Winter Bicycles

[Hydra]

Yeah, I know, the sun's shining and the temperature is rising... so I guess talking about SNOW and COLD is at the back of your minds right now. However, I think it's the perfect time to get thinking about a winter bike!

This last winter I had to take far too much time off the bike than I was happy with, due to the snow. This year I want to be prepared, with a bike that looks at snow and simply shrugs!

The obvious choice I guess would be a mountain bike with chunky tyres. If I went down this route I'd likely choose the second hand e-bay option, simply because it would only get used (abused) for the winter and that's it.

My real choices lie somewhere between a proper touring bike (something cheap and cheerful like the Country Traveller) and a cyclo-cross type bike, the latter of which I have no knowledge about.

A tourer would fulfill my desire to eventually do a wee tour and long-distance travelly-type jobbies and would get used all year round for shopping jobs et cetera. I'd imagine the heavier weight and wider tyres will handle snow well.

And then there's a cyclo-cross bike. Like I mentioned above I don't know anything about these bikes. My assumption would be that they're perfectly capable of snow riding, but I could be wrong. If I went down this route though the possibility of touring/long-distance goes out the window...

There's plenty of time to think about this, and plenty of time to save, but it's better to get the (snow)ball rolling early!

So I'll open the floor to your comments. What suggestions/advice can you offer? What bikes do you all use during the worst of the winter (if at all)? Etc etc

 

[monkeypony]

Marathon winter tyres on the cross bike.

Saw me through all conditions last winter. The tyres really are amazing! They're quite draggy though so its worth investing in seperate rims to put them on. That way you haven't got to faff whan you wake up and its super icy. Just change wheels and off you go

Full mud guards are a must too!

 

[corshamjim]

All year round I use a Pashley Paramount. Yes it's heavy and it only has 3 gears (it came with five but I replaced the hub for a 3-speed - long story), but with totally enclosed gears and drum brakes it survives the winter weather, muck and salt really well. Touring with it is possible, albeit at a slow pace.

If I was bothered to go a bit faster I'd probably choose something like the Carrera Subway 8, the Genesis Day One or one of the Trek Soho models. You're right, Cyclo-Cross bikes are probably a good option too, especially now that disk brakes are an option.

Whatever you end up with I recommend you get something with enough clearance to fit proper winter studded tyres. The ones I've been using are Schwalbe Marathon Winter, which work pretty well in the dry too so I can leave them on the bike all through the winter.

For lighting I use a bottle dynamo which is better than worrying about batteries, but it's a bit draggy, a bit noisy and limits my choice of tyres a bit. In very deep snow, the snow clags up between the wheel and the dynamo too. I recommend if you have some spare cash to consider getting a hub dynamo. Personally I only power the front light from the dynamo, as batteries last a month or more in the rear light anyway.

It's great being able to leap on to the bike while all the neighbours are scraping the ice from their windscreens and getting stuck in snowdrifts and on icy slopes.

 

[Mad at urage]

Winter bike:
Hub gears (won't jam with ice and slush)
Marathon winter tyres (grip on ice and snow)
Full mudguards + flaps (keep that wet stuff off you and the bike - and everyone else around)
Large clearance around mudguards (for above tyres)
Lowish gearing (you won't be tearing along with those tyres, your body will be happier with lower gearing and you don't want to spin the wheel)
Flat bars ? (with bar-ends of course. Will give you a more upright position for control in slippery conditions - which is one reason mountain bikes use them. OTOH there will be wind in winter (but there is in summer so ...))
Dynamo lights and/or http://www.evanscycl...nt#BVRRWidgetID ?(personally I'd also have battery lights - can't be too well lit in winter!)
Aluminium frame? (Mine's steel, but that is just the way it evolved ...)
Shimano M424 pedals ? (SPDs with nylon cage protecting them, giving option of use with walking shoe/boot)

 

[BSRU]

Last winter was my first experience of winter commuting, without the Marathon Winters there would have been lots of days of no riding.
I have two sets of wheels, one with my winter tyres, Marathon Plus and the other with Marathon Winters, put on which ever were best for the conditions.
Just bought a £5 MTB of EBay, in need of some tlc then add some Ice Spikers and I be set for next winter, with lots of options.

 

[palinurus]

I don't have a special winter bike, just use my 'cross bike. I have started using Schwalbe snow stud tyres on a spare set of wheels but I've found a typical 'cross mud tyre (small knobbles) works pretty in snow at low pressure- even compacted snow.

