger galvanized, and on the outer rows the largest ones with a preshay hat.
Close-up – tire 26 by 2.35 inches. It can be seen that the screws are screwed into the outer rows at an angle favorable for holding the ice. All the spines are the largest, with a pin-shaped cap.
I called a trial specialist I know and asked: “Are there any unnecessary thick rubber tubes left with the nipple torn off?” It turned out that there are as many as 3 pieces. It was from these chambers that I cut out the strips. I cut the sides in the middle and used the outer part. Two chambers with a wall thickness of 1.5 mm and one with a wall thickness of 3.5 mm are heavy, the whole chamber weighed 600 grams, like a tire.
Thick-walled chamber, cut off in the middle of the sides. For insertion into a rear studded tire – protects the bicycle tube from the heads of the studded screws. There is also more load in the middle rows of tenon screws; small-diameter caps are more prominent.
I installed a thick-walled strip under the rear tire, and a thinner one under the front. One thinner one is a spare one. Inflatable bicycle tubes, used by Schwalbe, at a price of 240 rubles - ordinary, but made of high quality rubber. I bought it at Leader-Sport, on the street. K. Marx.
Rear tire from the inside, visible inner tube with marks from the heads of the stud screws. There were no breakthroughs, there was no hint of abrasion - the “gaskets” can be thin.
Tests
This most exciting and interesting thing happened from the Tyomnaya Pad station and while crossing Lake Baikal on the ice.
At first, of course, I was driving to the central passenger station on the asphalt.
The first impression is the sound, like from a dog running on linoleum or parquet with its claws extended, but stronger. We are driving with a friend whose wheels have no spikes. But since there is no ice, we drive quickly and as if without tension, although we are careful not to slip and away from the cars.
Skating tests on the rink were surprising, but only for a moment - normal skating, turns and braking without problems. But there were no cars with pedestrians at the skating rink.
So no unusual impressions appeared. Tried to brake sharply, turn around - normal. It seemed that without spikes, the friend is less confident, but this did not seem like a certain indicator. We go by train to the Dark Pad. How will it be there?
We arrived, looked down the trail and … drove. At first slowly, and then somehow inexplicably confident and risking more and more. Braking with the rear wheel, helping and sometimes dragging with one foot through the snow like motocrossers, and even accelerating and bouncing in some areas. Horror. Suicide slope.
I look around - my friend is gone, his bike too. I had to hurry up and search. It turns out that he braked with the rear wheel and found that it had no effect on the steep slopes of the track, he began to slow down with the front, but this did not help on the snowy trail either. He began to accelerate and ran into a piece of soil bare from snow. The front wheel, braked and he had rims, stopped them both and threw one over the handlebars of the other down the slope. But somehow silently - he did not have time to be frightened and scream. And then the bike flew away. One lies below, in deep snow, silently, and the other, turning its wheels in an inexplicable position, ten meters away. The one without wheels responds with some phrase from a joke and unprintable about a close relative. Snowdrifts took both flawlessly - they flew next to huge stones and lying tree trunks.
Looking at the action described above, for the first time I became proud of my cycling. After all, he never slipped, although he was afraid a lot.
Further down, on the Angasolka river, there was a super test. I go down the path to the bridge, and from it to the hilly ice - snow on top, under it a layer of wet sludge, and ice at a depth of 5-10 cm. I reached the tree, looked around, and my friend was walking around this ice mess on the slope with a bicycle on his shoulder. She shouts that it is impossible not only to drive, but even to walk - it is slippery and wet. Once you fall and you have to go wet.
I let go of the tree and food, no sensations, normal driving, only splashes of sludge to the sides. I even liked it, I skated in different directions, because the ice on the river is lumpy and inclined, like a slope. Amazingly, no uncertainty, the ride is easy, like on dry and hard gravel. I didn’t want to go further, an absolutely unusual feeling from ordinary confident skating - you go easily, shift, accelerate, brake, but this is a very slippery and uneven place, more slippery than just ice. I haven’t walked through such places yet, but on the contrary, I avoided them.
While we were driving to Lake Baikal, out of interest, I chose the opportunity to drive on the ice of the river, where it is under slush, wet, bumpy, and whatever - the driving is absolutely normal, there is no stress, so as not to slip. It’s easy to slide onto the ice and drive back onto the shore where the trail runs.
