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Homemade studded tires are relatively easy to make, and provide incredible traction. If you want to ride off-road in the winter, give making a pair a shot. Here’s a guide to show you how.
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[edit] Materials
- 2 tires (see footnote)
- 2 inner tubes (26x2.1” at the minimum 29”x1.95” is preferred)
- Sheet Metal Screws, length dependent on tire knobs.
- Possible Lengths #8 x 1/4”, #8 x 5/16”, #8 x 3/8”, #8 x 1/2”
- Material – Zinc coated or Stainless (see footnote)
- Button or Wafer Head, Philips drive
- 2 tubes of 3M Fast Tack Trim Adhesive
- Drill press (optional)
- Power drill
- Philips drill bit
- 1/8” drill bit
- Scissors
The process of making studded tires can be broken down into 3 stages.
[edit] Tire Prep
The first step is to select a pair of tires. I prefer newer tires, as the rubber knobs will have the most life left in them. I have friends that use old, used tires because they’re cheap and abundant. I would consider tires between 1.95” and 2.2” for traditional mountain bike frames. If you have something with extra-wide tire clearance, you can go wider. A recent 2.5” tire I studded up would not clear the chainstays on either of my hardtrails.
Once you have your tires selected, determine what pattern you are wanting to lay out your studs in. The more studs you use, the better traction. The downside is it adds more rotational weight and each screw costs money that adds up. A stud in every knob can quickly surpass 400 studs per tire. Another benefit of a stud in every knob is that you maintain a “round” tire. If you skip a set of knobs, you are essentially elevating part of the tire, keeping the next flat, elevating, keeping flat, and so on. As the tire rolls, you’re continually having to “climb” up onto the studs. For these reasons, I tend to put a stud in every knob.
After you have the design figured out, it’s time to drill the pilot holes. I do this on my drill press for accurate hole placement. If you don’t have a drill press, you can freestyle it by hand with your power drill. The bit you use shouldn’t be very large, and you DON’T WANT IT to remove much rubber. Rubber is what ultimately holds the screws in place. This step is just to puncture the casing, and leave a mark on the inside of the tire showing you where to place the screws once it becomes time to put them into the tires. I put a block of wood beneath my tire to elevate it and provide a more “rounded” profile to the drill press platform. The block of wood will leave little bits of wood remnants on the inside of the tire that can be wiped off with a shop rag. Be careful with the drill press. It seems benign, but if your clothes or hair gets caught on the rotating chuck, you’re in trouble.
If I’m in the zone, I can crank out the pilot holes in about a half an hour per tire. Take your tire, and get the placement of the pilot holes in the right spot. Misplace your pilot holes, and your studs will end up in the wrong spots.
[edit] Stud Placement
Following the drilling of the pilot holes, it’s time to start placing studs. When I’m deciding what screws to use in the tire, I typically use a screw that is 1/8” longer on the outer knobs when compared to the center knobs. Two reasons for this: First, the outer knobs are typically more stout and you need more screw to make it through the knobs. Secondly, these aren’t rolling with all of your weight on them unless you’re cornering hard. When you’re going straight, you don’t need a lot of stud showing. When you’re cornering hard, you want all you can get away with. I try to have my outside studs showing 1/8” to 3/16” with 1/4" being the MAX you want showing beyond the rubber knobs. The center knobs I try to keep within 1/16” and 3/16”. If you have more than this, your studs will roll over and you will have a really squirrelly ride.
To begin, I get the drill, tire and screws at the ready, then grab a comfy seat on the floor in front of the television. Ice Hockey is the preferred mental sedative. This will take between 1-2 hours depending on how many studs your placing, and how proficient you are at it.
Being a righty, I drape the tire over my left leg, exposing the inside of the tire. You should see the faint markings from your pilot hole efforts. Draping the tire does two things; first, it gives you access to the tire with both hands, secondly, it angles the tire so that you can hit the left side of the tire at a perpendicular angle with the drill.
In actually placing the studs, I put the screw on the tip of the drill bit, place the screw on the tire still holding it with my left hand and begin to drill. Before I puncture through the tire all the way, I take my left hand and reach around the tire to the knob that the stud is coming through. I provide resistance on the tire and knob with my hand so the screw completely punctures the tire knob but won’t hopelessly bury itself in my carpet.
Getting going, I start with the outer edge of the knobs that are nearest my left leg. I will do the entire outer edge, the flip the tire on my leg and do the other side. My reasoning for doing this all at once is these screws are going to be the same length. It saves me the trouble from changing screw sizes every time I change place another screw.
When you miss your mark and the stud comes out crooked, or misses the knob altogether, just reverse the drill and remove the stud. Give it another try, but make sure you get it right this time. Every time you remove then reset the stud, you’re tearing a new hole in your tire. This makes it more likely that the stud will eventually rip out of the tire. Moral = get it right the first time.
After I’ve gone through the entire tire, it’s time to switch to the final phase of the project.
[edit] Tire Lining
The last stage is one that is vitally important, protecting your inner tube from the hundreds of screw heads that want to puncture it.
