A knobby bike tire with almost 300 studs and directional travel. Made by the snow tire folks - Nokian



The tire was put on the front of the bike. The thought was that directional stability was more important than traction. And traction was only a marginal problem in the past. It turned out a correct thought but once this the tire was in place and I was out on the snow and ice, I was simply amazed at the performance this tire created. The word fabulous falls short of what I was able to do! For the first time the only traction problem was the rear tire spinning and sometimes sliding to the side on glare ice.

You can look and just tell that this really bites!



The tire was crackly and noisy on pavement, and set up a buzz on the chassis that reminded me of the 230 kompresser I used recently. But when on snow and ice, the noise disappeared and the ride was quiet and smooth.



The views were stunning. Note Mt. Rainier in the background



The destination didn’t really matter. It was all about the journey.



I logged a little over 30 miles and can’t wait to do more!
But, am getting another studded snow tire for the rear

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"

How much did that puppy cost and can they be found online? Oh yeah, and is that a Frankenstem you've got?

__________________
Dean Albrecht
"Lead, follow, or better yet, get out of the way!"E500 owners motto

I ordered the tire, and will order another one from webmountainbike.com. The guy that runs the shop is really cool and helpful. I bought the tire for about $110 or so by the time shipping was added. Put it on a dedicated rim for about $45 including the tube and rim tape. No it’s no cheap, but a tiny price to pay to protect my face and other components from unexpected impact due to tire slippage.

Not sure I understand the Frankenstein ref, but the bike is an official hybrid. It’s called a Novara Safari – REI stuff, with just a few mods....

Erik, I looked into a DIY tire, but there are about a million things that can go wrong with this approach. Since my bike rides usually take me miles from anything but wildlife, and with no cell phone coverage, I thought the potential cost for DIY was way too high

BTW, I just found out that my big pix above, called “Roll into Winter” and taken on the first day of winter made photo of the day for one of the local news stations Woo Hoo!

__________________
...Tracy

'00 ML320 "Casper"
'92 400E "Stella"