A norwegian company has developed a sort of bicycle tyre that you put on top of your “summer”-tyre to make the tyre change from sommer to winter easier. It is attached with a zip lock. So I’m thinking that maybe this could be used on a 36" unicycle with a little “cut and paste”. The price for a pair (now) is about the same as a Nightrider 36 tyre.
Website in english: https://retyre.no/products/urban-winter
The concept would probably work, but it’s not a cut and paste solution with our current 36" tires. The product linked is for 1.5 to 1.65" tires, a bit skinnier than our current 2.25" tires.
My suggestion for a winter 36" tire would be to stud your current tire. There are multiple ways of doing this but my favorite is to use self tapping pan head metal screws from the inside out, with a thin liner between the screw heads and the inner-tube.
If you don’t want a dedicated tire that sits in storage for half the year you can just take the screws out in the spring.
Hello saskatchewanian. When I saw the reTyre add, I was actually immediately thinking of your frankentire. I sent a mail to the reTyre company yesterday and got an answer today. They thought this was very interesting and wanted to borrow my wheel to measure it, and se if they could fit a zip lock to it. I will let you know how it goes.
I’ve been a little sceptical about making my own studded tyre, but maybe I’ll try if the reTyre thing doesn’t work out. I have a worn out Nightrider that I can experiment with.
I’ve just visited the reTyre company. It turned out that they were located just 2 minutes from where I live (!). saskatchewanian you were right about the Nightrider beeing too wide, but they had a slightly wider version that might fit even though the thread pattern doesen’t cover the Nightrider entirely. They will try to custom make a reTyre for me just because they think it’s a cool project, so I’m exited to see if it works out. Ideally there should be a bit more studs in the tyre for unicycling, but i think it will be good. They have to make a plastic model of the rim to be able to sew the sidevalls with the zip lock on to the thread. They are going to 3D print this plastic rim themselves, and if this works out, they could be interested in selling this product to other unicyclist. I dont’t what the price will be, but they are only going to charge me for the prototype what a set of reTyre’s normally costs. I left my 36’er with them so they can measure it, but they will not be able to make it until october because they are waiting to get the slightly wider thread from China. I will let you know how this goes.
Cool. Let us know how it goes with the prototype.
I would argue that a 36er needs less studs for the same surface area than a smaller wheel as there is a longer contact patch. I never did stud my 36er as I found my modified TA worked surprisingly well on glazed snow and ice when aired down to 20 PSI.
I wonder it it would work as a tire by itself, or if it could be used with a much lighter liner than an existing 36" tire.
No, probably not, because the zipper needs to be held in place by the tyre.
Cool project, and what a coincidence that you’re neighbors!
Keep us updated!
Studded skin? That’s clever! If it holds in place of course…
Clearance between tyre and KH frame is not so much ! Compatible with studded tyre ?
I have now tested the custom made ReTyre skin, and made a video of it. pierrox and bouin-bouin your comments were spot on. The ice is melting fast on the bikepaths her now, but I’m hoping for a lot of 36’er rides next winter.
That’s so awesome that ReTyre made the 36er version a reality!
The part about the cover squirming around seems like it’d get annoying though. I wonder if that could be solved simply by making a smaller, tighter cover so it stretches more firmly over the tyre? Otherwise maybe a ‘knurled’ surface on the inside that grips your tyre tread, similar to the older Schlumpfs 
So is this just a ‘first prototype’ job? Would they consider actually making a true 36" one (rather than sewing two together) and do you think that’d help remove the gap in the join?
Really awesome project. I’m slightly sad that we don’t get enough snow around here to warrant it, as I really want to test it
I think I need to do something about this. ReTyre has a special dobbel sided tape that I will try. It might work. A regular ReTyre has rubber on the side, so it is stiffer. The one I have has a fabric as a sidewall so it streches more, and it’s less rubber to rubber contact.
Yes, it’s a first prototype. They are interested in selling a 36" ReTyre, either a true one or something similar to what I have, but it depends on the market. I wonder how many unicyclists would be interested. The fact that the KH frame doesen’t fit very well is clearly a negative. I used my KH on the first test and it was fine, but after adjusting the ReTyre the studs touched the frame, and I couldn’t get it back to how it was.
If they do decide to sell it, it will probably be a set with a tyre (Nightrider?) and the ReTyre skin together, because the zipper has to be sewed onto the tyre. Being such a niche product it will probably be expensive, but being able to ride a 36’er in the winter is worth a lot.
Det er et fint prosjekt. Produktet skal ikke vaere billig, men det er mer praktisk enn bytte dekket. (På tross av at jeg lærer norsk på september, jeg kudde ikke forstå mye.)
So you’re learning norwegian. I’m curious, are you moving here or do you want to read Ibsen in the original language? 
I made a 2 min. version of the ReTyre video:
None of both. I was interested in learning some other language and to test the online learning platform babbel. As scandinavia (especially norway and sweden) is my favorite holiday destination, norwegian seems to be the ‘middle’ of the scandinavian languages and it is easy to lern for somebody who already speaks german and english, i decided for norwegian.
If i can manage some basic conversation on my next stay there, I’m fine.
