... somewhere on the web I saw this technique of banding bicycle tires with cable ties / zip ties, to provide extra friction and control-ability in snow and ice. I believe the practice started in the Pacific Northwest, but I'm not positive.
I decided to try this out on the rear wheel of my Felt3, starting Christmas Eve. When I got back home after a short 5 mile circuit, I noticed I was short a few cable ties. Well today I commuted by bike, and ended up picking up most of the cable-ties I shed on Christmas Eve. Don't want to litter, and all that. By the time I was at work, I had shed all but three or four out of 30 something.
Upon examination of the broken cable ties, they had failed not at the zip-locking mechanism, but had snapped clean in the center of their bands, where they were being overridden by the tire itself.
Seems that while cable ties might stand up to the somewhat warmer winters of the PacNW, the plastic becomes embrittled quickly in the 10F and below temperatures of the north-central midwest. Ping!
I haven't really noticed a degradation in performance without the ties. The bike handles about as well as you'd expect on stretches of compressed snow or compacted ice sheet. Which is to say, marginal. :)
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