Things to do when you are bored

To offset the effects of Cabin Fever, Ponte is finding new and creative ways of getting traction during these cold winter months.

Starting with a Maxxis Ignitor, he shaved off about half of the knobs.
Essentially every other knob from the center and sides.
Now, with the help of little strategically placed set screws scored on ebay, he has a trail worthy winter tire.

The cool thing about the screws, is that they are so small, that they are encased in the knobs they sit in, allowing him to run a regular inner tube, without having to armor the back side of the tire.

The result is a tire that is still pretty light weight.

One of the problems with current winter tires in general, is that they are tanks. And at the moment, they are very skinny.
Not really suitable for off road riding.
Nokian has a couple of offerings for commuting style bikes with stud counts of 120 or 240. The rubber is harder to help them retain the studs. These are the same studs found in your studded snow tires. They are carbide tipped to help them last longer from being dragged across pavement.

An off road tire should have different traits. It needs to be wide for floatation in snow, and have a good open tread pattern to help it shed muck and snow.

The Ignitor isn't made from a hard compound, which should allow the little set screws to give into the tire when riding over rocks, but hopefully grab any ice with it's points. Removing half of the knobs may not have only just helped it to shed snow and muck, but it may have offset the weight of the added set screws.

While the tire's inaugural ride was a short one, limited to a dirt road, it did do it's job quite well. I think he's planning another ride this weekend, when he'll really put them to use.

While there is no "real" 29er winter tire right now either, I have it from a good source that next year we will see a 29er off road winter tire.

But if you have enough free time and motivation, you can pretty much turn anything into a studded tire.