On the shore of the lake, several skiers took skis and poles in their hands and went to the snow drift so that they could ski along it to Slyudyanka.
Looking at the absolutely flat and smooth ice, I was a little confused - how would it go? But having driven onto it, I heard the noise from the spikes and that’s it... no other feelings - just like on a flat road. I accelerate, I brake, I make such turns that I almost fell several times, I jumped and bucked as best I could and... NOTHING. It’s even strange, because you can ride on smooth asphalt in exactly the same way. I began to mock myself and my bike, but no amount of maneuvering or braking allowed me to slip or skid, either on the ice or on thin crust. True, I turned over the steering wheel several times, both straight and sideways. That day, only my friend had problems - he was driving no faster than 6-9 km/h, and then on low tires. At normally inflated speeds, even 3 km/h, the problem was falling and slipping every 5-10 meters. I can’t imagine how many bruises and bumps I brought home. True, I brought it too - from flying over the handlebars. One of the flights was caused by sharply braking with one rear wheel.
The main impression is one thing - NO IMPRESSIONS - ordinary skating without problems and uncertainty. Self-studded tires “hold” on ice or a dense snowy road much better than new tires on clean summer asphalt.
Another time, to the Angasolka River, I drove along the highway and gravel road for almost 20 km - I didn’t lag behind, even sometimes went ahead on the descents, although everyone with whom I rode in a small “gang”, except me, was riding on branded spikes.
We went down to Lake Baikal past the village of Angasolka along a frozen dirt road. I’m on the crooked and wet ice on the Angasolka River, and those on the signature spikes are on the trail. The owners of the “company” tried it, one even fell, and stopped taking risks - driving on wet ice, and on Lake Baikal they didn’t risk sharp maneuvers, but in a straight line they could race with the company guys on equal terms. True, at the “firm” they could afford to press the rear brake sharply and strongly - the rear wheel skidded slightly to the side, and I could fly over the steering wheel.
It’s a pity that I didn’t take a camera and there are no pictures of those tests. Twice I rode in company with Diagran (who knows) on his spikes, both on the highway and on the snow and ice of Lake Baikal - you can’t keep up with him even on highways on asphalt, he drives on ice at 35 km/h on ordinary branded spikes - a monster.
On the train, when setting up the bike, there was no fear that you could tear your clothes or fleece gloves on the homemade spikes, I took it on purpose.
By spring, it became noticeable how the drill bits of the tenon screws became dull and became semicircular, but this did not affect the grip strength on ice and compacted snow. True, due to the fact that the spikes have become a little shorter, it seems to be easier to drive on asphalt and ice. And also - the more dull the drill bits become, the slower their abrasion occurs - the contact surface area increases. It becomes approximately equal to the area of hardened studs, like branded bicycle tires, without Pobedit inserts. In the first winter I rode about 700 km with studs, I don’t know more precisely, since the bicycle speedometer “died” after 600 km. On asphalt and concrete with ice, it turned out to be about 100 km, about another 250 km on gravel and dirt roads, the rest about 400 km on ice and dense snow.
I think that with my use, it will be enough to drive at least 1500 km before replacing some studs.
Theory confirmed by practice
The proposed stud installation angle was derived from the assumption that the greatest shear load on the stud is during braking. And in order for the spike to “bite” into the ice in the best way, it must be installed at a negative angle to the plane of the support when moving forward.
The side spikes are also at a negative angle to the plane of support from the corresponding side, as when driving on a slope or when turning at speed. And since, under shear load, the studs will deflect in the elastic rubber of the tire, this deflection will be smaller due to the greater thickness of the rubber behind the stud and the greater elasticity of the thicker layer of rubber.
I did not glue the gasket between the bicycle tube and the heads of the self-tapping tenon screws, since the gluing will not be tight, and water and dust will get into the leaks - dirt will be in it, and inserting and removing this gasket is not particularly difficult.
How will water get there?
Let's say you had to drive in wet places, and then remove the tire and tube in the warmth - water from the internal volume of the rim will flow into the tire.
And you need a lot of glue - 2-3 full tubes per wheel. If the result is mediocre, the gluing quality is poor. After all, the raised caps will interfere with the ability of the rubber of the cut tube to stick to the inside of the tire. And with a thick layer of glue, “chewing” sounds will be made, which happened when I glued bicycle tubes to road bicycle wheels on an excessively thick layer of glue - poor quality gluing. And since high-quality gluing cannot be achieved, then why do it poorly? After all, if you have to replace any spike, you will still have to tear off the glue.
