I made some home made snow chains for my bicycle. Version 2.0 is on the front wheel of my hard-tail mountain bike. Version 1.o did not clear the brake arms and had to be taken apart. It was pretty simple. I just stretched some little pieces of chain across the tire and held them in place with some plastic coated wire rope. Here are some pictures:
In this first picture you see the upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0. This is where the 1.0 version failed and hit the bike. That's bad. Anything that hits the frame as the wheel goes around is bad. It would be pretty safe in the snow, cause I'd be walking! In the foreground there you can see the chain wrapping around the edge of the tire.
This is how I connected the two ends of the loop of cable. Just used a crimping tool and locked them together. I think Version 2.1 will go on the back and the loops will be a tad smaller. I put the zip ties on to control the loose ends of the cable. There are some sharp edges there. Sharp and tubes don't go together well. 2.1 will probably get a heat shrink wrap over this whole joint as well.
Lastly here is the final product. I would like to see straighter lines from one piece of chain to the next. This will be accomplished by shortening the loops.
I only did the front wheel cause I ran out of chain, DOH! I figured no chain on the back would only slow me down. A wreck when the back wheel slides out at low speed isn't too bad. A higher speed wrek when the front wheel flies out from underneath you is worse. Thus front wheel first. Also getting the tension on the chains is more important on the back wheel delivering power over the front and these were a tiny bit loose. I tried them out in the snow and I couldn't get the front wheel to slide under heavy braking. I hope it gets me to work tomorrow!
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