Alternative to snow tyres?

Achamore
Achamore Posts: 34
edited December 2010 in Commuting general
Cheap and adaptable alternative to snow tyres:

http://www.dutchbikeco.com/_blog/Dutch_ ... pocalypse/

~ how much are tie-wraps on wiggle !

Acha

Comments

  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    no good with rim brakes though.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
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  • Buckled_Rims
    Buckled_Rims Posts: 1,648
    nicklouse wrote:
    no good with rim brakes though.

    .......and try repairing a puncture :shock:
    CAAD9
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  • tarquin_foxglove
    tarquin_foxglove Posts: 554
    nicklouse wrote:
    no good with rim brakes though.

    Perhaps you could zip tie the front wheel & have the back one normal.

    That way you can control the front of the bike to be able to steer well enough to avoid most falls and 'brake' on the back one.

    I've got an old flat barred commuter & a stack of zip ties, hmm.
  • amaferanga
    amaferanga Posts: 6,789
    And I would imagine that once you hit snow-free roads then they cable ties would start pinging off quite quickly.
    More problems but still living....
  • tptvmbircn
    tptvmbircn Posts: 782
    I like the idea, but some good points especially on dry road, on that note, if they are good cable ties my guess is that they might just resist the road but eventually wear down then ping off
  • Buckled_Rims
    Buckled_Rims Posts: 1,648
    Use hose clips instead of cable ties if you have to ride on dry roads :wink:

    For weightweenies, there might even be titanium hose clips available :lol:
    CAAD9
    Kona Jake the Snake
    Merlin Malt 4
  • powenb
    powenb Posts: 296
    What do you think these http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=18835 would be like for commuting in this weather?
  • nwallace
    nwallace Posts: 1,465
    Rally Mud Tyres are designed in a manner that gives them a dual use, turn them round and they are Snow tyres.

    Might work with some bike mud treads.
    Do Nellyphants count?

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  • tptvmbircn
    tptvmbircn Posts: 782
    Buckled_Rims wrote:
    Use hose clips instead of cable ties if you have to ride on dry roads :wink:

    For weightweenies, there might even be titanium hose clips available :lol:

    haha, good idea though!
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    nwallace wrote:
    Rally Mud Tyres are designed in a manner that gives them a dual use, turn them round and they are Snow tyres.

    Might work with some bike mud treads.

    most MTB mud tyres do well in snow, ice you need studs but for snow cross/mtbs tend to do well.
  • lae
    lae Posts: 555
    ^ yeah I've got cross tyres on my winter bike, they've been good in snow/slush.

    A couple of years ago I made some studded tyres out of some old MTB tyres (the old style ones with large flat square knobs) with little woodscrews screwed from the inside of the tyre, then blobbed over with hot melt glue. They protruded maybe 1.5mm from the tyre. Then I lined it with a couple of old inner tubes (and about two tubes of tyre cement).

    They worked really well and gave good grip even on sheet ice. They weren't without their problems though - they were hard to fit (I had to wear welding gauntlets to stop my hands getting shredded) and if you lost control and ran into a pedestrian or child then it would rip them to shreds (and you'd get sued). If I were serious about cycling on ice, I'd just buy some studded tyres with hard-wearing carbide studs.


    Cable ties is a really good idea though. Shame about rim braking. Perhaps the cheapest way of getting a working zip-tied bicycle would be a fixed-gear (with a very very low gear so as to limit top speed and to give more mechanical advantage when leg-braking) would work - using the front brake on ice is a bad idea anyway. Although then you have the problems associated with only having leg-brakes (namely illegality and lack of braking if the chain falls off/breaks). It's something I might try if the ice gets really bad this winter though.

    Getting wheels built with hub brakes is much cheaper than re-framing or converting your bike to run disc brakes though. So that's an option.

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