Making Motorbike Snow Chains

When it comes to motorbike snow chains the market isn't flooded with options. There are a few motorbike snow chains available on the web, but very limited regarding tyre sizes. Because there were motorbike snow chains available in my tyre sizes, I decided to create my own.

This article shares information about how I created mine. This is by no means an exhaustive resource for creating motorbike snow chains, with detailed measurements, however it should be a great help if you are considering building your own motorbike snow chains.

Sourcing the Parts

Main road-wearing chain: The road-wearing chain comes into contact with the ground, repeatedly, and for this reason it needs to be high quality. Generally, the road-wearing section of most snow chains is high tensile chain, and it has square edges for added grip on the road surface. For my motorbike snow chains, I couldn't find a company that supplied high tensile snow chain by the length, so I purchased an affordable car snow chain set, and cut out the high tensile road-wearing chain sections. This was the most expensive portion of the total cost, sourcing chain by the length would be far more economical if you have a supplier near you.

Alternatively, if your motorbike snow chains are only going to be used for emergencies, or very rarely, you could use a lower cost mild steel chain which will only last half the time, but would be low cost to source, and serve the purpose for a short distance emergency. 

Inner chain: This chain runs around the inside of the tyre like a hub, and is used to link all of the road-wearing sections of chain. I use a mild steel chain with good load ratings, and have successfully used both 1/8” and 5/32” gauge chain.

Chain joiners: Because chain joiners were also difficult to source, I simply used links from the mild steel chain, mentioned above. I cut through the join weld with an angle grinder, opened up the link with a pair of pliers, used this to connect the main road wearing chain to the inner chain. Once connected, this chain link was then closed up, and re-welded. 

Stainless steel carabiners: These are used to join the two inner chains together.  For this I use heavy duty stainless steel carabiners.

Springs: These are used to to securely hold the chains in place on your tyres.  

Spring S hooks: These are attached to the end of each spring. The end that clips onto the spring is compressed in on itself so it is permanately attached to the spring, making fitting the snow chains quick and easy. 

Check out the recommended supplies at the bottom of this article for suggestions and links to these items.

Assembling the Motorbike Snow Chains

This can be a time-consuming task, but I was surprised by the fact it was much easier than I thought it would be. The process involves:

Firstly, cutting the inner chains so that they are about the same circumference as the wheel rim, where it meets the tyre (see the photos below)

Secondly, cutting and attaching the road-wearing sections of chain, to the inner chain

Lastly, hooking up the springs for a final fitment check