What are the best studded tires for winter riding ? My IRC's (designed for non-winter) work fine until there's ice. Anyone out there build their own w/ sheet metal screws ?
the best ...are subjective
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off the shelf, or home made
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off shelf. Nokian Extremes 296 (steel bead) or Nokian w300 (lighter with kevlar bead)
front or back, theses things ROCK on glare ice. I ain't gonna lie you cannot corner on ice like in dry, but for real trail riding, you can just ride through ice and snow like no ones business and hammer hard. you only need a little judgement for the corners. you can navigate sheets of ice and no worries of falling down. you can stand up and hammer away from a stop on glare ice and leave 4 little rooster tails as you accelerate...my favorite winter activity actually..pond sprints
could not do pond sprints on homemades, they would be too grippy
homemade also suck on tar. nokians actually work OK on tar...sound like a dog with long toenails though.
of the ice tires that have been tested, the hardness of the Nokian stud is better than the rest. IRC is good too. I have 3 years on my Nokians and a few hundred miles of tar riding on them and the freaking center studs look like the side studs. almost no wear at all. last forever. home mades will rip up in one season.
Nokians are best for all around ice trail riding and do not pick up leaves
Home made, you can eclipse the performance of Nokian ice grip, but you will pick up leaves and crap if you ride normal trails.
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several ways to make home made, this works good.
obtain an MTB slick and cut off the bead, this will be your liner
obtain an MTB tire with fat knobs of any type as long as they are fat. PRE drill holes in each knob. about 300 each tire. insert your choice of short screws in any direction. if you ride on the screw heads you will grip, but pick up less crap, ride on the screw tips, you will stick to anything but pick up any loose chaff too. if riding on the screw heads make sure you have short ass screws
carpet tacks are awesome and unstoppable, but they tend to bend when ridden on tar for any duration, but once on ice, you can lean further than you can on dry pavement
for either screws or tacks, blob some household GOOP into each pre-drill hole, and then screw it in.
with a mtb slick as a liner, you can never pop the inner tube with any of these ideas
NOW I have used home mades in maine for years, and have used Nokians for the past 4 years. I now stick with Nokians because they are not wearing out, and provide a better 'overall condition' ride than homemades. plus homemade tend to weigh more.
but if you want to ride on ice like the motorcycles do and lean way the hell over, go with homemade, 1/2 screws with the head on the inside, and 24 hours of glue curing time, plus liner.
also also also, Nokians tend to be cut big, and what I mean is they may travel around the rim (making your presta valve bend over) so if you run lower pressure (recommended in deeper snow) you may wish to glue one side of the tire down with tubular cement so the tire doesn't rim-walk
that is my short answer above. I can clean it up, make it grammatically correct and fill 10 pages, or you can go here:
I've been riding the same set of IRC Blizzards for 6 years now. Not as many studs as Nokians but they work fine and they were 60 dollars each. I've tried the homemade ones and they pick up leaves and whatever else is on the trail, they'll also give you a nasty case of red butt if you drop too far back over the saddle. ;D
I have an old set of IRC blizzards Also , They work great! They also work very well on wet roots!
I also Have a Set of Lizzard Skins Tire chains ! they were given to me , and I tried to get them on once and all I did was magage to break one of the links trying to get them on, and said to hell with it.
On the Home made, A friend of mine useed drywall screws , and a Mr. tuffy tire liner , said it worked great.
I just bought some studded tires at MEC when I was in Canada about a month ago. Because of the exchange rate, CAN$90 turns out to be only US$60, so they are a great value (assuming they are any good!)
They are the top of the line Schwalbe from Germany called the Ice Spiker, it as 304 studs (about the same as the IRCs), and it's designed for offroad riding. They are not carbide-tipped as far as I know, though.
If you're interested, go to www.mec.ca - they aren't listed on the site but you can ask for them on the phone.
The truth is, I still haven't tried them out yet (anyone up for a ride Sunday?) ;D But I will report back when I do!
[quote author=hardtail_steve link=board=8;threadid=732;start=0#4837 date=1038942609]
What are the best studded tires for winter riding ? My IRC's (designed for non-winter) work fine until there's ice. Anyone out there build their own w/ sheet metal screws ?
[/quote]
Steve,
They have a pair of studded tires for $39.95 - Innova 268 - Not sure how good they are, but the price seems very good compared to other studded tires (Nokians etc.)
I've been through a few sets of homemade studded tires, but bought a set of Nokian Freddie's Revenz. These tires, despite being heavy, are incredibly stable on the smoothest ice. I love 'em.
A friend of mine did a homemade set using an auto tire stud kit. He got the shortest studs he could find. The cool part is that you don't drill through the tire, so don't need liners.
Z, did you finally receive the el cheapo deluxe canadian tires, eh? How do they look?
They look good, eh? They're even mounted on a spare set of wheels, eh? But I haven't had the chance to try them out, I've been too busy sunbathing in LA, eh? I'll let you know.
[quote author=hogboy link=board=8;threadid=732;start=0#4840 date=1038943991]
the best ...are subjective
----
off the shelf, or home made
---
off shelf. Nokian Extremes 296 (steel bead) or Nokian w300 (lighter with kevlar bead)
front or back, theses things ROCK on glare ice. I ain't gonna lie you cannot corner on ice like in dry, but for real trail riding, you can just ride through ice and snow like no ones business and hammer hard. you only need a little judgement for the corners. you can navigate sheets of ice and no worries of falling down. you can stand up and hammer away from a stop on glare ice and leave 4 little rooster tails as you accelerate...my favorite winter activity actually..pond sprints
could not do pond sprints on homemades, they would be too grippy
homemade also suck on tar. nokians actually work OK on tar...sound like a dog with long toenails though.
of the ice tires that have been tested, the hardness of the Nokian stud is better than the rest. IRC is good too. I have 3 years on my Nokians and a few hundred miles of tar riding on them and the freaking center studs look like the side studs. almost no wear at all. last forever. home mades will rip up in one season.
Nokians are best for all around ice trail riding and do not pick up leaves
Home made, you can eclipse the performance of Nokian ice grip, but you will pick up leaves and crap if you ride normal trails.
--------------------
several ways to make home made, this works good.
obtain an MTB slick and cut off the bead, this will be your liner
obtain an MTB tire with fat knobs of any type as long as they are fat. PRE drill holes in each knob. about 300 each tire. insert your choice of short screws in any direction. if you ride on the screw heads you will grip, but pick up less crap, ride on the screw tips, you will stick to anything but pick up any loose chaff too. if riding on the screw heads make sure you have short ass screws
carpet tacks are awesome and unstoppable, but they tend to bend when ridden on tar for any duration, but once on ice, you can lean further than you can on dry pavement
for either screws or tacks, blob some household GOOP into each pre-drill hole, and then screw it in.
with a mtb slick as a liner, you can never pop the inner tube with any of these ideas
NOW I have used home mades in maine for years, and have used Nokians for the past 4 years. I now stick with Nokians because they are not wearing out, and provide a better 'overall condition' ride than homemades. plus homemade tend to weigh more.
but if you want to ride on ice like the motorcycles do and lean way the hell over, go with homemade, 1/2 screws with the head on the inside, and 24 hours of glue curing time, plus liner.
also also also, Nokians tend to be cut big, and what I mean is they may travel around the rim (making your presta valve bend over) so if you run lower pressure (recommended in deeper snow) you may wish to glue one side of the tire down with tubular cement so the tire doesn't rim-walk
that is my short answer above. I can clean it up, make it grammatically correct and fill 10 pages, or you can go here:
Holy Crap!
Nice reply SPAMBOY!
There is hope for you yet! Very scholarly!
I even enjoyed the picture of the Snow Cat at the end.
Keep up the good work.
Aside from the Kevlar bead the Nokian 300s have a higher quality stud in them with a bullet point tip as aposed to a flatter tipped stud on the 296s.
Winter Riding
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