Overheard a guy say ice screws beat studs on glare ice, makes sense now

Last weekend up near Brainerd, a dude at the gas station was telling his buddy about riding a frozen lake and said he stopped running studs because they just slide on glare ice, but ice screws bite in. I got to thinking about it, our lake froze clear this January with no snow, and my track was spinning all over. Has anyone else switched over to ice screws for lake riding, or do you keep studs and just eat the spin on the hard stuff?

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1 Comment

johns1823d ago

Studs are still the way to go if you actually ride hard and hit any snow cover at all, and that guy at the gas station probably just wanted to sound smart. Ice screws might bite on pure glare ice, but the second you hit a patch of crusty snow or slush, they’re worse than useless because they don’t clear out the same way. Plus, screws wear down fast and you have to replace them every other weekend, while studs last a full season even if they do slide a bit on the absolute slick stuff. Everyone talks about glare ice like it’s the only condition you’ll see, but up north you get mixed ice, windblown spots, and soft melt all in one day. You really want to carry two sets of tracks around just for one perfect clear morning? That’s like buying a snowmobile for the one day it’s 50 degrees out. Learn to feather the throttle on the shiny ice and keep your money in your pocket.