Alice in Wonderland Alice in Wonderland: How to install spikes on a bicycle tire yourself to make winter studded bikes. Methods for mounting homemade spikes on bicycle tires with your own hands to ride a bike in winter. Shipovan

Today we will talk about how to install studs on a bicycle tire yourself to make winter studded bike tires. We will also consider the methods of mounting homemade spikes on bicycle tires with your own hands in order to ride a bicycle in winter

Cycling, of course, means more riding in the warm season, but some extreme cyclists do not leave their “iron horses” alone in winter, arranging winter rides in nature or simply using them as a regular vehicle.

The operation of a bicycle in winter requires not only excellent physical fitness of the cyclist, but also makes special demands on the bicycle. So a few useful tips for winter cycling:

Be sure to install winter studded tires. With frequent movement on ice or rolled snow, tires with at least 200-350 spikes are needed; for driving along city streets, there may be fewer spikes - from 50 to 200 pieces.

If the bike has only caliper brakes, then at least one of them (in front) must be replaced with a disc brake. The thing is that V-brake brakes, working on a rim clamp, significantly lose their effectiveness in cold weather due to icing of the rims. The wheel can make up to 10 revolutions from the moment the brake is applied. What kind of safety can we talk about when a bicycle travels a distance of 20 meters in 10 revolutions? In the cold, disc brakes also perform worse than in summer, but still significantly more effective than V-brake brakes.

· When driving on winter roads, the chain is sure to become clogged with dirt and road chemicals. After each ride, be sure to clean and lubricate the chain.

· When driving on snow, the sprockets and gear shifters become clogged with snow very quickly. It is recommended to periodically stop and clean the gearshift mechanism.
· If there are cracks or chips on the paintwork of the bike, paint over the damaged areas, otherwise the rust will corrode the frame, and in the summer you will have nothing to ride on.

· The seals of the bushing and the carriage “tan” in the cold, letting in dirt and other nasty things. We recommend disassembling and relubricating 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 in front, preferably LED.

Many cyclists ask themselves the question in winter whether to switch to studded tires or not. One of the decisive factors against bicycle studs is the considerable price of high-quality winter tires. Only one bicycle tire with spikes can cost five thousand rubles - they are not always ready to spend so much on bicycle tires.

But by the way, such rubber is worth the money - the spikes reliably bite into the ice areas, allowing the bike to maintain the trajectory.

No desire to buy? Can do it yourself

Let's say right away that it is unlikely that it will be possible to maintain rolling with self-studding, but it is quite possible to achieve decent contact with the ice surface.

What do we need for self-manufacturing studded bike tires:

An old tire with a high tread (completely worn out will not work);
- awl;
- a couple of hundred self-tapping screws with a press washer;
- silicone, or shoe glue;
- an old bicycle chamber;
- pliers;
- screwdriver;
- file.

All necessary materials found? Begin!

Decide what kind of drawing you are going to do. Optimal for most cases - insert spikes in three rows - on the sides and in the center. The center can be dispensed with to preserve the roll and give the rubber the properties of a winter grip for cornering and in narrow ice ruts.

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 spikes, mark the punctures in the centers of the lugs (bumps) of the tire.

Turn the tire inside out and start screwing a self-tapping screw into the pierced hole - a small part of it should come out right in the center of the lug. The job is tedious and long.

At the next stage, we begin to make a fur coat. To do this, we need an old bike chamber. Cut it up, lay it out inside tires (not to the very edge of the cord), once again measure and align everything and start attaching it to the glue. The task of a fur coat is to protect a working bicycle chamber from cuts with self-tapping screws.

The next step involves grinding the screws to an acceptable level. The lateral ones can be left, but the radial spikes will have to be cut off. Leave the edges of the radial screws protruding no more than 1-2 mm. From the side - to taste.

What to cut? - wire cutters, pliers, file, grinder. With wire cutters or pliers you will make a rough cut, and with a file you will level it for a condition close to what we see on the factory rubber.

That's all.

Features of self-made winter bike tires

Not the most ideal roll;
- Pretty massive mass of construction;
- An archaic spike, inferior to what we see on factory tires;
- Cheap and cheerful!

Video instruction

Is all this necessary?

The stud is yours for those who ride downhill, or participate in country races, or bike tours.
It is customary to clean downhill tracks before skiing, but the ground will not become softer because of this - the spike increases grip on frozen ground, this is important and you can feel it.

In winter country racing without studs, 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 tracks are different.

In cycling tourism, the spike is safety. When you ride along the tracks, think about how dangerous the wheel is to leave on a sudden icy hummock, and even off the tracks - in the forest, on snow-caked areas, cycling saves fans of winter cycling trips.

Buy a good bike tire for winter, or make your own, as described above in the article. There will be less rolling, but the advantages of its use are still greater.

Cycling is an enjoyable pastime for many. But for those who like to ride a bike in the winter, other studded tires are provided. Next, we will need a tool: a good, suitable screwdriver for self-tapping screws, a 7 head (8 screwdriver or drill, drill (2-3mm chalk, awl, spacer for the tire. We mark the tire, the places where the spike will sit. You can use chalk or a marker We mark evenly, taking into account the fact that in large numbers spikes, the weight of the tire increases, and if it is small, the necessary grip will not be provided. Here you need a creative approach. Also, one should not forget about the weakening of the tire, due to the rupture of the cord with a drill and self-tapping screws. We drill the marked places with a drill with a diameter of 2-3 mm. We insert between the sides.

Tires "made" in one evening with a screwdriver, by eye. Between the chamber and the tire, the gasket is a one-layer adhesive tape. Self-tapping screws are the smallest, 2.5x10. Impressions: tires are extremely inconvenient to install, new self-tapping screws prick. On ice and packed snow, grip is very good. The motobike leaves the icy track at a very small angle without problems. Holds the road when braking and cornering. It is impossible to ride on loose snow - the resistance force is too great. In the photo the wheel after 400 km. Half on ice, the other half on asphalt. #eleven.
We rest with a screwdriver the self-tapping screw into the slots, outside the head. We twist so that the first thread of the thread appears above the nut. We visually and manually control that the tire is well crimped with the stud head on the inside and the washer with the nut on the outside. And so with every thorn. Be careful, the ends of the screws are traumatic! May suffer: body and limbs, clothes, parquet, lacquered / polished objects and especially impressionable animals! Do not forget that at speed and during rotation, such a wheel can seriously injure both its owner and others. When assembling the wheel between the chamber and the tire. Today I decided to update the worn self-tapping screws on the rear wheel of my bike. Why only in the back? Because they didn’t wear out on the front :) Although the front wheel is mainly responsible for handling, I wanted to update the screws on the rear to get rid of slips and drifts on ice.

