woods loop

[Skinny-J]

I wonder if there's enough interest to split a stud gun, or buy one and rent it out.

Having just bought a second set of wheels, a set of studded tires seems like a possibility, but the idea of dropping 6 bills on a 3 month a year set of tires is hard to swallow.

I am kinda intrigued by what I saw some billies doing on YouTube; it actually makes sense IMHO. Rather than drilling a stud into the knob, they run a tapcon (hard cement screw) from the inside out. Then, they zip a ¼” nut on the outside. You have to line the inside to protect the tube from the screw heads but an old inner-tube works. One guy said he doesn’t even use the nuts as the liner and air pressure keep the screw in place but I would prefer the nut if it were me.

To me the advantage of this is you are not relying on the threads to hold the stud in the knob and it is secured both ways by the head and the nut. For $75 bucks worth of screws and a day in the garage I am would be inclined to try this, I already got plenty of old tires lying around. I didn’t have a lot of time to fully investigate how long this setup holds up; but I am sure the nay-sayers will be along to shortly…

[Firebolter]

I didn't have any traction issues in the dirt, there was plenty without studs. But the frozen ground made the ruts a bitch as if your tire went in the rut, there is stayed! I had more traction issues on I83 coming up in the morning. Hit freezing rain twice and made for some interesting "truck movement" across 2 bridges while still in MD heading north right around where jay lives. Luckily I had no one around me. On the south bound lane, they had a 8 car pile up. Even worse up around Philly on I76.

[thetable]

I wonder if there's enough interest to split a stud gun, or buy one and rent it out.

Having just bought a second set of wheels, a set of studded tires seems like a possibility, but the idea of dropping 6 bills on a 3 month a year set of tires is hard to swallow.

I am kinda intrigued by what I saw some billies doing on YouTube; it actually makes sense IMHO. Rather than drilling a stud into the knob, they run a tapcon (hard cement screw) from the inside out. Then, they zip a ¼” nut on the outside. You have to line the inside to protect the tube from the screw heads but an old inner-tube works. One guy said he doesn’t even use the nuts as the liner and air pressure keep the screw in place but I would prefer the nut if it were me.

To me the advantage of this is you are not relying on the threads to hold the stud in the knob and it is secured both ways by the head and the nut. For $75 bucks worth of screws and a day in the garage I am would be inclined to try this, I already got plenty of old tires lying around. I didn’t have a lot of time to fully investigate how long this setup holds up; but I am sure the nay-sayers will be along to shortly…

That would be a pretty ideal setup for TuBliss and a tire sealant.

On to the naysaying:
Something similar is fairly common in ice racing, but you're dealing with a much more consistent surface than typical trails. With a bolt type arrangement, you're going to be flexing the carcass instead of just the knobs.

For a cheap set to play with, I'd be more inclined to Kold Kutters, or even cheaper yet, hex head sheet metal screws.

[juddspaintballs]

Yeah, I'd probably give a set of sheet metal screws a go.

[Boom Boom]

Cold Cutters and sheet metal screws all fly out...front seems to hold OK but rear tire just spits them out.
Not wild about my trails being littered with potential flat tire makers.
Grip studs is the best screw in studs you can buy and nice that you can reuse in different tires year after year.
I am on season 4 with my studs so yes they are expensive but if you factor the fun per year of use it is not that much of an investment to be able to ride year round.

[BigBird]

At MY AGE I'm pretty sure my set of studded tires are a "LIFETIME" investment!

[thetable]

Cold Cutters and sheet metal screws all fly out...front seems to hold OK but rear tire just spits them out.
Not wild about my trails being littered with potential flat tire makers.
Grip studs is the best screw in studs you can buy and nice that you can reuse in different tires year after year.
I am on season 4 with my studs so yes they are expensive but if you factor the fun per year of use it is not that much of an investment to be able to ride year round.

Fair enough on the screws.
The Grip Studs look pretty good, but man, you're close to the price of a studded tire by the time you get any quantity of studs.

[Rut Row]

sounds like an opportunity for a group buy to get a volume discount

[thetable]

Looking at their page, not much discount to be had. <5% for 10x.

[juddspaintballs]

At that price, I might as well just buy pre-studded tires. They would last a few winters, I bet. Maybe I should get a spare set of wheels to go with them.