Just to progress this a little bit and maybe help anyone in the future researching bike snow chains I thought I'd record any progress I make here. I'm in no rush as I don't need the finished product until next winter, nine months ahead, so updates may be infrequent but for what it's worth here's part one.

Firstly a disclaimer - the chains are for my 125 Suzuki so whatever I come up with may not be suitable for anything much larger.

After playing around with some garden fence chain from my local agricultural merchants I concluded that it was a road to nowhere. Firstly the stuff was flimsy - even for the stress a 125 would subject it to. I'd also need about about £40 worth of chain and then spend a lot of time welding links to construct it. Buying a set of secondhand car chains seemed like a much more suitable starting point and after a few failed bids, sniping software won me a set at a price so low I'm embarrassed to mention it. Here's what I ended up with -





Wrapping one of the chains around the rear wheel results in this -




Not the best of fits but nothing that a few minutes with an angle grinder and half a dozen rewelded links won't sort out. There are some extra bits in the box for tensioning the chain - rubber bands and clips, and they'll come into play in the next update when I've got the chain to fit. Laughter, puzzlement, suggestions and criticism all gratefully received as I'm happy to crowdsource the final design. Just remember though that I've only got £9 of my original budget left

Innovative bit of bodging there! £9 left? perfect ! enough for one of those!
p.s Instead of cable ties/straps- have you thought about using paracord to hold the chains in position across the rim?
550lbs breaking strain and no scratching the rims- just a thought-



( sorry, it's sunday and I could not resist it!)

Paracord - Ok, I'll add it to the list of things that may get used. A work colleague is a parachuting enthusiast and I'll ask if he's got any spare. Rim scratching is an issue with the 125 as the tyre is only as wide as the rim. I did a trial fit on another bike with a large (worn out) knobbly tyre where it overlaps the rim and the chain fit was much easier -



It's not fitted very well in the picture but with a bit more care and using the tensioning bands it would be ok - and nowhere near the rim.