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Some much better DIY bike chains: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/11/diy_bicycle_tire_ch...

These could probably be improved further by ditching the zip ties for something reusable like velcro.

Not recommended. The cross-chain links will gradually wear from grinding on the pavement to the point where they'll break. When that happens, the loose chain can get snagged in the frame (or--even worse--the fork) and lock up the wheel. I went over the handlebars when this happened to me on the front wheel several years ago.

Carbide-tipped studded tires made by Schwalbe, Kenda, or Nokian are definitely the way to go. We've operated a bike delivery business for the past 18 years in the upper Midwest US and have tried almost everything. Nothing else works as well nor as reliably. The tires will last a few years so the cost per year is not huge.

I did this once- it's a lot trickier to get that set up when you haven't got disk brakes, lemme tell ya. The chains wore out a lot faster than I expected, to the point that it wasn't a practical solution.

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