What kind of tires,studs, screws, bolts ect are people using to ride in the ice & snow. I have tried several things & would like to know what you guys & gals prefer. Do you have a preferred brand of tire or screws or a good way to install them? What works the best!
Any huge aggressive knobby studded with a car stud gun of my buddies. Works well. I have very limited experience with this stuff though. Unlike my tire screws these stayed in very well.
are those HTs or ITs..???? Ive seen some guys up here with screws right through the tire.....running tubeless system...and slime for good luck......they say it works great
Screws are (upposedly) for ice only. Ya needs studs for off-road (technically speaking of course...YMMV) http://subzerocycle.com/zencart/
I love winter riding. The past several years, I just put in some Kold Kutter screws. They work ok, but the rear tire wears down after about 5-6 rides. I ride singletrack/doubletrack trails, but there is always frozen puddles and frozen ground. It can be hard on screws when there is little snow. This year, I decided to make the investment and got some "real" tires (with carbide studs). Here is my new rear Trelleborg that I just mounted up the other day. Here is my front tire. It is a Cheng Shin with carbide studs. It was custom done and I bought it "used" from a friend. Still has lots of life left! I'm excited about trying them out. Hopefully, I get to ride them tomorrow when the temperature gets back up to 25 deg. These past couple days have been single digits with -10 deg wind chill.
Here's my screwed rear tire. Got 80 miles or so on it. Used an old Pirelli. I use it on snow, ice and frozen ground. The screws do come out occasionally but for the amount I ride in the winter the tires last me a few years. 50 miles on the last ride, little snow, mostly ground, rocks and ice. Some screws are a little worn but none loosened in the rear, only on the front tire.
The pic is pretty close up. They stick out about 1/2". You can see the rubber nipples on the tires next to the studs for comparison. There is no airbox clearance issues with these. On my GasGas, the tight clearance occurs on the sprocket-side and the side knobs on the tire. With the Trelleborg's, the stud is more vertical on these side knobs and does not cause any issues.
I've run quite a variety of winter tires. When I bought my '00 WR250 in December of '00, I wanted to ride right away. I went with the Cheng Shin/Maxxis studded tires. They worked okay on the packed/non groomed snowmobile trails I rode. I got thrown off those trails at the end of the season.... no wheeled vehicles! When I got in deeper snow on bike trails, I needed something different. I had a seperate bike for flat tracking on the ice, so I adapted ice tire building to the trail. I used Kimpex Canadian screws which are twice as tall as Kold Kutters. I built tires with liners(old street tires) and you screw through the tire into the liner. The pluses are, massive traction, the screws stay put and you can pull worn screws and replace them. The minus is they are heavy(more unsprung weight), hard to mount and dismount. I used these for quite a few seasons. When I got my 125, I just threw Gold Screws in the tires on the bike and was amazed at the results. I think they are harder than Kold Kutters for trail riding. I'm just starting the third season and all the screws are still in. For average riding, I'm sold. I have a pair of Trelleborgs that I'm saving for riding the NETRA Snow Run Enduro, when I can make it. NETRA rules say studs only, no screws. MattR... Studded tires can take a beating on bare frozen ground and bare ice. The studs can start to pull out of the tire, so use a light throttle in those conditions. Some guys use the blue TEK screws from the inside out, like we did carriage bolts when I was a kid. Lots of choices
The first tires I just completed last week. Been very busy at work and have not mounted them yet. These tires are for Trail riding. The second Tire is a friend trying concrete screw lots more money per screw but last a lot longer. For Trail riding. Third is a collection of Ice Racing Tires strictly for Ice racing not for the trail. Ice racing tires have a single stud per knob only on the left side of the tire. Only Holiday Ice Racing Screw are used for these events put on by the GKMA
These look awesome! I ride in SoCal and Baja mostly, but I would love to take my bike out in the snow. I have only ridden in snow once in the high desert, and it was a light ground covering. -Blake
Well ...how was it? More like a JetSki than a motorcycle? Lots of power?not enough? Great in deep stuff? Don't just leave us hanging...
Weird at first. It was hooked up to a 530 single cam, I bet it would be better on a 505 sxf. The 'main' ski unit needed to be moved forward and a bigger sprocket on the back. It was the first time out so we need to adjust a few thing before next Demo day. The front end was too light and the back end 'swapped'. Oh and you did not want to just let off the gas...it was a slow let the throttle return to home. You want to ride it like a bike and keep your feet on the pegs and use the power to pull you back up if it felt like you were going down. We really want to try it on an Aprilia 550 RXV..
Has anyone had an opportunity to try a pair of these from SubZero? Price $239 Two studded tires: one 21" front (232 studs) and one 18" rear (160 studs) Tire: Maxxis C6001: 80/100x21 and 110/100x18 Stud: 17mm carbide pin with steel casing The studs protrude out of the tire approximately 1/8.
I have not But I'll ask around. They looked like they would be OK on a frozen lake or a light dusting of snow. But I don't think there's enough meat there to bite into deep snow. Ice racing Started on the 10th. I'll ask around.
I used a 1/16” pilot drill to first go through the center of each knob from the outside in. Then I marked (white paint marker) where the drill came through on the inside of the tire. I then put a 1”x #8 self taping Drywall screw (Large head) from the inside out. And 1 ¼”x #8 on the back. I don’t run any extra tubes or liner. I run around 18 psi front and back. You should get half a dozen or more runs in before you will have to re-screw the center knobs of the back tire. Then you go up in size to #10 screws if needed. I know some have tried car studs but I feel the screw actually helps hold the knob Together. Lots of work…. Lots of fun. Check out the little Vid I did. SnowRide
Nice. I liked the little 'crunch' about 1/2 through where the tree was touched a tiny bit. Is there a market for little skies for peoples feet that ride in the snow like that?
In MN and WI those Holliday screws are illegal. Too tall. But they look like they'd be greatt for play riding. I don't think there's a limit to how many screws per knob in the AMA rules like in those GKMA rules linked above. Seems like the most popular/common tires around here are built by Jeff Fredette. He puts oodles of screws in and indexes them all so the chisel points are all cutting to their max advantage. He has good pics on his website. I don't race but we do plow a track and there's no question that on "clean" ice the Fredettes hook up WAY better than my home screwed jobs. I used the "Original" gold screws that are actually gold in color. Fredette uses/sells a "fine thread" Gold Screw that is actually not gold but gray. (don't ask me??) It has a much sharper chisel point and the fine threads supposedly work better for indexing. 7/8" in front and 1" in back with liners. BTW, those Motoz tires look like they might work well for a front ice tire. The current favorite is a Dunlop 490. (discontinued model) I think it's because it's outer knobs are wide enough to take two screws each and they are in a fairly "dense" staggered pattern around the perimeter. The Motoz pics that Kelly posted look like they have a similar pattern. similar. Hmmm... anyone try them???
