My thoughts and attitude towards winter cycling

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I have never heard such b0ll0cks. Nothing dangerous about correctly fitted mudguards, and I have used them in some pretty rough terrain during my time.
Not rough enough obviously. I’ll just sit here and wait for the inevitable “it’s not fair, I hit something in the dark, that wedged in my mudguards and sent me into a tree.
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My travel pass starts one zone away so I commute come rain, wind, or shine.

The one thing upon which I insist on all my bikes are full mudguards. These make keeping a bike clean so much easier and reduce the speed at which components degrade, which in turn, means you're more likely to ride whatever the weather. The stripe up the back isn't a good look.

Both my regular bikes have steel mudguards scrounged off junk bikes, with a mudflap made from old inner tubes for that extra hippy vibe. These took some creativity to fit to the frames, but shield me from anything which is important as I ride in work clothes. These aren't smart but shouldn't get muddy. The guards are just big enough to take snow tyres.

The Bakfiets had the same sort of thing fitted as standard which keeps it mostly clean.

Fixed gear - less to clean and nothing to gunge up.

Spray insides of tubes with car rustproofer.

Wax paintwork.

Smear anything chromed, all bolt heads etc, with vaseline.

Oil chain with a really good wet condition lube.

I'll put some of those into practice, although fixed gear bikes aren't fun with our topography: I've seen two locally in the last 14 years, and one of those was a bike messenger from Stuttgart who looked very unhappy at being surrounded by fields. The other was seen trying to climb our street twice and vanished after that...
 
My ESGE/SKS chromoplastic guards all have secu clips that breakaway. They have activated twice, successfully. The twig or wire meets the first stay and the mudguard comes loose. The twig pushes the mudguard out but does not jam.
Without secu clips, plastic ones are even more dangerous than metal. 1970s plastic would shatter but reinforced plastic will fold up and allow the twig to ride around the tyre to the fork, causing an instant jam.
Secu clips work.
 

Tail End Charlie

Well, write it down boy ......
I heard of someone going over the bars when they hit a pile of frozen-solid horse dung on a dark lane. Ignominy doesn't really cover it.
Off topic, but that reminds me of the story (probably apocryphal) that German tank commanders thought it was lucky to drive over dung (camel if in the desert), so those clever bods at the SOE came up with a land mine disguised as a pile of dung. Eventually the Germans caught on and avoided the piles of dung, so the even cleverer bods at the SOE came up with a landmine disguised as a pile of dung - which had tank tracks going through it.

Anyway, back to mudguards, crack on.
 

nickyboy

Norven Mankey
As with all winter rides, I look for legitimate excuses not to go for a ride...too windy, too wet, too icy, too busy, too tired
Then as soon as I'm on the bike it's great. I ride all through the winter. I just avoid the high roads when it's icy or windy
Oh, and I don't have mudguards

Having got reasonably fit, I'm not going to take a few months off and then have to start all over again. It's too painful here in the Peak District
 

GuyBoden

Guru
Location
Warrington
"All A̶n̶i̶m̶a̶l̶s̶ mudguards are equal, but some mudguards A̶n̶i̶m̶a̶l̶s̶ are more equal than others." Quote: George Orwell.
 

Milzy

Guru
Winter cycling is pointless when you can use a choice of about 12 good apps on the smart trainer.
Maybe it just makes people feel hard. The risk of crashing or been run over really isn’t worth it is it??
 

Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
Winter cycling is pointless when you can use a choice of about 12 good apps on the smart trainer.
Maybe it just makes people feel hard. The risk of crashing or been run over really isn’t worth it is it??
There's no more risk of crashing or being run over than at any other time of year. And personally I'd rather set fire to my ears than use any form of indoor trainer.
 

Vantage

Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
I wouldn't use mudguards on a turbo trainer though.
This poor chap got some carpet fibres trapped in his...

ny090913.jpg
 
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