Snow tires for MTB

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Snow tires for MTB
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flag air2k
Posted: Mar 5, 2008 at 0:41 Quote
DAMZ wrote:
air2k, positive props to ur "diy spike tires" video! its well done! tup
now i know what to do with my old tyresBig Grin

Thanks. Show me some pics then. Wink
flag DAMZ
O+
Posted: Mar 5, 2008 at 0:51 Quote
air2k wrote:
DAMZ wrote:
air2k, positive props to ur "diy spike tires" video! its well done! tup
now i know what to do with my old tyresBig Grin

Thanks. Show me some pics then. Wink

for sure! but there is no hurry... i have time to the next winterlol
flag jackorbetter
Posted: Mar 26, 2008 at 5:05 Quote
photo

1870645


Give me an opinion about this.. Too sparsely placed screws or not?

Tire is Maxxis Mofo DH 2.35 rear.

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What about my already finished front tire?

This tire is Nokian gazzaloddi 2.3 soft with some knobs cut off.

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1870644


Both..
flag air2k
Posted: Mar 26, 2008 at 5:45 Quote
U got pretty much screws at the middle of the front tire. But you couldn't put them any
better 'cause cutted knobs.

I think you need most grip, when you are cornering and when you are cornering, your
bike is leaning to one side and then pressure is on side knobs or close to it.

I bet that front tire grips very well when you are braking on straight line.
Rear looks fine too. Screw tires grips better anyway than studs or normal tires.
flag
Posted: Mar 26, 2008 at 6:15 Quote
PedalUpBombDown wrote:
check out the Ktrack. it's more expensive than snow tires but it basically turns your bike into a pedal powered snowmobile. i think the website is ktrackcycle.com but i'm not sure so google it if that doesn't work.

I would assume that given the price of this beast, not too many people have run out and bought them for winter riding this season. The idea is great, but the product itself has a few bugs in it. I have a Ktrak system sitting in my storage room right now, as we are the authorized dealer for the Cranbrook area. After testing out the product in a number of different situations and with a number of different bikes and with a number of different people we decided against pursuing the product.
The Ktrak will add close to 11 pounds to your bike. With the ski and the track mounted, it will make your bike more than 2 feet (yes, 24") longer than with tires. The biggest drawback (other than the weight and the length) is the friction in the system. It is impossible to keep any sort of momentum going with the track. Even in technical, uphill situations, a bike tire will roll easy and maintain a certain amount of momentum to help you up and over. With the Ktrak, if you are not pedalling, you ARE NOT MOVING. The system will come to a dead stop in no more than 1 or 2 rotations of the track.
The ski provides little comfort unless you are going straight. Imagine a snomobile ski with no fin on the bottom. At any sort of speed, you'd keep going straight no matter how hard you cranked on the bars. No difference with the Ktrak. It likes to go straight if you have the power to keep it moving for more than a half block.
If you've watched the movies on the Ktrak website, have a look again and notice that even in downhill situations the riders are working really hard. On flats, they are just about dying. We've tried this beast with a wheel up front and succeeded in achieving minimal improvements. The wheel responds to steering, but the friction in the track system keeps you moving at a snail's pace.
We gave the Ktrak a fair and serious test, but honestly, never got out of the parking lot onto the trail. From what we discovered, a 5 km ride on it (a minor trail ride to say the least) would be just about impossible for even the fittest, strongest and most relaxed, non-hurried riders and comparible to a 30 or 40 km winter ride on our pugsleys.
Studded tires will work infinitly better. The Surley Pugsley works even better than that. Studding up a set of Pugsley tires would be the greatest (in my opinion) winter riding beast out there.
By the way, the Ktrak is going cheap....
flag jackorbetter
Posted: Mar 27, 2008 at 9:27 Quote
air2k wrote:
U got pretty much screws at the middle of the front tire. But you couldn't put them any
better 'cause cutted knobs.

Knobs were cutted couple of years ago in order to create a mud tire.

What you said about the amount of the screws is probably true. I was thinking of not installing screws on the knobs that are odd ones in the middle, but now that I've done it, I don't think my nerves could take it if I start eraseing them Rolleyes

I'll see how they work when I'm riding. Actually I was thinking of doing some test runs at your "hood", I mean at Laajavuori cuz here in Finland It seems like spring is not coming early this year as many people (including me) hoped for. Frown

Edit: And what comes to that Ktrak thingy, I totally agree that it's one of the most insane ideas I've seen for a long time. Go and buy a Snowscoot instead.http://www.snowscoot.net/
flag longride
Posted: Mar 27, 2008 at 12:18 Quote
I run 1.9" Nokian studded tires. They're expensive ($90 per tire), but they last several seasons (if you don't ride them on concrete) and they work incredibly well. I can ride on a frozen river bed with total control. Sometimes I test them by trying to do an emergency stop, and the studs dig right in and stop me almost as well as normal tires would in the summer time.

The only down side is that the 1.9" tends to dig into the snow a little more than I like. Next season I will try Nokian's 2.3" studded tire. Hopefully it will handle the ice just as well, but also help me ride over the snow instead of through it.
flag fsrxc60
Posted: Mar 27, 2008 at 13:39 Quote
For snow, DH tires work pretty well (especially soft compound mud tires).
I've used a Gazza 2.6 gumwall (soft compound) on the front with a Swampthing 2.5 42a on the rear in the winter with good results.

With DH tires on snow I'm often below 20psi.
flag andyjacko123
Posted: Mar 27, 2008 at 13:40 Quote
make them urself!

put a load of 1 inch nails in ur old tyres and ducktape the inside. UBER GRIP!!!
flag downhilldro
Posted: Apr 1, 2008 at 9:38 Quote
thank god the snow is gone(knock on wood) and i dont need snow or ice tires. I tried my maxxis minions in the snow seeing that they are such a good tread, yea no. they picked up the snow like a magnet and played the snowball effect.
flag evo-4b11t
Posted: Aug 24, 2008 at 17:49 Quote
Anyone heard of the Innova 268 Studded winter tires? theyre like 50 bucks here and i was thinkin of gettin them.
flag caseygoulddhd
Posted: Aug 24, 2008 at 17:53 Quote
PedalUpBombDown wrote:
Hummeroid wrote:
Check out the studded tires bro. Much cheaper than that BEAST the other guy posted :-)
yeah, i just threw that out there because it's sick and who know's, he might have an extra $450 lying around. (i know if i could afford it, i would have it.)

ya, me too, thos things are sick!Beer
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