So, although the self-tapping screws on the front wheel have worn off a little, they still have to roll and roll, and I don’t see the point in replacing them, they work well. On the rear wheel, the self-tapping screws have worn off almost completely and there is already very little effect from them: I began to slip heavily on ice, the rear wheel often blows away. There were no falls, but control over the road weakened.

I want to tell you more about how the wear of self-tapping screws occurs. 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 back wheel, everything is more serious. Imagine that we have a wheel with new self-tapping screws. After 10-20 km of driving on asphalt, the self-tapping screws will noticeably undercut. Then the wear rate will decrease. After 40-60 km of asphalt, the self-tapping screws will already protrude from the rubber quite a bit, but will still provide good grip on ice. After that, the wear rate will decrease even more and only after 100-200 km of asphalt they will wear out so that they stop working. Therefore, do not be alarmed if you notice that after a few kilometers of asphalt pavement, the new self-tapping screws have noticeably worn off :) I have driven a little more than 400 km this winter and just now I decided to stud the rubber again. Moreover, we must remember that the winter of 2011-2012 until mid-January was almost snowless and I had to drive almost exclusively on asphalt. I think if the winter was normal, my spikes would last until spring.

I will also mention pads. After the chamber was cut 3 times with self-tapping screws, I decided to take extreme measures and made a gasket between the chamber and the tire from three old chambers on the rear wheel, and on the front - from the old semi-slick tire. The bike has become noticeably heavier, but I got used to it and now I can maintain a fairly high speed.

So, here's what the old worn screws look like. They don't really help anymore.

This is what it looks like new, just screwed on. They look scary, but you only need to be afraid of linoleum :)

Replacing screws is not difficult. I just unscrewed the old ones and screwed in the new ones. The side rows, of course, did not touch. It took less than an hour to unscrew the old screws. It took a little over an hour to screw in the new ones. Rubber, by the way, practically did not wear out and new self-tapping screws sat down quite tightly. I also want to draw your attention to the fact that although I use the most budgetary tires (250 rubles apiece), 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 (winter is , damn it, snowless). Those. self-tapping screws reduced rubber wear when driving on asphalt.

Last time I asked a friend to grind my self-tapping screws to the required length. The second time I don’t want to disturb a person, and I decided not to grind the screws at all. As you can see in the photo, they protrude from the rubber by 0.5 cm

I was hoping that I would ride a few kilometers on asphalt and they would be undermined. Actually, this almost happened, only they did not grind off, but broke off a little at the tips. Already after 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 does not count), the self-tapping screws are quite suitable, slightly hypertrophied spikes that hold perfectly on ice and protrude only on 1.5-2 mm. Now that they have become shorter, their wear will be noticeably reduced and you can safely ride

Actually, the result is this: there is no need to grind new self-tapping screws, it is enough just to ride literally 2-3 km on asphalt.

Studded bicycle tires enable its owner to enjoy cycling in ice and snow, without fear that he will not cope with the movement and fall on a bad road. After all, the road is often simply unpredictable in the winter period of driving.

Studded tires are similar to automotive counterparts, with a durable metal tread that is located on both sides of the tire. It makes it possible to drive on an icy surface without problems, but on condition that the wheels are not strongly pumped.

The studs themselves are on the tire various shapes:

- pointed;

- flat.

In addition, studded tires come with a different number of studs.

One type is double-row tires. They are located on the sides. With a good pumping of the wheel, they practically do not come into contact with the surface, only when turning. This applies to those weather conditions when there is no ice on the surface of the asphalt. But if you need to drive on an icy surface, the wheel should be less inflated. And the weather will work exactly those side metal spikes that are necessary for contact with a slippery surface.

Another type is four-row tires. They are similar to two-row tires, but the difference is that they also have an additional two rows of studs. That is, the number of spikes on the tire is increased by one and a half times. They are more powerful, make it possible to move comfortably where there are no normal roads. But first of all, they are designed for driving on an icy surface, but at the same time it makes it possible to drive on roads.

Important when using such a tire:

1.It does not carry out strong pumping. And then the steep turns, and the descents will be nothing to the cyclist.

2. And then it allows good grip of the tire on a slippery surface.

3. Absence of sharp braking and studded tires will last long enough.

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 spikes themselves and the tire. The running-in process itself is carried out precisely on asphalt and for an hour with a slow movement of the bicycle. This will provide the studded tire with more long term service in good condition and without loss of spikes. 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 bike tires - it would cost me 4-5 thousand rubles. Not only because of the desire to save money, but also from the eternal desire to do something with my own hands, I decided to make winter bike tires myself.

It was bought: 2 budget tires for 250 rubles. 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 in them. In total, the tire had 80 + 140 + 80 teeth. I didn’t want to screw in 300 screws, so I inserted screws into the side rows through one. As a result, about 190-200 self-tapping screws were inserted into each tire. This made the tires about 200 grams heavier.

So, tires are bought, self-tapping screws - too. We must get to work. First you need to make the guide holes in the tires. Without them, self-tapping screws will often go crooked and come out in the wrong place. It is very important that the self-tapping screws "peep out" from the center of the "tooth" - this will extend the life of the tire. To do this, I took a drill and began to drill holes. It was hard to say the least, so I came up with new way: clamped a nail with pliers, heated it over a fire and made holes in tires with it. It was no longer difficult, but it still took a lot of time. And then a brilliant idea came to my mind - to make holes with an awl! The sewer was not 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 self-tapping screws for 13 mm 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. You don't need to glue them on. The self-tapping screw must be screwed in so that at the exit it slightly presses the rubber thread under itself.

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 spikes. The self-tapping screws were hefty strong and the grindstone was more likely to grind off than they were. But, anyway, they managed to undermine them. On one tire, the studs were slightly longer; I put it on the front wheel, because there is less load on it and the quality of handling depends on it. The side row of self-tapping screws can be turned weaker (the main thing is that they are not sharp), because they will only work when cornering. Tire with turned screws looks like this

Self-tapping screws are screwed in and turned, 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 cruelly cut two cells - one old and one, I'm not afraid of this word, 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 by 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 proved to be the best - while my friends on ordinary tires constantly fell on ice, I drove absolutely without bothering, as if on asphalt :) If we compare studded tires with ordinary ones, albeit with an evil tread , under emergency braking, the difference is simply monstrous. Heaven and earth! With studded tires, during heavy braking 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 speed of riding and a little more difficult to ride in general. This is felt when driving on asphalt, but driving on ice / snow is a real pleasure.

As I said, about 35 km yesterday I had to drive on bare asphalt. A friend with much more experience said that when I got home I would have to change the tires, as the asphalt spikes would wear off. But it turned out that the screws were practically not worn out. They only turned and became not sharp, but the length remained the same. However, it is worth noting that it doesn’t happen every time - I was just lucky with the purchase of high-quality self-tapping screws. In general, driving on asphalt on such rubber, although not desirable, is possible if you keep a low speed.

Using homemade winter studded bicycle tires. Advantages and disadvantages

Recently I wrote how to make studded tires for a bicycle. Some time has passed, I managed to ride it and now I am ready to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of this bicycle rubber.

First, about the merits.

Although some say that they drive normally in winter on ordinary 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 point. When driving on asphalt, the spikes on the rear wheel are noticeably erased, so for the whole winter the rear wheel will not be enough for me (everything is ok with the front one) and I will either have to make a new tire, or unscrew the worn screws and screw in new ones. But in this case, the tire rubber can wear out quickly, because. a new portion of self-tapping screws, most likely, will not go along an existing thread, but will lay a new one. But this is not the main thing. When I decided to stud a bike tire for the first time, one of the main reasons was the lack of winter bike tires on sale, or rather a rarity, and therefore without a choice of options. But now there is also on sale, and there is some choice and in online stores you can probably buy any.

But looking at the location of metal and rubber spikes in bicycle tires, and understanding how and where there is a desire to ride in winter, the mood did not improve. It's as if the product-designers of tire manufacturers care about their products from too idealistic positions. Either asphalt and smooth ice, or rolled snow alternately with a snowless road. And the spikes are specially made so that they are lost more quickly on hard surfaces, and it would be necessary to buy the next bike tire.

As a result of reasoning - to spend money on what is or to do what is much cheaper, but exactly as it should be, I chose to do it.
Base selection - 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 out tread, I decided that only a new one and not random, which will be given for nothing (or almost for nothing), but chosen from catalogs, or from those suitable ones that are on sale. IN last resort, decided to wait for the one ordered in the Internet store, but exactly the one that would be more suitable.

1. - must be folding, since it is much easier to remove and install in the cold than with a wire frame - tires with an aramid carcass are softer, more obedient. Yes, and pierce with an awl, drill, holding the direction of puncture and drilling, under 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. - should be with a Kevlar cord, since piercing 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 metal fence with a protruding bar 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 procedure in the cold took more than two hours. The fire had to be built 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 inclined ice surfaces, the spikes are in the place of the most advantageous application of forces - holding abilities. And it is imperative that the spikes be located more often along the contact track, for less mechanical losses when driving on ice.

4. - the dimensions of the rubber spikes of the tire. So that the spike does not have a size, along or across, less than 8 by 8 mm, since it will not be possible to hold the spike under load - the rubber spike will tear in the direction of the load on the metal spike.

On the tire found and liked in all respects, there were 444 spikes 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 turning condition, and therefore at a greater angle than the rear wheel, run into (slide out) ice obstacles.

Produced - IRC.

They also had embossed inscriptions that were pleasant to the eye - MADE IN JAPAN, and the sidewalls were made of red rubber, softer in the cold, prettier than a completely black tire.

Basically, as if everything is on the tires, now you need to find what will then be metal spikes.
Finding the right tenon screws

Shopping fasteners I had to spend a long time, 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 choose screws, but for clarity, only one at a time, two sizes, and not everything that can be on sale. Yes, and on the sites I had to look for links to articles by do-it-yourselfers who were ahead of me in such an idea.

In all the articles read, self-tapping screws with sharp ends of screws or washers with bent pointed edges (home-made or furniture with a threaded recess - washer-nut with horns) were used, riveted exhaust or ordinary rivets. Both of them have one feature - to tear and tear everything that they touch and pass over - clothes, wallpaper, linoleum, etc. Another reason for refusing washers is that those that are furniture should be fixed with a screw with a flat washer, but even with a thread lock 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 with other tools if the spikes are so sharp. How to harden them is also a problem. Yes, and the losses during movement with such washers are large. In general, pucks - no.

As a result, 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 hands, do not cling to fabric, fleece, powder puffs. Do not stick into linoleum, do not tear wooden surfaces under light load. But since the tips are made for drilling metal, they are harder (harder) than ordinary self-tapping screws. I tested it by trying to scratch the glass with self-tapping drills and sharp ordinary ones. Drills managed to scratch with less pressure and immediately.

They were satisfied with the sizes - 7.5 mm, 9 mm, 13 mm, and 16 mm in length, and the diameters - 3.8 mm and 4.0 mm, which were quite suitable for mounting in tires with different rubber thicknesses.

True, the 2 smallest sizes were with caps with a diameter of 7.75 mm and without puck-shaped extensions. The rest with caps-washers with a diameter of 10.7 mm. For some reason, sellers call them preshaibs.

Since the spikes were found and bought, it was possible to buy out the tires I liked, which were waiting for me in the Trial-Sport store.
Combining theory, conjecture, someone else's and your own experience into a single whole

First I had to think about the installation method - screwing in the spike screws, how to drill and pierce the tire so as not to damage the cord. Trying on a cut piece from an old tire, cutting off a piece drilled at different angles and with different speeds, with drills of different diameters - from 1.0 mm to 4.0 mm, and changing the sharpening, I came to the conclusion. The drill is needed with a diameter of 2.0 mm - 2.5 mm, sharpening 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 indicator was when drilling with such a prepared drill, but in the opposite direction, as when unscrewing, the direction of rotation - the cord threads were not damaged at all. But even with the right rotation, the results were not bad - the cord was torn in isolated cases.

The technology is as follows - first pierce the tire with an awl where the spike will be installed. At an angle of installation of a thorn. 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 switched to the opposite, the direction of rotation. 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 also 443 more times, and then for the second tire the same number - exactly 444 identical procedures - “Chinese labor”. A little "trick", so as not to pierce the tire for each stud separately, pierced as many holes as I intended to install the studs on a given day (working 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 holes obtained, but thicker - 3 mm thick, immediately after drilling. And when I drilled the norm of the day, then I took out the three-millimeter-thick nails one at a time before screwing the tenon screw. So the holes did not “disappear” - they did not tighten, and faster and more accurately than repeating all the procedures with each spike.

First, a row of extreme ones, at appropriate angles, pierced and inserted parquet nails (they are inserted easily) - you can immediately see whether the holes are even and correct, according to the protruding row of nails. Then another extreme row, and then along the rows and the rest. But not all in a circle, but a section - a sector into which he divided the tire, as for working days. Observing accuracy and attention, each stage of work is visually easily controlled by evenly placed carnations.

It took about 30 working hours for the listed works - two weeks in the evenings.

It is possible and faster, but after all, I worked out the control technology, it’s already beautiful - the result of the work is visible and predictable.

Attention - you need to pierce the tire with an awl once for one spike, 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, spiked screws used different sizes- the middle row is the smallest, blued, then - a little larger galvanized, and on the outer rows the largest ones with a preshaba hat.

Close-up of a 26" x 2.35" tire. It can be seen that in the extreme rows, the screws are screwed in at an angle favorable for holding on to the ice. All thorns are the largest, with a preshayba hat.

I called a familiar trial worker and asked: “Are there any unnecessary, with a torn off nipple, cameras made of thick rubber?” It turned out that there are already 3 pieces. It was from these cameras that I cut out strips. I cut it in the middle of the sidewalls 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 - heavy, the whole chamber weighed 600 grams, like a tire.

Thick-walled chamber, cut off in the middle of the sidewalls. For insertion into the rear studded tire - protects the cycle tube from the heads of the stud screws. It is also more loaded in the middle rows of stud screws, caps of small diameter are more embossed.

I installed a thick-walled strip under the rear tire, and thinner under the front. One thinner - spare. Inflatable bicycle tubes, used by Schwalbe, at a price of 240 rubles - ordinary, but made of high quality rubber. Bought in "Leader-Sport", on the street. K. Marx.

The rear tire from the inside, the chamber-gasket with traces from the heads of the spike screws is visible. There were no breaks, there was not even a hint of wear - the “gaskets” can be thin.

Tests

This most exciting and interesting thing happened from the Temnaya Pad station and when crossing Lake Baikal on ice.

At first, of course, I was driving to the central passenger station along 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 traveling with a friend who has no spikes on the wheels. 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 on the rink.

So there were no unusual impressions. 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 sections. 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, braking with the rear wheel and finding that this does not work on the steep slopes of the track, began to slow down with the front, but this did not help on the snowy trail. 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, ordinary driving, only splashes of sludge to the sides. I even liked it, I rode in different directions, because the ice on the river is bumpy and sloping, like the slope. Amazingly, no uncertainty, easy to ride, like dry and hard gravel. I didn’t want to go further, an absolutely unusual feeling from ordinary confident skiing - you go easy, switch, accelerate, brake, and this is a very slippery and uneven place, more slippery than just ice. After all, I didn’t go to such places, but on the contrary, I avoided it.

While driving to Baikal, out of interest, I chose the opportunity to drive exactly on the ice of the river, where it is under the sludge, wet, bumpy and whatever - the ride is absolutely normal, there is no stress, so as not to slip. It is easy to move out onto the ice and drive back to the shore, where the trail passes.

On the shore of the lake, several skiers took their skis with poles in their hands and went to the snow drift to get on skis to Slyudyanka along it.

Looking at the absolutely even and smooth ice, I was a little confused - how will it go? But having moved onto it, I heard the noise from the spikes and that's it ... no other feelings - like on a flat road. I accelerate, I brake, I make such turns that I almost fell several times, jumped - bucked as best I could and ... NOTHING. It’s even strange, because just like that you can ride on smooth asphalt. He began to mock himself and the bike, but no maneuvers or braking failed to slip or skid either on ice or on thin crust. True, he rolled over the steering wheel several times, both straight and sideways. On that day, only a friend had problems - he was driving no faster than 6-9 km / h, and then on lowered tires. On normally inflated even 3 km / h, the problem is that it fell, slipped every 5-10 meters. I can't imagine how many bruises and bumps I brought home. True, I also brought it - from flying over the steering wheel. One of the flights was from the fact that he braked sharply with one rear wheel.

The main impression is the same - 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, sometimes I even went ahead on the slopes, although everyone with whom they rode in a small “gang”, except for me, rode branded spikes.

We went down to Baikal past the village of Angasolka on a frozen dirt road. I, on the crooked and wet ice on the Angasolka River, and those on branded spikes along the path. The owners of the "company" tried, one even fell, and stopped taking risks - driving on wet ice, and on Baikal they did not risk sharp maneuvers, but in a straight line it was possible to race with the firms on an equal footing. True, in the “firm”, they could afford to press the rear brake sharply and strongly - the rear wheel skidded a little to the side, and I could fly through the steering wheel.

It is a pity that I did not take a camera and there are no pictures of those tests. Twice I traveled in company with Diagran (who knows) on his spikes and on the highway and on the snow and on the ice of Lake Baikal - you can’t keep up with him and on highways on asphalt, he rides on ordinary branded spikes on ice at 35 km / h - a monster.

In the train, when setting up a bicycle, there were no fears that clothes or fleece gloves could be torn on homemade spikes, it was specially taken.

