Dan wrote:
There already are studded bicycle tyres, why make your own? :-?
@Dan,
Because the only one's we've seen for sale in the UK are (courtesy of Schwalbe) are around £40 a pop which is expensive for something that we'll only use once or twice a year maximum.
Better to take a worn all weather tyre on it's last legs and modify it on the quiet (my pal is a metalworker by trade and has all the materials / tools required free of charge).
BTW, almost no-one in the UK uses winter tyres on our cars. The last long term "big freeze" I recall here East Anglia was back in February 1991! Most drivers here have little or no experience of driving on snow, hence we had major problems in 2002 when a brief snowfall ground the M11 motorway to halt for 24 hours (trapping many drivers in their cars overnight) because our local councils aren't bothering to use proper grit on our highways.
It's no accident that Scandinavian drivers seem to dominate the WRC!