anyone tried spikey tyres?

lightbulb

Bought one during the icy spell as felt rather frustrated that i couldn't get down bottom of the hill without falling on my a**e. Of course it arrived just after all the ice melted. Looking foward to the could weather this weekend - have a fat mud tyre at the back so hoping the combination will keep me upright on the road and then it seems less of a problem off. Any thoughts/experience? Mine is a Conti spike claw 120.

Northwind

Just made myself a couple and gave them a bit of a test on the road...

One not very spiky one made out of a Tioga Factory XC ( the heavy terrible one) which I drilled and fitted 100 stainless steel rivets to, then ground a groove onto each rivet to give it more bite. It's not amazing It does work though, gives a bit of grip where there was none before but still quite slidey. So it's on the back now just to give a wee bit of an edge. More rivets would help but really it just lacks bite.

More succesful is my Nevegal 2.1 with 90 screws stuck through it, then ground down slightly- it rides much like a normal tyre til its on ice. Now I thought to myself, this is still scrabbling around for grip, bit disappointing... Then I put my foot down and fell straight on my arse I hadn't realised it but I was on a massive sheet of wet ice, I could barely walk on it but I could ride on it, brake and corner etc.

Haven't had the need or the willingness to test either one to its limits though, it's pretty scary trying to find out where the braking grip runs out. But what a difference it makes... Obviously I should have made them out of mud tyres but I didn't have any so it's a horrible OEM spec Tioga, and a worn out Nevegal. Ah well. Total cost so far, £3 and maybe a couple of hours work.

Wish I could stretch to a proper set but too much for the use they'd get.

The Northern Monkey

theyre selling 2.1" studded mtb tyres in clas ohlsen for like £10 or summat.

proper glued in jobbies!

ride_whenever

I've got a set of ice spikers and a set of the ice spiker pros currently on tubelessly (long story)

The pros are amazing, lighter than the rampages i took off (which were admittedly massive) excellent grip and amazing amounts of control on the ice etc. The extra weight of the standard ice spikers is equally grippy, less noisy but doesn't feel as good because of the extra weight.

I'd totally recommend them purely for the noise though.

Northwind

It's good isn't it shkshkshkshkshk. Gets a bit old on a 5 mile tarmac commute though.

Northern Monkey, got a link for that?

lightbulb

Very impressed that you made your own northwind. Have seen posts about that but did not consider because the frustration and inevitable cock up would cost more in time money and morale than just buying one - I know from experience that my qualities such as they are do not lie in DIY.

I went for the 120 as the 240 seemed like a tyre you would only use when it was actually icy whereas the 120 can be used like a regular winter tyre if you up the pressure as it keeps the studs off the road (mostly)

Hw do you stop the rivets puncturing the tube? Do you have to cover them inside the tyre?

Northwind

It's not hard really... Though I'm reasonably handy so that helps. The idea of the pop rivets is that they don't actually stick into the inside of the tyre so it didn't need taped (I did drill the holes clear through but when you pop the rivets the stalk shrinks as it squashes). The downside is, it's not all that good on ice Though still I think worth it for the simplicity.

The screws got treated to some superglue to try and keep them in place better, and then a lot of duct tape to stop the screw heads bursting the tube. Might try it tubeless though, you never know Though I think, probably, this will fail enormously. Thought about countersinking the holes but that seemed like it'd take out an awful lot of carcass.

It's an interesting project more than anything else, tbh, but I'm quite pleased so far. I might do another one off a swampthing or something just to do it right, these 2 are more practice runs that went well.

The Northern Monkey

Northwind wrote:

It's good isn't it shkshkshkshkshk. Gets a bit old on a 5 mile tarmac commute though.

Northern Monkey, got a link for that?

Sorry I missed this...

No sorry, I checked their website www.clasohlson.co.uk but the spiked tyres don't seem to be there.
Definately saw them in store... I was tempted by some!

meanredspider

I do my 30-mile round trip commute on Ice Spikers (soon to be Pros) and think that they are great. The studs (being carbide) last fantastically (500 miles on tarmac and still counting). Simply can't imagine making my own - partly because anything other than carbide won't last 5 minutes on tarmac.

ride_whenever

meanredspider you have to try the pros, they're a different league from the standard ones. So light and feel amazing under-wheel!

meanredspider

ride_whenever wrote:

meanredspider you have to try the pros, they're a different league from the standard ones. So light and feel amazing under-wheel!

I can't wait to. I was waiting for some from Wiggle but the date just slipped so I bought some (cheaper) from Action Sports. Last year I didn't think I could justify the Pros - especially on my 10-year-old Kona - but since upgraded to a Cube Reaction and know that I'll probably be doing 600-800 miles on them this winter.

Northwind

meanredspider wrote:

The studs (being carbide) last fantastically (500 miles on tarmac and still counting). Simply can't imagine making my own - partly because anything other than carbide won't last 5 minutes on tarmac.

One set of mine are up to 40 or 50 miles no bother, 2 weeks commuting :?

lightbulb

Out yesterday in the snow and today on the snow and ice. Around Grizedale and over to High Nibthwaite for those that know it. Had the Spike Claw 120 on front and a mud tyre on back. Absolutely great - obviously less grip than the ice spikers and the back tyre was sliding a bit but the increase in confidence was amazing. In snow it makes little difference if you have spikes but both tyres handled snow really well and there was a discernible increase in grip on the patches of ice. Off road I would say they are less needed than on tarmac as the ground -at least round here - tends to be broken up. For under 30 quid that one tyre has assured that i'll be out whatever the weathers like - definitely worth it.