The approach I take is using 3M’s Fast Tack Trim Adhesive to glue a sliced inner tube to the inside of the tire. Others use a Mr. Tuffy tire liner and call it good. I avoid an approach that doesn’t permanently adhere the liner to the tire. If the liner slips within the tire, YOU WILL FLAT.
To begin this phase that will take about 20 minutes, I start with a new inner tube. Yes, used tubes will work, but a new one is freshly creased and not stretched out. The crease makes cutting a straight line much easier, and not being stretched out gives you more rubber for protection.
One thing you may not think of initially is if you are studding a 2.5” tire, a 2.1” inner tube may not actually line the entire tire. Because of this, I suggest a 29” inner tube. A 700c x 45mm could do the trick too. Worst case, you can cut a piece out of another tube if you come up a little bit short.
Take the tube and cut out the valve. Try saving as much rubber as possible, as you might need it. I usually trim out the thicker rubber immediately surrounding the valve, but you can leave it if you like. I then begin slicing the tube lengthwise starting at the valve opening on the inside of the tube. I use scissors to do this. Make sure you cut a straight line, or you will have to maneuver the tube in the tire when you’re gluing it at the very end of this stage.
Once you’ve sliced the tube, I take a rag and wipe off the talc that typically is found inside an inner tube.
(A step I don’t outline that would take place here is applying silicone to the screw heads. I have heard of this being done, but have no personal experience with it. Silicone is supposed to prevent the screws from wearing through the liner, which will ultimately pop your tube.
Now you’re ready to start gluing. Take the 3M Fast Tack Trim Adhesive and start applying it to the inside of the tire. Be sure to cover all the screws and the rubber surrounding them. You will want as much of the tube glued to as much of the tire surrounding the screws as possible. The less the tube moves relative to the tire, the less likely the screws will work their way through the tube liner and slice your inflated inner tube.
When applying the adhesive, I keep the portion of the tire I’m working on near vertical. This assists the adhesive in sliding down the tube. I use the tip of the applicator to smear the adhesive around and help in dragging it down the tire from where I initially apply it, and where it pools in the center of the tire.
I apply the adhesive to the entire tire before I start putting the liner into the tire. I’ve started installing the tube after partially applying adhesive, but it’s easier taking care of the tire all at once, rather than having to position the remnants of the unglued inner tube while you’re applying Fast Tack to the rest of the tire.
A typical tire takes about 3/4 a tube of Fast Tack. You can skimp and try to get two tires out of one bottle, but if you come up short on the last little bit, you’ll kick yourself for trying to get two out of one.
Now you start placing the liner. Make sure you get the initial placement of the tube liner centered in the tire. This makes the rest of the lining process a snap. Place the tube inside the tire, and apply pressure to the tube to squish it into place. Make sure you make contact with the tube to the tire in all places that you have adhesive. If you’re like me, there will be extra inner tube liner that does not contact where you placed adhesive. This is fine, and we’ll take care of it later. The important thing is that all screws are thoroughly covered with adhesive and protective tube liner.
Upon completion, mount the tire on a rim with a good inner tube inside. Be careful to place the tube inside the area the liner is. While the adhesive is wet, it can be repositioned, so you don’t want to mess this up. That said, you want to get your tire inflated before things dry up so that you can be sure of a good adhesion of the tire and the tube liner.
Once you’ve got the tire inflated, you’re almost entirely done. I’ve ridden same-day on new studs, but I prefer to give it a few days to fully cure.
After the tires have completely cured, you can take this optional step. Trimming the extra inner tube liner. Unless you started with a very narrow liner, or went to town with the adhesive, you’re going to have “loose” liner around the sides of the tire. VERY CAREFULLY slice this off with a sharp razor blade. Take your time… pulling up too hard on the liner can loosen it, slicing too deep will cut the tire and missing your cut can draw blood. This is a potentially perilous step, but can help trim unnecessary bulk and weight from within your tire. Proceed with extreme caution.
A final note… protect your studs. By now, you’ve probably invested 2-4 hours in each tire, not to mention anywhere between $15 and $50 beyond the price of the tire in making each tire. If you ride studs on pavement, you WILL dull them. Gradual dulling is inevitable, but even one ride on pavement will dull the points of needle-sharp screws.
So, that’s that. Have fun!
Authored by: Scott Thayer Photos by: Ericca Erhard
[edit] Selecting Tires Footnote
A group of us that ride Lebanon all winter long have found WTB Timberwolf tires to be a great one for studding. It has big knobs and enough size choices to fit most bikes. Buy them locally, or you can find them for around $30 at www.blueskycycling.com These tires run on the large side. Be careful when selecting a size because the studs will actually stick out depending on the pattern selected. Some people run a 2.7 on front and back of a Surly 1x1, but feel free to ask in the forums for more details on what might fit your bike. Many will not handle over size 2.3, especially on the back. These tires also make good winter tires without studs if you prefer not to go that route. - Ted Wiegandt / John Lundell
[edit] Screw Selection Footnote
Home Depot and Menards have the screws that many of the Lebanon winter ride crew use. They are in with the drywall screws. The ones I used were more of a wafer head. 2 boxes should be plenty to do both tires. - Ted Wiegandt
