Great pics Guys!!!!!!!! Amazing how far you can lean the bike over. How's the shoulder feeling CuzLarry??
Dan

 

Yes Chris is a good friend of mine. I remember talking to him about you after I saw your pics in the ADV Great watercrossings thread. Chris knows everyone.

Some friends and I wandered down Tom Lake Rd too last May and had very similar pics and experiences.

 

No clue about the studs. I bought pro built tires. $600. They grip clear ice better than my KTM supermoto grips road race courses.

 

Thos screws are the ones I got - they were about $50 shipped for 1000 of them. I used about 400-450 in each tire.

Make it easy and put them on when the tire is off the bike. That way you can sit and watch TV or something while you screw...

 

See FZ1 Matt's pic for what a screw pattern should look like. My tires are a used pair built by Jeff Freddette. Folks who have done this for a while will tell you there is a big difference in pro-built vs. rookie-built tires. The pros start by shaping the profile of the tires and will use different shapres for left turn tracks, right turn tracks or road courses. Then the line the tire with the carcass of an old street tire, which they shave so that it fiits smoothly inside the tire so that it doesn't pinch the tube. Then they drill the pattern in the lugs and set screws in - usually 1-inch cold cutters or the like. Then they will tune the tire by aligning the screw slots into patterns to increase or decrease grip. Then they use wraps so that the screws only touch ice; they don't even roll them around the garage without wraps on. Build your own to get a taste of it, but then either upgrade to pro-buit or experiment with the different factors on your own.

Carbide studs are made for running on winter roads in the same fashion as studded snow tires on cars. Running cold cutters or sheet metal screws on the road is frightening. They quickly wear down to smoothe metal ***** which don't grip anything.

 

ehhh, I don't know if I buy the whole process they say they do.. Do they really drill the holes first then put the screws??! What would be the point, and what would the screw grab onto??! I don't buy it.. I guess I can see the pattern making a *LITTLE* bit of difference, but not much.. I mean, they're screws, they're all grabbing the ice.

I dunno. Just sounds like a lot of marketing BS to me. I'd say all that crap too if I was trying to sell my tires

I can tell you when the ones that I put on were new and sharp, they had more traction on the ice then I get with brand new ***** in the dirt. Wheelies and stoppies on a sheet of ice all day.

Just get the screws, fill in your *****, and go play.

 

Winter roads are easy going in my car but the bike sucks on pavement. 10mph 1/8mi ride to the lake, it's a scary,wobbly ride with my feet down. if I had a clear shot to the ice I would have gone the 50$ parts and 6 hour labor route. (about 20sec. for a stud x 900 + dismount = 6hr.) I paid 300 used.