By the spring, it became noticeable how dull they become - the drills of the spike screws become semicircular, but this did not affect the force of holding on ice and rolled snow. True, due to the fact that the spikes have become a little shorter, it seems to feel better to ride on asphalt and ice. And yet - the more blunt the drill spikes, the slower their abrasion occurs - the contact surface area increases. It becomes approximately equal to the area of hardened spikes, like branded bicycle tires, without victorious inserts. I ran into about 700 km in the first winter with spikes, I don’t know for sure, since the bike speedometer “died” after 600 km. On asphalt and concrete with ice, it turned out about 100 km, about 250 more km on gravel and dirt roads, the rest about 400 km on ice and dense snow.

I think that during my operation, it will be enough to drive until some spikes are replaced, at least 1500 km.
Theory confirmed by practice

The proposed stud angle was derived from reasoning 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 possible way, it must be installed at a negative angle to the support plane when moving forward.

The side spikes are also at a negative angle to the support plane 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 rubber layer.

I did not glue the gasket between the cycle chamber and the caps of the self-tapping spikes, since the gluing will not be tight, and water and dust will get into the leak - dirt in it, and inserting and removing this gasket is not difficult.

How will water get there?

Let's say you had to ride in wet places, and then remove the tire and chamber in the heat - water from the internal volume of the rim will flow into the tire.

Yes, and you need a lot of glue - 2-3 full tubes per wheel. With a mediocre result - poor quality gluing. After all, embossed hats will interfere with the ability to stick the rubber of the cut chamber to the inside of the tire. And with a thick layer of glue, “chewing” sounds will be made, which happened when I glued the bike tubes to road bike wheels on an excessively thick layer of glue - not a quality gluing. And since high-quality gluing cannot be achieved, then why do it badly? After all, if you have to replace any spike, you still have to tear off the gluing.

I hope that what happened in the end, and which gave me the opportunity to verify the correctness of my guesses and the applied work, will help those who are not afraid to spend labor, accuracy and attention for the final result - cycling where it was impossible before, but with such tires are safe and pleasant.

Recently, to make it easier to ride, I decided to pump up the wheels harder. Actually, I did not pump them up much, but in the way that everyone usually pumps up wheels in the summer. I went on business, and on the way back I had a flat rear tire. At home, I pulled out the tire, found two strange holes on the chamber, despite the fact that the lining chamber was intact. I did not bother and just sealed the camera. The next day I went on a night ride and on the way I got a flat front tire. Thoughts began to creep into my head that this was the work of self-tapping screws, or rather, caps of self-tapping screws that could damage the camera. I disassembled the wheel, pulled out the camera and for sure - the whole camera was in noticeable marks from the caps of the screws, and the hole was exactly along the edge of the mark. In short, it was clearly visible that the head of the self-tapping screw was the cause of the damage to the camera.

There are 3 or 4 such damages on the chamber. Moreover, this is not a hole; The chamber does not let air through. But, of course, you don’t want to ride with such a camera, because a crack can break up at any moment. Let me remind you that my old camera acted as a gasket. As you can see, it is clearly not enough.

On a note

After inspecting both wheels, it turned out that the camera was damaged only on the front wheel. Everything is fine with the rear wheel camera. 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 self-tapping screws bite into the asphalt / ice and, if they protrude strongly, they dig into the camera with the edge of the cap. Pretty much the same when hitting curbs. From this we can conclude that it is not desirable to leave self-tapping screws protruding by more than 1.5 mm. In addition, if there are a lot of self-tapping screws in the central row, then a larger number of self-tapping screws will work during braking, which means that there will be less impact on the camera.

What to do?

It became clear that the spacer alone was not enough. Also, a band-aid pad will not suffice. In several places on the Web, I saw that people used a piece of linoleum as a gasket. I didn’t have extra linoleum, but I remembered the old semi-slick tire gathering dust on the balcony. I cut off the sides of it and inserted it into the front wheel tire. I had to trim it a bit to 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-gasket, which will damage the tire. To avoid this, I sealed the joint with a piece of rubber from the first aid kit.

The wheel has become noticeably heavier and it's bad. On the other hand, if done correctly, I will be almost completely puncture-proof and will be able to inflate the tires hard to make the ride easier. Someone may say that in winter you need to ride at low pressure, but when there are spikes, increase the area working surface there is simply no need.

Because I still have one extra spacer chamber, I decided to add it to the rear wheel. Gaskets from two chambers should suffice.

Honestly, I don’t know what will come of this and how much more difficult it will be to ride. I decided on a desperate act: to make a lining between the camera and the tire from ... tires. It sounds scary, but in fact, everything is true =) Was found on the balcony old tire semi-slick, the sides were cut off from it. 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 camera. 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 as many) cameras as a gasket.

Naturally, the bike became noticeably heavier after such a mockery. To be honest, I assumed that I would not be able to constantly maintain even 20 km / h. However, normally drove about 35km.

After driving about 100km on these wheels, I disassembled the rear wheel to see how the camera felt. On the rear wheel, let me remind you, 3 old cameras act as a gasket. Upon closer inspection, no damage, tears or scratches were found. On the camera there were only soft, not sharp prints from the heads of self-tapping screws and nothing more. As I thought, it turned out to be an impenetrable option. The wheels, though noticeably heavier, but it is quite possible to ride.

Separately, I want to say about the wear of self-tapping screws. The fact that the rear wheel is not enough for the whole winter, that's for sure. On it, the central screws were worn out very much.
In principle, what else to 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 out completely, I plan to unscrew them and screw in new ones. I think to screw in more, because. the more self-tapping screws (and they don’t weigh much), the less their wear will be. On the front wheel, the self-tapping screws both stick out by 2-2.5 mm and stick out. Even the central ones did not fade. This is very good, considering that it is the front wheel that is responsible for control on the road.

When cycling through mud and snow, you often have to overcome places where it is difficult even to walk. It is for crossing impassable off-road that studded tires are needed on a bicycle.

By number of spikes bicycle tires you need to choose depending on where you will most often ride. If in the city, where the roads are more or less cleared, then a minimum of spikes on a bicycle tire, located in two rows, is enough. The choice is simple: the more mud and ice on the road, the more spikes should be.

It is important to know that after changing summer tires to studded tires, the overall weight of the bike increases. This is not surprising, because the spikes are made of metal and there are many of them, although they are small.