I hope that what happened in the end, and which gave me the opportunity to be convinced of the correctness of my guesses and the work I put in, will help those who are not afraid to spend work, accuracy and attention for the final result - riding a bicycle where it was impossible before, but with These tires are safe and pleasant.
Recently, to make the ride easier, I decided to pump up the tires more. Actually, I didn’t pump them up too much, just the way everyone usually pumps up their tires in the summer. I went on business, and on the way back my rear tire went flat. At home, I pulled out the tire and found two strange holes on the tube, despite the fact that the tube lining was intact. I didn't bother and just taped the camera. The next day I went on a night ride and on the way my front tire went flat. Thoughts began to creep into my head that this was the work of self-tapping screws, or rather, the heads of self-tapping screws that could damage the camera. I disassembled the wheel, pulled out the inner tube, and sure enough, the entire inner tube had noticeable marks from the heads of the screws, and the hole was located exactly along the edge of the mark. In short, it was clear that the cause of the damage to the camera was the screw head.
There are 3 or 4 such damages on the camera. Moreover, this is not a hole, i.e. The chamber does not allow air to pass through. But, of course, you don’t want to travel with such a camera, because the crack can open at any moment. Let me remind you that I used an old camera as a gasket. As you can see, it is clearly not enough.
On a note
After inspecting both wheels, it turned out that only the camera on the front wheel was damaged. The rear wheel camera is fine. This is most likely due to the fact that the length of the screws on the front wheel is 2 times longer than on the rear. This is logical: when braking, 2-3 central screws bite into the asphalt/ice and, if they protrude strongly, they dig into the camera with the edge of the cap. Almost the same thing happens when hitting curbs. From this we can conclude that it is not advisable to leave the screws protruding more than 1.5 mm. In addition, if there are a lot of screws in the central row, then when braking a larger number of screws will work, which means there will be less impact on the camera.
What to do?
It became clear that the spacer camera alone was not enough. Also, adhesive tape will not be enough. In several places on the Internet I saw that people used a piece of linoleum as a gasket. I didn’t have any extra linoleum, but I remembered about the old semi-slick tire collecting dust on the balcony. I cut off its sides and inserted it into the front tire. I had to cut it down a bit to make it fit. If you do the same, cut the tire very carefully, because... if you cut off the excess, there will be a gap between the ends of the tire spacer, which will damage the tire. To avoid this, I sealed the joint with a piece of rubber from a bicycle first aid kit.
The wheel has become noticeably heavier and this is bad. On the other hand, if everything is done correctly, I will be almost completely protected from punctures and will be able to heavily inflate the tires to make the ride easier. Some may say that in winter you need to drive at low pressure, but when there are studs, there is simply no need to increase the working surface area.
Because I had one extra tube spacer left, so I decided to add it to the rear wheel. A gasket of two chambers should be enough.
Honestly, I don’t know what will come of this and how much more difficult it will be to drive. I decided on a desperate act: to make a lining between the tube and the tire from... a tire. It sounds scary, but in reality, it’s true =) An old semi-slick tire was found on the balcony, its sides had been cut off. The tire itself was also cut and shortened a little, because it simply did not fit inside the working tire. I sealed the resulting joint with a piece of rubber so that the corners of the tire would not damage the tube. The resulting gasket was installed on the front wheel. On the back, I used as many as three (how many were old, I put in that many) cameras as a spacer.
Naturally, the bike became noticeably heavier after such abuse. To be honest, I assumed that I would not be able to maintain even 20 km/h all the time. However, I drove normally for about 35 km.
After driving about 100 km on these wheels, I disassembled the rear wheel to see how the tube felt. On the rear wheel, let me remind you, 3 old tubes act as spacers. Upon detailed inspection, no damage, tears or scratches were found. On the camera there were only soft, not sharp prints from the heads of the screws and nothing more. As I thought, this turned out to be an impenetrable option. The wheels, although noticeably heavier, are still quite possible to drive.
Separately, I would like to say about the wear of screws. The fact that the rear wheel will not be enough for the whole winter is for sure. The central screws on it were very worn out.