If I didn't have a 'cross bike I'd pick up a S/H rigid MTB and slap some winter tyres on it. I probably wouldn't change anything else.

For non-icy winter rides I use a road bike with mudguard clearance, 28 mm tyres and hub-dynamo powered lighting with good rechargeable battery backup.

 

[smokeysmoo]

+1 for a CX bike. I use a Focus Mares with 700x28 Schwalbe Marathons, it just eats everything I throw at it

You could always go fixed/ss. I have a Langster Steel too which I ride fixed @ 48:18 with 700X25 Schwalbe Durano+. Needless to say maintenance on that is an absolute doddle

Used to have a Ribble 7005 as well, cracking bike but I ignored the advice and bought the wrong size, d'oh!

 

[Hydra]

I shall look in to getting some Marathon Winters, they seem to be popular winter treads. I've had no problems with my Marathon Pluses but they don't do snow/ice too well.

Single speed/fixed is out of the question. I live in Sheffield which is hilly all over, combine that with ice... no good!

A CX bike may well be the bike for the job. What are the 'main' cross bikes I should be looking at?

Still, I'm thinking the second-hand mountain bike option might be better, after all if I buy a shiny new bike I might not want to subject it to anything other than bone dry, warm conditions

 

[smokeysmoo]

A CX bike may well be the bike for the job. What are the 'main' cross bikes I should be looking at?

Most manufacturers have a CX bike in their range. I can fully recommend the Focus Mares. I have a Mares AX1.0 with full Ultegra, to put that in perspective, I saw the current Scott CX bike in my LBS, it was £1k with Tiagra - I paid less than that for my Focus

Different strokes for different folks I guess, shop around and see what you like. Wiggle do a 30 day test ride on Focus bikes as well, so that's somehting to consider perhaps.

View the Mares range HERE

 

[stephec]

I don't know what your budget is, but I use a Kinesis Racelight winter bike with Krylion carbons on, great if you want something that's still a bit nippy as well.

 

[cameramanjim]

Last winter was my first commuting on a bike. I didn´t miss a day because of the weather, and all I did was add mudguards to my Charge Plug and even kept the same 28mm tyres (although I swapped the rear one for a Gatorskin Hardshell).
I´m lucky (?!) in that I live quite close to the south circular which is gritted regularly in bad weather. I live near Clapham Common, and only had to negotiate short distances through the snow to the sounth circular, with a just 7 miles to work, all along major roads.

 

[cyberknight]

Managed all last winter except when we had the bad snow on 23 mm gatroskins, i had 1 off which was a low speed slide on black ice and not matter what tyres you had i think you would have gone .

Round here we had compacted snow that then turned to ice when it stayed about - 10 for a week, the main roads were not to bad but i have to use a cycle path that was so bad i ended up walking it ,with spds as well it was not a fun time trying to stay upright

 

[niggle]

Winter bike:
Hub gears (won't jam with ice and slush)
Marathon winter tyres (grip on ice and snow)
Full mudguards + flaps (keep that wet stuff off you and the bike - and everyone else around)
Large clearance around mudguards (for above tyres)
Lowish gearing (you won't be tearing along with those tyres, your body will be happier with lower gearing and you don't want to spin the wheel)
Flat bars ? (with bar-ends of course. Will give you a more upright position for control in slippery conditions - which is one reason mountain bikes use them. OTOH there will be wind in winter (but there is in summer so ...))
Dynamo lights and/or http://www.evanscycl...nt#BVRRWidgetID ?(personally I'd also have battery lights - can't be too well lit in winter!)
Aluminium frame? (Mine's steel, but that is just the way it evolved ...)
Shimano M424 pedals ? (SPDs with nylon cage protecting them, giving option of use with walking shoe/boot)

Hub gears: check!
Marathon Winter tyres: no- got a set of DIY studded Schwalbe Landcruisers hanging in the garage ready though
Full mudguards and flaps: check!
Large clearance around mudguards: check! (have a set of wide SKS to use with the Landcruisers)
Lowish gearing: check! (chain ring swapped from 44T to 40T)
Flat bars: check! (no bar ends but do have Ergon grips)
Dynamo lights: er no... (have got rechargeable set with Li ion battery)
Aluminium frame: check!
Shimano M424 pedals: check!

Pretty close to the spec though, and here it is:

Winter pics: