Winter Cycling - Snow Control

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA

View Full Version : Snow Control

way124
12-10-05, 04:43 PM
1.75" non-studded, intermmediate thread. ~60psi (too lazy to let some gas off). Not easy to control at all! Are Nokians/skinny tyres that much better?

http://irqnine.info/videos/cycling/Snow%20Ride%20b.wmv

Roody
12-10-05, 04:50 PM
That looks like me the other night, except I wore a coat :). I had to walk up one hill in just a little more greasy snow than you are showing in the video. How humiliating! I had 1.5 inch slicks and couldn't get going up the hill.
plodderslusk
12-10-05, 05:07 PM
It looks like you have a rather faststeering bike. A longer wheelbase studded bicycle will give you much better control. Let it move, don't try to control the bike every centimeter of the way, that does not work.
And yes, studded tyres are that much better especially on the barer parts of the road.

tandemonium
12-11-05, 09:40 PM
way,
First of all I enjoyed the vid. It helped me understand your situation.
Here's my take:
I weight 170 with a loaded camelbak. For years I was running Michelin Wildgripper 1.9" on the front and back in the snow and could climb some surprisingly steep hills. I don't like studs. Studs slip on pavement and rocks. I can crawl over logs just fine without them and never found studs helpful in looser snow. We ride a frozen lake bed and snowmobile trails without studs.

I found I had to run 25-30 cold psi. Place your bike outside for 20 minutes then check the tire pressure.

Re; the car tire track imprints on the street. If these were nearly frozen they will always deflect you. Lower your shock pressures for a more supple ride. Deal with the monkey motion by smoothing your pedal stroke. Ride loose and don't fight it. Use your waist as a pivot point and let your lower torso wobble while trying to keep your arms loose. Sometimes compressed snow with ridges yields less traction than fresh loose snow.

A slower cadence in the snow seems to help provide increased stabilty.

This winter I'm using IRC Trail Bear 2.25" on the front and Panaracer Fire XC Pro 2.1" or Specialized D2 Wet 2.25" on the rear. Contrary to other posts I like the wider tires far better than narrow tires.