Basically, what else can you expect in such a snowless winter? If there was snow, everything would be fine. But I think when the screws protrude only 0.2-0.3 mm, the erasing process will slow down. When they wear off completely, I plan to unscrew them and screw in new ones. I'm thinking of screwing in more, because... The more self-tapping screws (and they don’t weigh much), the less wear they will have. On the front wheel, the screws stuck out 2-2.5mm and still do. Even the central ones have not worn off. This is very good, considering that it is the front wheel that is responsible for control on the road.
So, it's winter... (although now, in the winter of 2006/07, sometimes it doesn't seem so). Every active (and not occasionally) cyclist who rides in winter will sooner or later be struck by the thought: shouldn’t he get hold of studded tires? And the more painful and unpleasant the reasons that gave rise to this thought, the sooner it will reign undivided in the cyclist’s head... Bicycle culture is slowly moving from the West to our dense steppes, and after it traders have followed, driven by a truth well known from school days - “demand creates supply” - in pursuit of our hard-earned banknotes. Nowadays it’s no longer a problem to buy factory studded tires in Kazan, unlike the winters of six or seven years ago – you just need to take the time to do so. In sports stores in Kazan you could even see some variety of studded tires: as many as 3-4 different models from 2-3 manufacturers. However, on this moment, there remains some incompleteness in the problem of providing everyone with studded bicycle tires...
Firstly, very little studded tires were imported. What was in stores was quickly sold out for the season - and some of those who wanted to buy these tires were unable to do so... Secondly, the choice of models is still rather small - they brought mainly budget models, with a small number of spikes, it seems to me, due to the insufficient development of the winter cycling subculture. And finally - about the despicable metal. The cost of a set of factory-made tires for both wheels could easily be on the order of the monthly salary of a university teacher or other government employees. C'est la vie...
So, studded tires are needed - but not everyone has them. Conclusion - let's do this ourselves. The method of studding tires presented here is not my invention; in addition, on the Internet you can find a number of descriptions of studding using both the presented method (using screws) and some others. However, it seems useful to describe the entire procedure in detail again, with sufficient illustrations to accompany the text.
1. The first problem to be solved is finding the right tire. Requirements for a potential victim of vivisection:
Hard tires, since when braking on ice, depending on the tread pattern, usually no more than 8-10 studs work - accordingly, the load will fall on 8-10 tread elements (hereinafter referred to as “buns”).
The “buns” themselves should be as large as possible so that there is enough rubber around the screw to hold it.
The tread pattern should satisfy your ideas about the optimal placement of studs.
To illustrate the studding process, the following tire (original appearance) was chosen when writing this text:
The tire was produced by an unnamed Chinese company, world-famous for its level of quality, which produces its products under the brand name “SUPERDIAMOND”:
The tread pattern of the purchased tire is as follows:
The following comments apply to it:
the “buns” are somewhat small and, as it will become clear later, the screws with a diameter of 4.2 mm, chosen for studding, will have a rather small rubber “side” holding them in case of careless tenoning;
The tread is asymmetrical relative to the plane of the tire, which can lead to “yaw” of the wheel when braking, however, a test drive is still ahead.
Only 108 “buns” are located relatively close to the axis of the tire in a “zigzag” pattern – and another 108 closer to the sides. They will probably only work in turns... So, there may not be enough studs.
2 . Next task - choice of screws. There are a lot of screws in local markets and stores, and it’s usually not difficult to find something suitable. Requirements for screws:
A cap that is flat on the outside (or at least without sharp edges) and has as large an area as possible (to better distribute the load on the camera).
The length, on the one hand, exceeds the thickness of the “buns” enough to stick out, and, on the other hand, not too long, since the excess will have to be cut off/bited off/ground off - an additional difficult operation.
Hardness – the studs should not wear off on the asphalt in one day. "Metal screws" will do.
In our case, the choice fell on “universal self-tapping screws with a press washer” size 4.2x20. The length is too big, but I didn’t want to look for others. I grabbed that I liked the first one. But the hats are a sight for sore eyes! They look like this:
It should be noted that there are similar screws that are only 11mm long, but they were not available where I got them. This would be a better option.
3. Let's start spiking. For this we need an awl and a Phillips screwdriver. The process is obvious - we pierce a hole in the bun, if possible in the center:
If you prick from the tread side, it’s easier to aim and the holes are more accurately located. Then we screw a screw into the tire from the inside. To do this, you can turn it inside out a little. It turns out something like this:
"Wah-wah-wah! And so 216 times in a row." (With).
