SNOW TIRES

[knucklebuste]

ANYBODY MAKE A SET OF SNOW TIRES THAT ARE 2.1 MINIMUM SIZE AT A REASONABLE PRICE. I LOVE THE GAZZAS, BUT MY CAR NEEDS TIRES AND I'M NOT SPENDING $200 FOR A SET OF DAMN BIKE TIRES. ANYBODY? I SAW THE IRC'S, BUT THEY'RE TOO SKINNY FOR ME. ANYBODY?

kNuCkLe

[knucklebuste]

OK, I saw these. Any special instructions. Just mount with a tube and go or what? I heard the IRC's the studs fall out. Is this true? What do they mean by replacable? Says designed for snow. Will they work on ice? I fell off my bike 28 times yesterday, my knees are killin me. I need studs, soon. Knuck
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/phattire1/tiirbl.html

[splat]

I heard the IRC's the studs fall out. Is this true? What do they mean by replacable?



I have a Pair if IRC blizzard that I retired last year due to the studs all being worn down, only lost 2 or 3 studs in 10 years of use.

Las tyear I got a pair of IRC sno-mads they work great and I have not lost any studs.

The IRC's are cool....Plus you can add studs to them if you wish.
Nokians absolutely rule....for the cah and bike....

[jsb2dc]

I put about 6 hours into making my own tires with sheet metal screws. They work great and are till going strong four years later. I used 2.1's. Grab a couple of your old worn tires and buy a bunch of self starting pan head 3/8" sheet metal screws and you'll be good to go. The tires don't wear much and if the screws wear out you can always put new ones in.

[Jisch]

Knuck:

I made some tires this year, still gotta grind down/cut off the tips of the screws, but here's how I did it. Of course if you just got in your car and drove 1/2 hour south you wouldn't have needed them this past weekend.

http://forums13.consumerreview.com/crforum?50@146.qZvTa2XC2bg.2@.efdf659/17

Cut and paste Nemba don't like @ signs...

John

[DEE]

Still riding in Wompy without a worry of that white stuff.. had some for 2 days then it was gone.. getting in the car and riding is probably the best option still! 8)

[bike187]

among my christmas gifts: nokian 296. can't wait to try em out. rode around the local res yesterday. found out that i can almost do a split while riding my bike when it slides out. getting me some disc brakes too. ;D . plus i'm getting my license, hopefully (roadtest tomorrow in brockton). this winter's gonna be hella good. plus i finally got my own snowshoes last year, end of season though, and will be able to go up to our palce in teh adirondacks and hike around the property, up our own mallon mountain.
now all i need is a snowmobil to rid ethe trails and pack the snow to pack down from 20" to 5"packed.

[knucklebuste]

Hey, anybody hear of these tires before? Knuck
http://www.bikeman.com/miva/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=BOS&Product_Cod e=TR5260&Category_Code=COMPTRSTUD

http://www.bikeman.com/miva/graphics/00000001/TR5260B.jpg

[CouchingTiger]

Yea, the Innova were also offered by Nasbar a while back. They are cheapies and the studs fell out like crazy.

In my opinion there is a difference between a snow tire and an ice tire. For snow you want big and fat. The biggest you can get on the biggest rim so that you have the biggest footprint. For ice, you need studs, period. The Nokian are the only way to fly. The problem is that the Nokians are too darn narrow for snow. Nokian used to make a winter DH race tire called the Freddie's Revenge. It was a 2.3. It also weighed a ton! They'd rock on a real fat rim, if you had the guts/legs to turn em.

I'm thinking about building a set of wheels with some big fat rims. The snowcats are cool but a Sun Doublewide would work just fine. I think that my 2.1 Nokians on that wide a rim would flatten the tire out a ton and make for a much wider stance.

-Couch

[knucklebuste]

Couch, I have a question for you. Not being sarcastic, but I've only been out twice so far and all I saw was a combination of ice and snow. I fell like 20 times. Does anybody ride anywhere where they just see snow? There is no way I have the patience for making a set of snow tires. I'm also wondering if I should put these on my hollowpoint, but have tubeless tires on that bike. Is it a major pain to remove the tubeless tires and mount (think I'm getting the nokian extreme 2.1's) with a tube, or do you think I should put these on my hardtail which has the D321 rims? The hollowpoint has the D3.1 rims. Oi yoi yoi. I can't take it. I've ridden my bike 2x in the past month.
Any help is appreciated. Kevin

[CouchingTiger]

Agreed, we typically only see a mix of conditions, which makes it really hard to choose a tire. If it just rains/freezes or if you are only lake riding it's a no-brainer. Same if you're just riding packed snowmobile trails. Then the choices are easy.

Problem is we typically have some packed snow, mixed with some loose snow combined with some ice, usually where you can't see it. That's why it always gonna be a compromise in tire selection.

Yes, I bet it'll be a pain in the a$$ to swich tubed to tubeless. Mounting the Nokians sucks as is. They have a tight fit and stiff casing not to mention sharp studs.

-Couch

[SloMoJo]

Knuckles
You have never been known to skimp on bike parts.
Why start with winter tires?

You buy the nokian extremes and you'll have em for at least 3-5 winters and you're set. They're great.

If you gotta save, then get the IRC Splat suggested.

No need to torment yourself, just get em and enjoy the winter riding thing.

Heck, I'll trade you one of your bikes for my pair. ;)

[nhiker]

Hey Knuck I looked at both the IRC and the Inova the number of studds in the IRC #110/ tire seems to be low....about 1/3 of nokians and less than half the irc's I went the home made rout....my wife made a pair last year and she loves em.
Good luck
Harry

[AA]

Everyone I know (except Couch) likes the Nokian 296. In my opinion if you are doing any riding in the winter it's on packed snow that is very hard and slick so the studs are a great thing. If you want to ride frozen lakes the homemade studs are great but they tend to suck in other surfaces.

The IRC tires will last ok but why not just spend the extra $$ and buy the better tires.

[splat]

FYI

The IRC Sno-mad's hae 268 studs per tire