How to Make Your Own Studded Snow Tires
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Making your own studded bike tires is an easy way to stabilize your ride and save a few bucks. To complete this project, you'll need: 1. Set of bike tires 2. About 200 ¼" pan-head screws 3. Drill 4. Screwdriver 5. Tire Liners Videographers: Rachel Stevens & Evan Smith Editor: Rachel Stevens Sound Editor: Rachel Stevens Models: Evan Smith, Josh Tack, Rachel Stevens. Special Thanks to Josh Tack for supplies and modeling ability. Music: "Take Me Back Home" by Patrick Finley and His Robot Army -- This track and other gems can be bought at http://www.pfin.bandcamp.com Check out Adventure Cycling Association at http://www.adventurecycling.org.
Comments
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this is not a good idea at all. for one the screws are completely through and through. they will just end up inside the tire with the tube and destroying your tube... very bad idea. studs in a car tire don't go right through the tire. it is just impacted half way. only one end of the stud being able to be seen. don't do this... unless you have extra tubes around.
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work rly well am canadian from the north and dont listen any movie you ned to listen the titanic because you will see it long, perso i got 29"tire monster donw hill LOL
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agree with horrovac. it's hard to believe these made any difference when they're only shown used on snow and slush. i'd be interested in a follow-up showing how these handle ice, and how well the studs made it through the season.
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This is no replacement for real studded tyres. Those have tungsten carbide pins with sharp edges which bite into the ice (and are terribly difficult to wear out), the screws are soft, will get rounded very soon and do nothing to provide grip on ice (probably making it even worse). The screws will eventually get worn below the tread, I suspect rather soon (also thanks to rusting). Also, the mounting using a drill bit damages the fibres inside the tyre which provide structural integrity, the tyre is weakened and will blow out sooner than it would otherwise, so if you absolutely have to do this BE CAREFUL - don't inflate the tyre to (or anywhere near) the rated pressure, also drive very slowly. Doing this is probably quite DANGEROUS as the tyre might blow out or skid - use your common sense. A better way of installing the screws would be simply pushing a sturdy needle through the tyre and then screwing the screws in, though this would also damage the fabric - only not so severely. If you need studded tyres: buy some.
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Great video!
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Nice work, Rachel & Evan - thanks. I'm going with a bit longer screws (1/2") in the less worn outer tread and the shorties on the inside row. I'm all over the suggestion to use the cordless with a low torque setting, too - big time saver. A cheaper alternative to the tire liner is an old inner tube slit up the middle on the inside. We'll see if that works. Cheers!
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Most cordless drills have a clutch adjuster (the collar with numbers behind the chuck) so you can adjust the torque settings. If you put it on a lower setting it would automatically stop when it is the tightness you desire. Another thing you could try is using self tapping screws, then you possibly wouldn't even need to pre-drill the holes.
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Hey Nathan, I wasn't quite sure about your question, so I asked readers over at our blog. From one reader: "…I think that you can't control the power of the drill as you can control the screwdriver by hand so you know when to stop screwing. The screws should be tight, but if you are pushing it too hard you can damage more the already damaged tire." Thanks! Rachel
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why not use the cordless drill to screw in the screws... less work than a screwdriver
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