Ice tires/ studs

[flexlarson]

Decided after taking a ride in the snow that sliding all over and crashing wasn't all that fun so I made up some ice tires.   Definitely worth the effort. 
Used 1 1/4 concrete tap cons and 1/4 nuts and some rubber to line inside of the tires. 

Terrific on the ice and snow.  Great for climbing over down trees.  Scary on pavement and rocks. 

[Hank]

That looks wicked!

[greatbuffalo]

I made an attempt at creating something like this many many moons ago. Being the kids we were at the time we thought, chains! Chains ought to do it. So, we proceeded to wrap to wrap dog chain around the rear tire as snug as we could with the tire deflated and tighten that puppyup while filling the the tire with air. It worked great for the first 100 yards or so............. Have you ever heard the sound of dog chain flogging a YZ 125  at 30 mph? I have. The experiment was a mind blowing and calf muscle bruising failure.

The next year we visited with someone much smarter than ourselves. It didn't take much effort if I'm being honest.           
We raided the shop's self tapping screw supply and with outstanding randomness we screwed some from the inside and some from the outside of an worn knobby. We mounted the tire and instead of trying to air it up, and there was no mouse available, our brain on the team drilled a larger hole in the rim in two places. With the aid of a pneumatic refillable grease gun we infected 2 part polyurethane, the same stuff that skateboard wheels are made of, into the tire. With the bike on a center stand we started the bike and let it run at a bit more than idle in 4th gear for 15 minutes to allow the polyurethane become distributed.

It worked amazingly well till my buddy, the smart one, put the bike through the ice on Forest lake in Northern NH. I have never tried anything like it since but have often thought about it. Looks like it would be a hoot.

Love your comment on traction and the lack there of.

[flexlarson]

Funny story.  Ones we made are working great. 

[Lonesome Dave]

Great story GB.

Flex - what or how did you handle the air problem?