Steel spikes

Studded bike tires are primarily distinguished by the presence of steel hooks. On one tire, from 100 to 400 spikes are installed. They are assembled from two parts: a cup with a flange and a carbide pin. Glasses are stamped from mild steel or aluminum. They are needed to secure the pin in soft rubber. The pins are made from an iron alloy with tungsten carbide (WC) and an admixture of niobium and titanium carbides (NbC, TiC). Such an alloy is known as "win". It will take at least 4 winters on cleared roads to completely wear out the Pobedite spikes.

The pins are wedge-shaped for installation in cups with a fit. They can be flat topped for mud riding or pointed for good grip on ice.

Over time, flat and pointed pins acquire the same rounded shape. When driving on paved roads, there is practically no difference in wear rate between the two types of studs. A big difference in the wear rate between different spikes is observed when traveling on the ground. Sharp spikes wear out faster when driving on the ground, due to greater penetration into the ground. But they hold better on ice and packed snow.

Low temperature compound

Real winter tires for a bicycle are not made of rubber at all, as it hardens in the cold to the elasticity of plastic. And the tire must have good grip on frozen ground or rolled snow and ice. Tires for winter are made of a compound - a material that retains elasticity and elasticity when sub-zero temperatures. They are marked "W" or "Winter". Like all soft rubber tires, they tend to self-clean.

On products, the presence of the compound is indicated by the marking "Winter". The Nokian company, which changed its name to Suomityre, adopted the marking "Winter rubber 58A", where 58 is the hardness index of the compound. The manufacturer uses a base compound labeled "SBC".

Double row and multi-row

Studded tires are divided into two types: double-row, multi-row. The style of cycling depends on the number of rows of spikes on the tire.

On two-row ice, you need to drive at a lower speed. Especially if the rows of spikes on them are spaced far apart. These tires are designed for fast skiing in winter on the road surface. Their side studs work best when cornering. And before leaving on the ice, you need to dismount and reduce the pressure in the chambers so that the spikes installed far from each other can bite into the ice layer.

Double-row tires with studs close to the center line are universal for driving on asphalt roads and ice. But they cannot move as fast along the road as on a two-row with far-spaced spikes. There are reviews that say that during sudden braking, obviously on asphalt, pins break out of them along with glasses.

Two-row tires are cheaper than multi-row tires and a little lighter, because they have less iron installed on them. Of course, you need to ride on ice on these bike tires more carefully than on multi-row spikes. Without making sharp turns and without sudden braking.

Four-row winter tire Schwalbe Ice Spiker HS 333. Available in one size - 26×2.10 inches. It has 304 spikes, weighs 1 kg. Price - $118

Schwalbe Snow Stud HS 264 double-row tire with wide-spaced studs. Available in one size - 26×1.90 inches. Has 102 spikes, weighs 980 grams. Price - $78

Two-row Suomityres (Nokian) Stud A10 with widely spaced studs. Available in four sizes: 26x1 1/2x2 - 62 studs, 26x1.5 - 100 studs, 28x1.5 - 76 studs, 28x1 5/8x1.5 - 74 studs

Tire for city and touring bikes Suomityres Hakkapeliitta W106 with narrowly mounted studs. Available in 26" and 28" diameters, 26×1.9, 28×700×45C, 700×35C. It has 106 spikes, as indicated by the marking. Relatively inexpensive - $50

A two-row Schwalbe Winter city tyre, with narrowly spaced studs. Available in four sizes: 26×1.75, 700×30C, 700×35C, 700×40C. Depending on the size, it has from 100 to 120 spikes. Weighs about 1 kg. Price - $59

Folding, tubeless tires

Now the technology for manufacturing folding tires (folding) is used, in which the cord is wound not with metal wire, but is woven from Kevlar thread.

On sale there are two "cool" studded tires and the only folding ones in their structure. They can be installed on a rim without a tube using a special adhesive.

Four-row folding spike Suomityres WXC300. Has a size of 26×2.2. The lightest tire in its class - weighs 750 grams. It has 304 spikes

Five-row tire Schwalbe Ice Spiker Pro HS 379. Available in several versions: 26 × 2.10 - 361 spikes, 26 × 2.35 - 361 spikes, 29 × 2.10 - 402 spikes. Depending on the size, it weighs only 695, 850, 890 grams. The highest price is $168

Tread design

If you carefully compare the tread patterns of many tires, you can see a pattern. There are two types of protectors:

positive - the total area of the lugs is equal to or greater than the area of the furrows;
negative - the lugs are high and occupy a smaller area compared to the total area of the furrows.

Road tires have a positive tread. In addition, it forms an even treadmill along the longitudinal axis. For example: the Continental Nordic Spike cross tire, with a tread pattern characteristic of mountain bikes, has an additional chain of lugs along the axis of the treadmill.

Cross studded tire Continental Nordic Spike. Has a size of 28×1.6. It is supplied in two or four rows with 120 or 240 spikes. Weighs 850 or 900 grams. Cost - $75

Urban four-row spike Schwalbe Marathon Winter HS 396. Available in sizes: 20×1.60, 24×1.75, 26×1.75, 26×2.00, 700×35C, 700×40C, 28×2.00. Depending on the size, it weighs from 900 to 1300 grams. Price - $87

For rough terrain with deep snow or mud, tires should have a negative tread so they don't get clogged with mud and can dig into hard ground.

Tire for off-road Nokian Extreme. Available in two sizes: 26×2.1 and 29×2.1. It has 294 spikes in six rows.

Off-road tire Continental Spike Claw. Produced in size 26×2.1. May have two or four rows with 120 or 240 spikes. Can weigh 840 or 900 grams. Price - $70

Universal studded tire Innova 26 IA. Has a size of 26 × 2.10, equipped with 268 spikes in four rows

The Innova 26 IA bike tire is versatile because it has a negative tread structure, but the angled lugs form a straight treadmill.

Tire width

A narrower tire is more profitable to put on movement in deep snow. It will quickly cut through the layer of snow to a dense base. A wide tire, when driving through snow, will hang in the thickness, not having time to rest against the base, the wheel will begin to crawl around.

