Easy DIY Studded Enduro and Dirt Bike Snow and Ice Tires.

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Enduro riding doesn’t stop at winter! We decided to create our own DIY studded winter tires using Tapcon concrete screws…and they work great!

This video shows how we did it.

DIY Spiked Snow and Ice Website Thumbnail

Here are a few extra tips we didn’t cover in the video:

  • Another version of this is to put washers under every nut. We found this to be unnecessary. Presumably the washers protect the knobs, but we have had no problems with the knobs so far. Having the nut embedded in the knob as we have done actually gives you a little more life on the screws because more of the screw sticks out before you hit the nut. As well, the nuts are less likely to rotate off the screws if they are stuck into the knobs.
  • We’ve also seen people spot weld each nut to the screw, presumably to keep the nut from coming off. We have not yet had a nut come off the way we’ve done it. And when your screws wear out and you want to replace them, it’s much easier to do if they’re not welded together.
  • We’ve found that the closed-cell foam mat material we used as a liner gets compressed flat once you air up the tires. It still seemed to do the job of protecting the tube. I supposed you could also use rubber from a used tube as a liner. In any case, I’ve decided to run heavy duty tubes just to give me an extra margin of strength.
  • In deeper snow, especially when there are ruts from previous tires, lean back and keep the weight off the front wheel. This will help keep the front tire tracking forward and less likely to get affected by varying snow conditions. Much like riding on sand.
  • My nephew replaced the 1-1/4″ screws in his rear tire with 1-3/4″ screws. He claims that they give him way more traction in the deeper snow. They’ll also probably last longer before they wear out. The downside might be that when you’re driving on ice or other hard surfaces they could be a bit squirrely.

4 thoughts on “Easy DIY Studded Enduro and Dirt Bike Snow and Ice Tires.”

  1. Very cool engineering…obviously effective. Back in the day (old fart story follows) we used # 9 sheet metal screws and used the hex head for traction. Used 3M trim adhesive on the threads to try to keep em’ in the tire…not always successful. My thought is that an effective tire liner could be made out of an old inner tube. Just cut out the center of the tube and make a boot to be placed between the tube and the tire. This is an old farmer trick for repairing a tire with a big puncture in the carcass. Aside, I will never forget riding my studded tires in the dirt. Actually entered a local MX with them and was literally dragging the handlebars in the turns. Thanks and be safe out there…………………….Phil

    • Thanks Phil! Great story. I thought of using and old tube as well. But I saw the camping mat laying there and thought “hmmmm”. I’ve actually had the same thought of keeping the studs on there for muddy spring conditions. I bet they would do wonders for traction on wet, muddy, rooty single-track.

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