Source for 20" studded tires?

Quoted message said:

Hi All,

Santa brought a 20" MTB to my son, and we have been hitting the trails
a bit, but we are limited by the amount of ice around. I have studded
tires on my bike, so I have only hit the deck twice, but he has regular
tires and has fallen many times. Any suggestions on 20" studded tires?

Interestingly, his regular tires seem to have more grip than my studded
ones on smooth ice. I wonder if it is our different weights, the
leverage of C of G height, or what.

Joseph

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/tires/406.html
--
Live simply so that others may simply live

Quoted message said:

Hi All,

Santa brought a 20" MTB to my son, and we have been hitting the trails
a bit, but we are limited by the amount of ice around. I have studded
tires on my bike, so I have only hit the deck twice, but he has regular
tires and has fallen many times. Any suggestions on 20" studded tires?

Interestingly, his regular tires seem to have more grip than my studded
ones on smooth ice. I wonder if it is our different weights, the
leverage of C of G height, or what.

If you have time, and aren't looking for smooth rolling, you can also
make your own. Professionally made studded tires are more pleasant to
use than homemades (at least Nokians have far less drag than *my*
homebrews), and last longer, but factory-studded tires cost a bunch.
You can get however much traction you want by choosing your stud (screw)
placement.

Here's a good how-to site that fits my own experience (scroll to
bottom): http://www.icebike.org/Equipment/tires.htm

Mark

Quoted message said:

Any suggestions on 20" studded tires?

AFAIK there are no production-made ones.

If you are really willing to, you can try making studded tires
from knobby ones, as another poster mentioned. Icebike.com has quite
detailed instructions; this method is laborous and tires will not
be as reliable as shop versions, but it is known to work. See how
people have done it in other icebiking countries:

http://www.fillari-lehti.fi/perus/jutut/nastat/default.asp
(text in Finnish, pictures in the bottom)

http://veloplus.ru/teh/thorn2.htm
(text in Russian, picture in the bottom)

Konstantin.

Mark Janeba said:

If you have time, and aren't looking for smooth rolling, you can also
make your own. Professionally made studded tires are more pleasant to
use than homemades (at least Nokians have far less drag than *my*
homebrews), and last longer, but factory-studded tires cost a bunch.
You can get however much traction you want by choosing your stud (screw)
placement.

How well do your homebrews last, mileage wise? I paid about 40 euros
each for my 700x40 Nokians which have 240 tungsten carbide studs. From
what I've heard, they should last several winters even in active use.
After the first 1000 km my tyres are in every way as good as new. The
studs don't really wear, because they are so hard, as opposed to
homemade alternatives or many cheaper studded tyres.

In short, I'm willing to bet that high-quality studded tyres like Nokian
or Continental are the cheapest way to go in the long run. Of course
this doesn't help much if you're looking for some unusual size.

-as

Antti Salonen said:

Mark Janeba said:

If you have time, and aren't looking for smooth rolling, you can also
make your own. Professionally made studded tires are more pleasant to
use than homemades (at least Nokians have far less drag than *my*
homebrews), and last longer, but factory-studded tires cost a bunch.
You can get however much traction you want by choosing your stud (screw)
placement.

How well do your homebrews last, mileage wise? I paid about 40 euros
each for my 700x40 Nokians which have 240 tungsten carbide studs. From
what I've heard, they should last several winters even in active use.
After the first 1000 km my tyres are in every way as good as new. The
studs don't really wear, because they are so hard, as opposed to
homemade alternatives or many cheaper studded tyres.

In short, I'm willing to bet that high-quality studded tyres like Nokian
or Continental are the cheapest way to go in the long run. Of course
this doesn't help much if you're looking for some unusual size.

I got two commuting winters out of my home-made studded tires, and the
studs were pretty worn down toward the end. I was using sheet metal
screws, which may or may not be harder metal than other screws. One
nice thing about homemades, though, is that you can put in new screws
very cheaply.

No question that if you've putting in thousands of kilometers, the
Nokians are the way to go. I *now* have a pair of Hakkapeliittas mounted
on spare wheels so I can swap them in on icy mornings for my commute,
and I like them just fine.

I made the homebrews back in the 80's when 1) I had never heard of
properly manufactured studded tire, and 2) I had more time than money.
As I said to the OP, if he has the time and isn't looking for high
performance, he might want to consider studding/screwing his own tires.

I might add, though, that in packed snow or on dirt, the disadvantages
of homemade might be less. On hard surfaces such as pavement or ice,
they drag a lot. Screw location has a big effect, again the icebike
site has good advice on this; I made most of the mistakes they warn
against and got it right only after several iterations.

Mark

Sorry, not true. As mentioned above, Sheldon carries the Innova, and
I've heard that company actually makes two models of studded tire in
the 406 (20"😉 size, though cannot confirm this.

Mark