A little about how you can speed up this tedious process. It is clear that there is no escape from punching holes and tightening screws. But constantly turning the tire back and forth takes quite a lot of time. This can be avoided by immediately turning the tire inside out. Moreover, since the thickness of the rubber is different places is significantly different (where the “buns” are located - noticeably thicker), then when turned inside out it looks heterogeneous. Where on back side“buns” are located - there the back surface of the rubber has small concavities. The following picture illustrates this point:
The desired concavities are shown by arrows (although the photograph still shows it quite poorly - turn your tire inside out and you will see what we are talking about). With some practice, it is possible to pierce holes for screws directly from the inside, guided by these concavities. After some practice, you can prick quite accurately, and the tire does not need to be constantly turned back and forth, which saves time, and the sharp ends of the screws are directed inward, which reduces the likelihood of being scratched by them. However, those who wish can perform this operation with gloves. It will look like this:
After a certain time has passed, sufficient to tighten all the screws (in our case - 216 pcs.), the tire with wrong side will look like this:
From the tread side to at this stage it resembles a gutted hedgehog turned inside out:
Let's turn the tire back to normal. The relationship with hedgehogs is becoming increasingly noticeable:
Side view:
Now it's time to put the studded tire on the wheel for the first time. Naturally, the camera must be protected from contact with the heads of the screws to avoid its rupture. To do this, it is easiest to use an old camera, cut lengthwise and with the nipple removed. As practice shows, for the front wheel, which bears a relatively small load, this is quite enough. for the rear, most likely, some more powerful protection may be required. There was a mention of the use of a highway tube cut along the highway for this purpose.
So, we take the old camera, which will work as a gasket:
Let's inflate the main chamber that is to be inflated a little - so that it holds its shape, but not so much that the wheel with it cannot then be beaded:
We put the camera gasket on the camera slightly inflated in this way:
Then, as usual, we put a studded tire on one side of the wheel rim, insert a “tube” sandwich, bead the tire completely and inflate the wheel. It turns out something like this:
Quite an evil hedgehog...
4. And here it comes - the second part of the Marlezon ballet. The screws must be shortened to the required length. The following options are possible:
The screws were taken quite short, and the protector, on the contrary, was thick enough - in this case, you won’t need to bite anything off.
Too long ends can be ground off emery wheel. But not everyone has it on their farm this item It's also noisy and dusty. But the option works quite well...
Finally, the ends of the screws can simply be bitten off with a simple hand tools- all kinds of wire cutters, pincers, etc.
For example, here is a photo of a tire with short screws that did not bite at all:
Now let's assume that biting the ends is still necessary (as in our case). Let's talk about the tool. It is quite clear that the tool can be different, as, indeed, the screws too. The simplest option, available in every home and promising hard work, is ordinary pliers or wire cutters with one axis. The mechanical gain in strength is small, so they can only bite through thin screws (or only the ends of thicker ones). The screws should be relatively soft - otherwise the wire cutters will quickly deteriorate - and they will be of little use. More convenient option– wire cutters with additional levers (in the picture below; above, for comparison, ordinary pliers):
Such wire cutters are less common in stores, but I managed to find them from a motorist friend. Since in this case the screws are thick and hard, even such powerful nippers were not particularly sufficient. The screws should be bitten so that the ends remain about 1.5-2.5 mm long. However, it seems that special precision is not needed here. As a result, I still managed to bite off all 216 screws - but after 5 evenings, that is, after an average of 40 screws, I was pretty tired of this task, and my fingers were no longer able to press the handles of the nippers any longer. When working, it is useful to use safety glasses (I wore the usual ones that I wear when riding a bicycle) - since the bitten ends of the screws tend to energetically fly apart in all directions. Gloves won't hurt either - the screws are now sticking out. As a result, we have the desired studded tire. 216 spikes arranged in two “curved” rows. It still doesn't fit into a four-row car.
Project costs:
Tire – 160 rub.
Screws – 216pcs x 35kop – 76r.
Chamber-gasket Russian production(tires are thicker and cheaper) - 60 rubles.
Total 296 rub. Whether it is worth getting involved with this option is something everyone decides for themselves. Possible alternatives are either riding without studs (which can be crazily), or buying factory-made tires (which may not be possible either for financial reasons - or simply because such rubber is not available in stores).
Top view of the finished product:
