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Riding during off season.


NewbieWheeler

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On 2/7/2019 at 8:33 AM, Scatcat said:

I DO get an urge to go off-road with this tire. I'd love to put it on in the summer if there was just a little less work to switch and balance it. Going into the woods should be fun as fun with something like this on. 

Yes to more of this.   Would be hella fun on dirt trails. 

I like to own a secondary EUC, perhaps an MSX with a setup like yours, for icy winter and summer dirt trail use, and continue to use my KS-18XL during fair weather on urban city streets.

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FFS. So I mounted a big heavy snow tire, and studs, and now the temperatures in Gothenburg suddenly stays above freezing for at least the next ten days...

Did someone up there see me and decide it was time to have a joke at my expense?

Edited by Scatcat
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1 hour ago, Scatcat said:

FFS. So I mounted a big heavy snow tire, and studs, and now the temperatures in Gothenburg suddenly stays above freezing for at least the next ten days...

Did someone up there see me and decide it was time to have a joke at my expense?

Now I know what to do at next snowfall... @Scatcat time for you to bring out the anti snow thingy again...

As you know as soon you swap to normal tyre, what is bound to happen.😉

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20 hours ago, Unventor said:

Now I know what to do at next snowfall... @Scatcat time for you to bring out the anti snow thingy again...

As you know as soon you swap to normal tyre, what is bound to happen.😉

Well I screwed out the studs, and even with the knobbly tire I felt like a stealth machine when riding. You can't believe the racket with 2.5 mm studs sticking out of the tire... Let's hope the joking powers that be lets me off the hook for that little maneuver. ;) 

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3 hours ago, Scatcat said:

Well I screwed out the studs, and even with the knobbly tire I felt like a stealth machine when riding. You can't believe the racket with 2.5 mm studs sticking out of the tire... Let's hope the joking powers that be lets me off the hook for that little maneuver. ;) 

Ohhh no you jinxed the weather now.

Wheel voodoo boomerang karma.

Edited by Unventor
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On 2/20/2019 at 4:52 PM, Scatcat said:

The method takes some time and effort, but the result can be very good if done carefully.

After experimenting with numerous installation  techniques for your studded tire modifications I hereby present you with this honorary trophy. :)

32235792207_9824d542aa_b.jpg

 

 

 

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Thank you very much for the highly detailed and thorough posts @Scatcat.  I watched the stud tutuorial video your referencing and will edit my post with the link when I find it again. 

Right now, I have a Bridgestone M403 14" tire and both bike studs and screw-in studs at hand.  Looking at the fender clearance of my KS18XL, I don't think it will fit, but perhaps another brand of tire such as a ProTrax, who's nobby bits are more vertical than horizontal, will.  Though, I think the protuding nobby bits are necessary on EUC due to leaning during turns, much like a motorcycle tire.  Perhaps the best solution for myself is to buy a third EUC, a Gotway MSX :D for winter and dirt trail use. 

https://www.amazon.ca/ProTrax-Motocross-Offroad-Intermediate-Terrain/dp/B01JSI147C/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1550953393&sr=8-10&keywords=Michelin+14"+tire

 

61N2XDaZIJL._SL1001_.jpg

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Well I have given this another attempt even though it is the end of winter.  The stock tire I studded was too slippery in fresh snow since it has very little tread - not sure how you handle that @winterwheel , I don't like that feeling.  So copying @Scatcat I bought a new dirt bike tire, 60/100-14, which fits nicely.  Unfortunately the first one I bought in this size had knobs that were too wide, so there is a lot of variance in these tires.  I used my same method to stud it with bicycle studs, there are about 100 or so I'm guessing.  Rode it shortly this morning and it feels good so far.  Need to put more miles on it to know how it handles for sure though.

The other issue I had that was a big problem was icing of the pedals.  So I studded those as well.  I think it should solve the problem, and they are removable if necessary, I just lined up the backs of them with the grid within the pedal to keep them in place.

 

 

20190226_205718.thumb.jpg.69e19fde4d1b38085650fb089592ef6c.jpg20190228_211747.thumb.jpg.b0d38203e7c43e21d1b5e03e0234aed1.jpg20190226_210001.thumb.jpg.386aa21c4311bcd85dc4a3af9ea7747c.jpg20190226_205948.thumb.jpg.c920baa85eef9a12babaed16e9bf2e60.jpg20190228_211747.thumb.jpg.b0d38203e7c43e21d1b5e03e0234aed1.jpg

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48 minutes ago, Xoltri said:

Well I have given this another attempt even though it is the end of winter.  The stock tire I studded was too slippery in fresh snow since it has very little tread - not sure how you handle that @winterwheel , I don't like that feeling.  So copying @Scatcat I bought a new dirt bike tire, 60/100-14, which fits nicely.  Unfortunately the first one I bought in this size had knobs that were too wide, so there is a lot of variance in these tires.  I used my same method to stud it with bicycle studs, there are about 100 or so I'm guessing.  Rode it shortly this morning and it feels good so far.  Need to put more miles on it to know how it handles for sure though.

The other issue I had that was a big problem was icing of the pedals.  So I studded those as well.  I think it should solve the problem, and they are removable if necessary, I just lined up the backs of them with the grid within the pedal to keep them in place.

 

Awesome to hear you're giving it another go.

Yes, the worst part about riding when it gets super slippery is the stress of it...it's very hard to shake the feeling of impending doom once you hit a long ice patch. I mitigate this by taking the slippery stuff head on; if I see an ice patch I usually ride over it instead of around it. If I am a long stretch of very slippery stuff I will practice doing gentle slaloms on it, and thereby get a feeling that I am in control of the situation, rather than just hanging on and hoping. That said, this is my second winter of doing this now; the second winter was far easier than the first. Last year I would carry the wheel over certain tricky spots, this year I take them on. So the experience of daily riding may be a factor. Another secret-find gear to wear that allows you to fall down without hurting yourself. Hockey players don't mind falling on ice because their knees and elbows and helmet are all protected. The safer your gear makes you feel, the easier it is to attack tough conditions.

On the studs issue, I wear studs on my boots. That way if I have to step off when on ice my boots have grip. It's hard on the pedals though, the metal studs on my boots have worn a lot of the traction surface off the pedal so that it is just bare metal there now. Maybe your solution would allow me to have less aggressive studs. I'd want to be careful that the pedal studs didn't prevent adjusting feet on the pedals or releasing the wheel when you need to get off.

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1 hour ago, Bob Eisenman said:

the doom factor 

 

Newton's First Law of Motion  .........
and a body in motion at a constant velocity will remain in motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an outside force."
2 hours ago, winterwheel said:

taking the slippery stuff head on;

Must be that angled approach to a new direction. 
 
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Going around corners is okay, you just have to keep positive pressure on the outside pedal to keep the wheel from sliding out from underneath you. When I get distracted, as I did that time, I forgot to do that.

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Sounds about right.

53 minutes ago, Bob Eisenman said:

@winterwheel

Looks like a balance loss (hand moves up) starting around 9-10 seconds into the slow motion clip

Seems about right. It's a while back now but as I recall it was just as I was straightening out from the turn onto the bridge. I did that turn a bunch of times onto and off the bridge that day to get different video shots, the only time I crashed like that was when I was distracted by the pedestrian.

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  • 8 months later...
On 8/24/2018 at 12:05 PM, winterwheel said:

I would always tell people the safest place to be in extreme ice conditions is on the wheel.

I have had zero success riding on ice. This is with a non-studded tire. Fortunately for me, icy conditions in my area are infrequent.

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On 8/24/2018 at 4:40 PM, Dingfelder said:

Why do you find an EUC immune to slipping even though ... to me anyway ... it doesn't even seem to be possible to be immune to slipping?

That is my reaction also. I have not had any success whatsoever riding my EUC on ice. I have not tried a studded tire though.

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We had our first few days of light snow for the winter. Due to my superbly soft compound knobbly C-186 I’ve decided to try riding through the winter, and at least for now I had zero slipping. I’m afraid of sudden ice though, as I don’t think anything studless would do.

Then again, I have studless winter tires on my car. :huh:

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5 hours ago, MaxLinux said:

I have had zero success riding on ice. This is with a non-studded tire. Fortunately for me, icy conditions in my area are infrequent.

Maybe riding technique plays a role. I know that you you have to super careful to stay over the wheel, no leaning of any kind or its game over.

I know when I hit a super long stretch of really bad ice I get this super-strong sense that a  fall is inevitable, that I might as well give in to it and just go down, kind of like the feeling one gets standing at the edge of a high cliff.  It just seems counter-intuitive that you are still vertical, but somehow the wheel stays upright, as long as I am super careful not to make any sudden movements.

Tire pressure may pay a role, I would think a hard tire would go down easier.

Short patches should be easy to cross for anyone. We had a little (30ft) patch of ice show up by the rink last spring during one of our weekly sessions; it looked pretty scary and there were some weren't willing to try it. Those who did try it were able to cross without any issues or drama. 

 

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