No substitute for a car?

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Linford

Guest
I gained some infamy a couple of years ago......

When we had the snow, Portsmouth stopped

At 08:00 the only one of the managers in was me..... lots of people weren't making it in due to the weather.

I had cycled in (recumbent trike with snow tyres) when 4x4s were failing!

The word went round, and to this day I have the reputation of being weatherproof!
There are 4x4s and there are soft roaders the only place to defeat mine was a 1:3 stretch of a hill road used in the Hell Of the North Cotswolds ride when we had heavy snow on the ground last winter. It was still the only vehicle to get up to that point. Most cycles would struggle up there on a dry day with no snow on the ground
 

subaqua

What’s the point
Location
Leytonstone
There are 4x4s and there are soft roaders the only place to defeat mine was a 1:3 stretch of a hill road used in the Hell Of the North Cotswolds ride when we had heavy snow on the ground last winter. It was still the only vehicle to get up to that point. Most cycles would struggle up there on a dry day with no snow on the ground

its still a 4x4 though, and i doubt the problem for cyclists is lack of traction to all wheels
 
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Drago

Legendary Member
Got a spare set of wheels for the Disco, shod with spangly new Hankook winter boots.

No point having a 4 x 4 if you run it all winter with conventiional boots. It'll have all the traction of a one legged cat burying a jobbie on a frozen pond.
 

subaqua

What’s the point
Location
Leytonstone
Got a spare set of wheels for the Disco, shod with spangly new Hankook winter boots.

No point having a 4 x 4 if you run it all winter with conventiional boots. It'll have all the traction of a one legged cat burying a jobbie on a frozen pond.

dependss on how good your conventional boots were, and how good you are at putting the power through them. Goodyear M&S were rather good all year round and never let me down in very sticky mud at the bottom of a quarry when i went to a cable repair.
 

smutchin

Cat 6 Racer
Location
The Red Enclave
Feb 2009 when the heavy snow hit London on a sunday night a colleague of mine was on breakfast news on Waterloo bridge being interviewed about getting into work on the monday . HE WAS ON HIS BIKE. I walked the 6 miles took me 3 hours. then the tubes started again so i went home and made snow angels with the kids.

During the worst of the 2009 snow down in east Kent, the line between Faversham and Whitstable (where I live) was often closed. But I was able to get home from Faversham easily thanks the Marathon Winter tyres on my bike.

Of course, the one occasion when I didn't have my bike with me was when the train only made it as far as Gillingham and instead of the usual 8pm, I didn't get home until 4am.

d.
 

al78

Guru
Location
Horsham
There are 4x4s and there are soft roaders the only place to defeat mine was a 1:3 stretch of a hill road used in the Hell Of the North Cotswolds ride when we had heavy snow on the ground last winter. It was still the only vehicle to get up to that point. Most cycles would struggle up there on a dry day with no snow on the ground

The great advantage of a bike in those conditions is that if you genuinely can't cycle up the hill there is always the get off and push option. You can't do that with a car. There are virtually no weather conditions in the UK that will stop a pedestrian making progress.
 

Linford

Guest
The great advantage of a bike in those conditions is that if you genuinely can't cycle up the hill there is always the get off and push option. You can't do that with a car. There are virtually no weather conditions in the UK that will stop a pedestrian making progress.


You can also do that in a car, but have the added bonus that you aren't already knackered from the effort of climbing to that point, and aren then dragging your transport up the rest of the hill. I only went up there to see if I could actually do it.
Drivers are pedestrians when they get out of the car as well ;)
 

400bhp

Guru
You can also do that in a car, but have the added bonus that you aren't already knackered from the effort of climbing to that point, and aren then dragging your transport up the rest of the hill. I only went up there to see if I could actually do it.
Drivers are pedestrians when they get out of the car as well ;)

How do you push your car up a hill?
 

Linford

Guest
you're rambling.

read al78's post again as you weren't comparing like with like.

And he wasn't either. He was comparing pedestrians riding cycles, with pedestrians driving cars as I read it. I say if the weather is that bad, you won't cycle it, and so no advantage to dragging it up the hill with you...the same as a 4x4 really. Either way vehicular movement was not ont he cards, but on foot it was.
 
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