Narrow tires allow you to move on a higher layer of snow. In reality, on snow cover above 10-15 cm it is impossible to ride a bicycle with any tires. A person gets tired very quickly long work with increased load. Turning in deep snow will be another impossible task.

The widest possible tire is needed for driving on snowy crust, trodden paths and winter roads, as well as for overcoming deep mud.

Homemade spike

You can stud any tire, but one made of soft rubber is much more preferable - in it, home-made hooks will hold on tighter. Everyone can make studded tires at home, but it will be much heavier and more unreliable than a factory product.

It is necessary to buy self-tapping screws for metal: hardened with a flat, low head.
Self-tapping screws must be screwed into the lugs. It is convenient to screw in the self-tapping screw immediately after the hole is made.
Holes are best drilled with a small drill with a diameter of 2 mm, at high speeds of the drill. In a cut hole, rubber does not experience overstress when stretched with a self-tapping screw, as in a hole pierced with an awl.
The ends of all self-tapping screws sticking out must be cut to a height of 4 mm above the rubber surface.
It is important to make a gasket to protect the camera from rubbing. It can be cut from the old chamber, spread along the inner radius. And you can close the heads of the self-tapping screws with protective Kevlar or insulating lavsan adhesive tape.

Do not forget that any, even homemade, studded tire needs to be run in so that the studs take up a working position in the rubber. You just need to drive a distance of 40-50 km on a hard road surface, with reduced pressure in the chamber. After that, you can storm the winter roads and mud swamps.

It was bought: 2 budget tires for 250 rubles. 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 in them. In total, the tire had 80 + 140 + 80 teeth. I didn’t want to screw in 300 screws, so I inserted screws into the side rows through one. As a result, about 190-200 self-tapping screws were inserted into each tire. This made the tires about 200 grams heavier.

So, tires are bought, self-tapping screws - too. We must get to work. First you need to make the guide holes in the tires. Without them, self-tapping screws will often go crooked and come out in the wrong place. It is very important that the self-tapping screws “peep out” from the center of the “tooth” - this will extend the life of the tire. To do this, I took a drill and began to drill holes. It was hard, to say the least, so I came up with a new way: I clamped a nail with pliers, heated it over a fire and made holes in tires with it. It was no longer difficult, but it still took a lot of time. And then a brilliant idea came to my mind - to make holes with an awl! The sewer was not at home, so I had to buy it. Making holes with an awl is the best option.

Here's what I got:

The last photo shows that on the side rows the screws are inserted through one. Empty teeth are also sometimes found in the center, the order there is: 1-2-1-1-2-1-1-2-1, etc.

Yesterday I tested my homemade winter bike tires by 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 themselves in the best possible way - while my friends on ordinary tires constantly fell on ice, I drove absolutely without bothering, as if on asphalt. If we compare studded tires with ordinary ones, even with an evil tread, emergency braking the difference is simply monstrous. Heaven and earth! With studded tires, during heavy braking at high speed on ice, it does not skid at all, the studs leave a deep mark on the ice.

The only drawback is that it is difficult to maintain a high speed of riding and a little more difficult to ride in general. This is felt when driving on asphalt, but driving on ice / snow is a real pleasure.

If you want to safely ride a bike in winter (and not only), then you need to take care of good grip of the wheels with snow, mud, sand, ice. You can buy studded tires, or you can make studded tires on your bike with your own hands.

In this article, let's look at a more affordable and cheaper option for how to do this.

How to stud bike tires

Option number 1: Alteration of the tire (large tread)

You will need:

deep tread tire
Small flat screws (package), in this case, short wood screws work well

1. Purchase at hardware store packaging of self-tapping screws.

2. Take a drill and a 2-3 mm drill. Drill holes in the places where you are going to install the spikes.

3. Try to screw in the self-tapping screw at a perpendicular angle (90 degrees) to the tire, it should not stick out to the side.

Drill the hole and screw in the screw immediately. When you first screw the holes, and then screw in the screws, it will take you a lot of time to find the holes.

4. After these works, glue the inner surface of the tire with reinforced electrical tape (possible in 2 layers). You can also use special anti-puncture tapes in the tire instead of adhesive tape, which are sold at a bike shop. They will help protect the camera from being damaged by the screw heads.

5. Put the tire on the bike rim. Be careful during installation - you can injure your hands.

How to make studded bike tires

Option number 2: Tire modification (small tread)

You will need:

bicycle tires with small tread
A package of short bolts and a set of nuts corresponding to the thread. Bolts should be short, not massive, nuts should be no more than 1 cm high.

1. Dismantle the wheels of the bike, remove the tires from the wheels.

2. Determine the places in the tire where you can put the bolts (should be twisted between the rubber protection spikes, always in the center and preferably at the edges, but not close to the rim).

3. Mark the selected holes with a marker. Drill holes smaller than the thickness of the bolts (they will have to be screwed into the tire, but this way the bolts will not fail).

4. With the thread on the outside, screw the bolts into the tire, then tighten the nuts onto the bolts from the outside of the tire. Then the nuts and bolt ends will work as spikes.

5. As in the first option, put anti-puncture tape inside the tire or glue it with reinforced electrical tape in a couple of layers.

6. Install tires, mount wheels on the bike.

Do-it-yourself studded tires on a bicycle

Option number 3: Use chain pieces as spikes

You will need:

Bicycle or other small chain.
Wire, small bolts and nuts, other metal clips.

1. This method is easier, but it is only suitable for bikes with disc brakes.

2. Purchase the required items.

3. Remove the wheels from the bike, measure the circumference of the rim + tire using a flexible meter.

4. Bite off the chain of the length obtained in the measurement.

5. Attach the cut chains around the rim and tire. This can be done with wire, bolts with nuts, other metal clamps.

6. Mount the wheels. If suddenly the wheels are not put in place - remove the plastic protection.

Do-it-yourself tire studding on a bicycle takes a lot of time.
Do not inflate the wheel chamber very much, a slightly lowered wheel has a large grip area with the road surface.
For stable driving on ice, winding the chain around the wheels (option No. 3) is best suited. The wheel should not be wide.
An old chain from a bicycle is enough to wind one thin wheel of 28 diameters. During work, use a chain squeezer.
Even if you put the chain only on the front, and on the back - a tire with an increased tread - the resulting bike design will be stable on snow and ice, sand.
Do not try to drive on studded tires on stones - studs will not save you from such a road.
To correctly put the chain on the wheel, first lower it, and when you fix the chain, pump it up. The increased pressure in the chamber will hold the chain very well.
Anti-puncture tape can be made from a used tire with a low (slick) tread (bald), cut a strip of the required width from a used tire and put it inside the used one. If this design turns out to be cumbersome, you can cut a strip from the old camera and put it on rubber glue inside the used tire. Such tape protects the camera from punctures better than reinforced tape.

Warnings

You must understand that cycling on slippery roads (snow, ice, mud), even on a bicycle with such a wheel modification, is fraught with falls and injuries. Therefore, if the road is very slippery and it is difficult to ride on it without falling off the bike, then it is better to use another means of transportation.
The self-tapping screws have sharp enough edges that can pierce the camera if installed incorrectly or inattentively.
Rubber studding is applicable for mountain bikes, it is not advisable to use narrow tires for this purpose.
Do not pump the wheels as this may cause the bike to fall off.
If you chose the 3rd option for wheel studding, you should understand that in the event of a chamber puncture, you will have to remove pieces of the chain and put it back on after repair.
The 1st and 2nd options are not suitable for tubeless, if you drill a tire, you will break its tightness.

We hope the article helped the option of tire studding for a bicycle. Share in the comments what you did. Also watch a helpful video on this topic.

The tip of the stud is a carbide tip fused into the steel body of the stud. It is impossible to blunt such spikes and, subject to a few simple rules, branded tires can be used for several winters in a row. A bicycle in such “shoes” confidently walks on smooth ice, stands well on frozen and moderately snowy tracks, and is perfectly controlled by a cyclist. At the same time, for beginners, riding on an icy track can be veryuseful. All reactions of the bike become smooth and, as it were, slowed down, so it is very easy to master the skill of a controlled skid, learn to control the slip, and correctly dose the braking forces. Of course, it cannot do without falls, but the bike even falls smoothly on ice, so this does not lead to serious injuries.

But there are also limitations, and significant ones. First of all, these tires are suitable for driving on snow, packed snow and ice. When driving on frozen ground and, especially, on asphalt, care must be taken to avoid slipping. Otherwise, the spikes will quickly fly out, and the remaining ones will “lie down” along the tread, and abruptly stop holding. Deep snow is difficult terrain for a bike. Riding on it requires the same skills as on the sand, with the
the only difference is that it is almost impossible to accelerate on loose snow to the speed of “going on the glider” (the density is not the same), which is why it takes a lot of strength to overcome snowy areas.

The widest tires here will help much more than the sporting prowess of another cyclo-crosser.

Branded bicycle spikes also have one more very significant minus - the price. Naturally, not everyone is ready to part with such an amount for the sake of a few tricks on the ice of a frozen pond in the country. Therefore, many hiss bicycle wheels on their own. Some people, without further ado, screw ordinary self-tapping screws into the tire. However, they last a maximum of a couple of hours, and it takes a whole day to make such a “spike” without a screwdriver. But the method of studding with a construction dowel has not yet lost its relevance. True patience for its implementation will need angelic. Both described methods are suitable mainly for ice tracks. To ride on more diverse rough terrain with trips to asphalt, you can use automotive technology.

There are at least two more ways. The first is the installation of automobile spikes on glue in the bicycle wheels. This procedure can be done in a specialized tire fitting, or you can do it yourself. In this case, it is important to choose the right rubber - with a solid, wide and fairly high checker. Shorter studs are chosen for the front wheel of a bicycle, and longer ones back. In checkers, tires are drilled (non-through!) Holes and spikes smeared with glue are inserted into them. The second option is to purchase special branded spikes with a special screwdriver. At the same time, drilling the wheel and smearing the spikes with glue is not necessary. Just screw the spike, like a self-tapping screw, into the checker!.

Self-tapping screws are the worst of the self-made options. It takes a lot of time and doesn't last long. Branded self-tapping screws with a threaded insert are a good alternative. The kit includes a special screwdriver. Another fashion trend in winter cycling is the installation of a speedway spike on bicycle tires. The speedway spike is fundamentally different from the cross one in length. 28 mm steel is no joke. The spike is inserted into the pre drilled hole in the tire from the inside, from the outside it is twisted with a flat washer. Such spikes are not sold in stores and can only be obtained through ice speedway athletes or ordered from the factory. A bicycle shod in such rubber can work wonders on ice, but you must also remember about safety rules. First, bicycle rubber is by no means designed to have hundreds of holes drilled into it. Its cord is weakened and the service life can be reduced to several high-speed sessions. Secondly, the spikes themselves move quite strongly in the body of the tire, which is why the nuts tightening them gradually weaken and unwind. This also needs to be constantly monitored. There is a good potential for new ideas. However, the pleasure of riding a bike at speed on an icy surface is difficult to compare with anything.
Speedway spikes require careful installation and regular care. And good equipment - after all, they can cut not only ice! As the only alternative to spikes so far, there are designs that allow you to make something like a snowmobile out of a bicycle. Instead of a rear wheel, a small caterpillar is installed, and a ski is placed in front. Such a system works mainly in deep snow and there, with a certain skill, you can have very good fun. However, on rolled tracks, on ice and on asphalt, you will have a hard time.

But still, what to do with ordinary street driving? Why can't you just stud tires with regular car studs, you ask? This technology is known in most tire companies. Good car spikes are not a problem either. But everything turns out to be not so simple.

Firstly, even studded bicycle wheels cannot guarantee reliable grip on icy asphalt. If the ice is thin, the spike will cut through it and rest against a hard surface, which it cannot cling to. Secondly, in order for the spike to sit well in the wheel,rubber must be very hard, and in order for a tire to hold well on a cold and slippery road, it must be very soft.

For car tires, produced in millions of copies, for our market there are technologies that combine these two qualities. In addition, the area and shape of the contact patch of a car or motorcycle tire, unlike a bicycle tire, especially in a slope, to put it mildly, differ. Even if all cyclists