Winter riders must see this.

[ladyicon]

Found this site for making tires into snow tires, pretty cool and cheap.
http://www.dutchbikeco.com/_blog/Dutch_Bike_Co_Weblog/post/Seattle_Snowpocalypse/

[Eden]

I was talking about this technique with the LBS guy down the street just after the big snow - the one problem is that you need disk brakes or a fixie....

If we actually got more of that lovely weather we had Thanksgiving week, I'd invest in a snow bike - I get a Kona "bike" -it's cheap, it's got a 3 speed internal coaster brake hub on the back and a v-brake on the front and big wide tires - I'd put real studs on it though rather than do the zip tie thing. Seriously - when it snows here bike is the best way to go.... cars don't get you much of anywhere and public transit pretty much comes to a halt

[Becky]

I'm so doing that on my 29er if we get big snowstorms again this winter :D

[Kerry1976]

That's awesome! Reminds me of the running equivalent: screw shoes - www.skyrunner.com/screwshoe.htm

[lph]

That is very cute :p Makes fixing flats a bit of a pain, but I realize it's a temporary thing. And if you just get snow occasionally in the course of a winter, or just want to try riding in the snow a bit before buying winter tires, it's plain brilliant!

Hey - who was it that had a annual mile goal foiled by the snow...? :)

[ladyicon]

That's awesome! Reminds me of the running equivalent: screw shoes - www.skyrunner.com/screwshoe.htm

Yup, that is exactly what it is. That is funny too.

[nscrbug]

That is very cute :p Makes fixing flats a bit of a pain, but I realize it's a temporary thing. And if you just get snow occasionally in the course of a winter, or just want to try riding in the snow a bit before buying winter tires, it's plain brilliant!

Hey - who was it that had a annual mile goal foiled by the snow...? :)

Ahhhh...that would be me. :o Someone else posted this in my thread, and I actually thought "what a cool idea!". Until I realized that the zip ties would get in the way of braking...hence the requirement for disc brakes. Dang...:mad:

[Over50Newbie]

Brilliant!! :)

Lynette

[LivetoRide]

My LBS owner was just telling me about this the other day-- too bad you need disk breaks or would have to go without breaks though!

[kmehrzad]

My nephew tried using the zip ties on his front tire only and used his rear brakes to slow or stop himself since he does not have disc brakes on his Downtube folding bike.

He said the zip ties gave pretty good traction riding through 2-3 inches of fresh snow.

[ridebikeme]

The other issue can be that in colder temps, I don't believe that the zip ties would hold up... I think you'd see tem breaking quite often. Although a repair is quick and inexpensive for the most part.... Personally I'll stick to my chains or studded tires, gives me more peace of mind.