My latest invention: Bicycle Tire Chains

Everybody knows about tire chains. I'd like to see how they're specified, especially the "T" where the transverse chains attach to the circumferential ones.

My wild idea is tire chains for bikes. I used to live in Minnesota, in an apartment that was within bike distance to work. In the winter, I couldn't bike in the snow. But there are dedicated bicyclists who might like something like bike tire chains, to drive the bike in adverse conditions.

The design is trivial, but I'd have to specify what chain, the "T" connections, and some kind of connector that's got length compliance, to accommodate variations in tire diameter and etc.

So, any suggestions on a specific chain, some kind of "T", and a connector?

Thanks, Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise
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Simpler, pieces of small square tubing strapped to the tire with zip-ties. Use those stainless zip-ties if you're feeling fancy, but the basic black quality ones should be fine for a season and easy to cut off at the end of the season. No need for any circumferential chains, since the spokes will keep the zip ties from moving anywhere.

Reply to
Pete C.

Nah, that's studs, which are illegal on car tires in some places, and they really suck for when the weather changes a lot. You'd have to change the whole tire. With chains, when you come to a dry spot, you just pop off the chains, ride across the dry spot, and remount them when you come to the next ice & crap.

Thanks! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

That's a very good point, thanks. :-)

So, I'd have to look at a lot of different bikes to see if there's a way to work within those constraints.

Thanks! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

You are forgetting that the brakes still have to clamp the rim.

Looks like somebody already had the snow chain idea.

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Reply to
anorton

This one's pretty clever, but could I grab the same kind of market share with something like this (how many people have a band crimper, and what happens when the snow melts?) as could be grabbed by clever marketing of chains?

Thanks! Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

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Yabbut, I'm not talking about giving my idea away to tire companies! =:-O

Thanks, Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

Oh, well.

Maybe I'll start thinking about mousetraps. ;-)

Thanks, Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

I made chains for my garden tractor:

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steel has little traction on dry pavement and practically none on rock, ie curbstones. Also the ride is very rough on hard surfaces above a walking speed.

The soft, sticky rubber in these give unbelievable traction on ice:

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I used to ride my Suzuki dirt bike on frozen lakes and snowmobile trails, with trials universal tires which have a square tread pattern.

jsw

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

My first thought was wrap the tire with cable. but then you could not use caliper brakes. Same as with Pete's idea. Soo..option #2

Drive a bunch of short tacks through a piece of metal pallet banding; let a little air out of the tires; put the band on; crimp it and air up the tire.

Reply to
aasberry

I think the big problem is the brakes. Unless you go to disc brakes, the traditional brake "calipers" are so close to the tire that it will be REALLY difficult to put ANYTHING over the tires without it hitting some part of the brakes. I could imagine a sort of knobby rubber belt that wraps snugly around the tire, but I could also imagine it slipping off sideways in turns or when maneuvering and locking up the wheel.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

Sheet metal screws from inside out, tire liner, tube.

Wes

-- "Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Reply to
Wes

I wrapped baling wire around the tire and wheel when I was in junior high. It worked. I also kept a drag chute under the seat.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

You think the brakes won't grab on those zip-ties? And don't all the "performance" bikes have disk brakes anyway making that a non issue?

Reply to
Pete C.

Just get a spare set of rims and put on studded ice tires - or spiked if you really want traction on hardpack.

50 #8 X 1/2" robertson screws will make an agressive "spiked" ice and snow tire - 25 on each side in the outer lugs. You need a good liner to protect the tube.
Reply to
clare

Not any more! They'll just have to get close to the chains, and BAM! the wheel will be stopped.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

I have used larger ZIP ties on my motorcycle for years. I try to avoid riding on snow and ice but I have used the ZIP ties several times to make it home in the past twenty years. I carry a back pack and the ZIP ties don't take up that much space.

DL

Reply to
TwoGuns

I used the screws on my bicycles to. They work great but require quite a bit more pedaling effort. Doing the front tire is the most important. You get better results with front and rear though.

A set of cables are easy to make also. Just keep the two outside cables on the rubber part of the tire. Run short cable cross pieces and make the sets just long enough to fit over an uninflated tire. Slip them on and put the wheels on the bike and fill with air. They will hold like super glue if you get the length just perfect. Your brake calipers will clear them also because they are above the rims. My tie idea in another post works great on motorcycles and it would work on bicycles with disc brakes also but not rim type brakes.

DL.

Reply to
TwoGuns

Ah, bicycles, the Peltier devices of transportation. Costly, ineffective, life-threatening, elitist, snobby. The true believer takes an utterly impossible situation like snow and turns it into an occasion for truly wacky make-believism.

Tire chains? Why don't you just invent a bicycle-powered helicopter and fly over all the weather? More feasible than a bicycle in snow.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

What? Shouldn't they be equipped with the more efficient DRUM BRAKES?

-- Experience is a good teacher, but she send in terrific bills. -- Minna Thomas Antrim

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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