Studded tires

Since my studs wore down quickly last winter, I decided to replace them. I have Innova studded tires and first went to my local bike shop where I bought my tires. I waited months for their order to come in and was finally told they were no longer stocked. They are listed as being sold in bags of 100 or bags of 25.

I next went on line and found several shops who had them listed, but in actuality they had none.

I did have the replacement tool in a little blue zippered bag which had an email address for Innova on it, so I took my chances and lo and behold someone responded. Here is their response. "The replacement studs are available thru Quality Bicycle Parts; but you must either buy on line just do a Google search for Innova Snow Tires and you will see a list of mail order companies that sell either the stud kit or loose studs for replacement and or these tires.

Our main distributor for Snow Tires is Quality Bicycle Parts and they sell to all bicycle shops and your local bike shop can order the loose studs thru them.

Here is the phone # 800 346-0004 and they will direct you to the nearest bike shop."

I followed their instructions and QBP no longer stocks the studs, so I contacted the Innova rep again. He couldn't believe QBP didn't stock them. He reluctantly sold me enough of the bags of 25 in the little blue zippered vinyl bags to replace the studs on both of my tires. He did sell them to me at a discounted rate below the normal 25 stud/bag rate. It turns out these were the "Stud Kits" which were supposed to have the replacement tool. Since I had told him I have a tool, he ended up keeping all the tools and sent just the studs. I now have about 10 little blue zippered vinyl bags. I got the impression that I was depleting the entire supply for the U.S. (These tires come from Taiwan). I also indicated my dissatisfaction about how rapidly the studs had worn down (about 100 miles of mixed pavement and ice) and asked if the replacements are high carbon steel. He said there is a high carbon steel coating.

I've now replaced the studs in both tires (110 per tire, about 1.5 hrs/tire to replace studs) and have 22 miles on the front tire (I didn't use the studded tire on the back yet). Much of the ride (5.5 miles) is bare pavement with one to two block-long stretches of ice. The new studs show considerable wear already. So much for high carbon steel coating. I've since taken the studded tires off, conserving them for extreme ice conditions.

Bottom line....if you're looking for studded tires, don't get Innova unless you are riding on 100% ice. The tires are very effective on ice, but the studs wear very quickly if there is pavement invovled (not sure how thay would hold up with gravel). They are much less expensive than other brands of studded tires.

One other problem I've had is the base of the studs cutting through to the inside of the tire, thus cutting the innertube. That has happend three times in the 130 miles if ridden these tires.

Anyone have experiences with other brands of studded tires?

A side note, the little blue zippered bags work great for storing paint brushes <2" in width. Just cut a slit in one end for the brush handle to extend through.