Today i was sitting looking out the window looking at all the snow in Vancouver, I was also thinking back a coupple months ago at school in Saskatchewan when I tried to ride my Schwinn but very quickly ended up on th ground (a number of times, it was quite funnie to those watching) due to the ice and thought why don’t I just make a studded tyre. So today I did, with my old Norco. It rides pretty well on solid ice but plowing through the snow is somewhat difficult.
Andrea and I just got back in from a snow ride. She was on her Monty Trials tire, I was on the Gazz 24x3. All the roads were compact snow, everything else about 2 inches unpacked. Traction was really no problem except where some bare pavement had turned to ice when the freezing rain started. We could have used the studs there.
Even wrote my name in the snow on the soccer field with only one UPD.
This evening at the end of the local newscast (on channel 4 here in the Seattle area) the news camera followed a guy riding his Schwinn Uni down a sidewalk in the snow for a good 10-15 seconds. I didn’t recognize the rider but he had a flasher on his seat post so he must ride frequently. Anybody we know?
Today was my first snow ride ever…what a blast! I was totally expecting to wipe out as soon as I left the garage and hit the snow, but it wasn’t bad at all. I let some air out of the Gazz so it was well below where I’d have it for rock or road, and it dug right in on both the packed road surface and the 5" deep crud. Miles and I took a spin around the neighborhood, and I also headed out onto one of the nearby woods trails with a nice long 400-500 yard downhill. I think I rode it faster in the snow than ever on the dirt, with no UPDs. Maybe it was just the feeling of safety…thinking that a tumble in the snow would hurt less than a dirt fall.
I hadn’t intended to go riding, but my Hunter was between me and where the sled was stored, and it would not be denied. My one wish was that I had put on some biking “skins” under my snowsuit…it didn’t take too long to start chafing. If I had skins on I probably would have gone for another mile or two.
It’s too bad snow is relatively rare around here…now that I’m hooked, my supply is going to get rained away in the next 24 hours.
When I was up in Edmonton I got a much needed new tire. That meant I had an old tire lying around that would most likely never get used again. I found myself a nice pile of screws, and you can guess what happened. I was amazed at the traction I had. I didn’t get to ride it much because of the cold, but it was sure fun when I did!
it would be nice to have a 3" tyre, the 1.75 that i used does not fare well in the deeper stuff but it sticks to the ice with no problems. i will ahve to take it with me to Saskatchewan next year, ice is all we get there
For everyone who doesn’t know, the Seattle area got several inches of snow today. That’s a lot of snow for little old Seattle. I went out riding on my muni with a 24x3 Gazz around the Bellevue WA area for about 3 or 4 hours and covered many many miles. I was exhausted by the time I got back to the house as the sun was setting. Riding in the snow is hard work but oh so much fun. The Gazz was terrific in the snow conditions that we had. No need for a studded tire today. Tomorrow, however, will be different because we’re getting freezing rain tonight which is going to turn the snow into a sheet of ice. Oh well, it was fun for one day.
While riding around I had several people ask me if I was the guy who was on the TV news. That struck me as strange because I hadn’t seen the news shot that they were referring to. I’ll turn the VCR on to channel 4 for the late night news in hope that they replay that footage.
I don’t actually understand what you mean by machine screws, but I’ve seen some tires made with nuts and bolts. They take a lot more time to make, but might be a bit more durable. Those screws you used look quite long. I think you should cut them down a little bit. About 5mm (1/5 inch) is usually enough, even for downhill racing. Optimum lenght might be 2-3mm on the center of the tire and 4-5mm on the edge area for maximum grip when leaning to one direction. The base of those screws is also quite small, and it might not support the stud as much as you’d like to.
I made my own tire with 13mm long screws with a drill bit end. The ends are out about 5mm. They have a 10 mm base. I’m going to try it today. I made the tire maybe two months ago but the grip Gazza gives me has been enough for me. It doesn’t slip even on ice, unless there’s no bumps on the ice for the Gazza to grip.
the screws i uses were 3/8" long #6, and every other one in the center was a #8 b/c i a out os 6’s, i was looking for shorter ones but couldnt find any that were larger than #4. the 3/8 is plenty short enough i found