Winter Cycling - Gearing up for Old Man Winter

Today we had a high of 60 degrees, and it got me thinking of Winter. So, I am about to take a look at the winter selections at Performance and Nashbar. Does anyone have any suggestions of where else to look? I am planning on a lot of winter commuting this season, which I have not done for a couple of years, so I have some gear to buy.

Not to reply to my own post so quickly, but let me add these good winter gear websites.

www.sierratradingpost.com
www.campmor.com

(This post is superfluous.)

Steele-Bike, what passes for winter in Atlanta is a walk on a spring day to you.

We's wimps about de cold! ;)

Originally posted by Steele-Bike
Today we had a high of 60 degrees,

Unless I'm mistaken, 60F converts to about 15C. That's less than our MINIMUM last night. :eek:

Steele-bike, I don't think you have to "BUY" much stuff to get ready for winter commuting. The big thing is prepping your bike.

As far as clothes, winter biking in really cold places like Iowa is a dirty job that requires the same clothes you normally would use for an outdoor activity. Forget the tights and fancy biking shoes.

Two special pieces of clothing you might not have, but should for biking are a balaclava hat and a pair of gaitors (gators save your clothes from the slush and keep your legs warm).

Change your pedals to old-fashioned granny pedals. You will need to get your feet off your pedals at lightening speed when you are "going down" on ice.

Make sure your spokes and rim are stainless steel or some other non-corrosive material.

Give your bike a couple of coats of the best automobile wax you can get.

Lube you chain with heavy weight motor oil.

Prepare a convenient area or location where you can wash salt and slush off of you bike. Salt and road slush eat a bicycle fast. I really started to admire how well built automobiles and their parts are when I compared how much better they hold up in winter than bicycles do. You will have to clean your bike frequently.

I'm with Pete.
The temperatures are dropping a little here. One day very soon I'll have to wear a long sleeve T-shirt for the morning commute. ;)

I saw a few bargains in cool/cold weather cycling gear at Sierra Trading Post and Performance.

Originally posted by mike
...Forget the tights and fancy biking shoes...
Icebiking is way out of my league. But this part I understand.
"I love ya, Mike!" <sniff> :cry:


Salt and road slush eat a bicycle fast.
HEY! WHAT A GREAT IDEA!

Take all the XXXX-mart bikes and cast them into a Lake of Fire...um, er...Salt! ;)

Joe, do you know where we can find a Lake of Salt??? :D

They ought to call it, the "New Dead Sea."

(Just kidding, Your Highness! Please don't cancel my avatar... :cry: )

:confused:

It's not cold out unless the snot freezes on your face.

The more I cycle year round, the more I feel comfortable with a wide variety of temperatures. (The other day, at a client site, I had a couple of workers walking into the building complaining about how bitter cold it was. I went outside just after that without my jacket on, and it was comfortably in the 40's.

If it's not too windy, I find 37 degrees great for cycling. Nice crisp air.

Originally posted by ViciousCycle
It's not cold out unless the snot freezes on your face.

Yeah, dude! ;)

velo

Originally posted by ViciousCycle
It's not cold out unless the snot freezes on your face.

The more I cycle year round, the more I feel comfortable with a wide variety of temperatures. (The other day, at a client site, I had a couple of workers walking into the building complaining about how bitter cold it was. I went outside just after that without my jacket on, and it was comfortably in the 40's.

If it's not too windy, I find 37 degrees great for cycling. Nice crisp air.
Agreed.

Except the part about snot freezing on my face. I only wish!

How convenient for snot to freeze, rather than run into your mustache.

JonR has found riding gloves to be a great snot-rag. :p

Originally posted by Pete Clark
JonR has found riding gloves to be a great snot-rag. :p

Oh yeah, gloves are so much more convenient than the hand. ;)

velo

Okay, guys, move along now. This drift into a thread on body secretions is grossing me out. (Guess I better change my sig soon!)

Originally posted by Pete Clark

How convenient for snot to freeze, rather than run into your mustache.

I had originally been planning to say, "It's not cold out unless the snot freezes in your mustache." (Something my mustache finds annoying.) But then I changed the saying to be more generic, since not everyone has a mustache.

Getting back to winter clothing...
I've found a few bargains and a few not necessarily bargains at REI. If you have an REI store in your area they should have the same things.
Some of them are overstocks and closeouts so they might not be on the REI (http://www.rei.com) website.

I also find bargains from time to time at ... surprise, surprise ... my LBS.

I bought long sleeve T-shirts and fleece outerwear at Wal-Mart. These items can be found on the other side of the store from the Mongoose bikes. :D

What I do is: if I see something that I like, bike clothing-wise, I do a search and try to find the cheapest price. Most of the time I save 30-50% that way. I just got a Sporthill jacket that Amazon had for $116, I got it for $64 at Sierra Trading Post. The same for Sporthill winter XC pants. I saw them as high as $99, I got em for $46, again at Sierra Trading Post. Shopping around and going to Thrift stores can save you money. I see balaclavas for anywhere from $16 to $40. I got one for $4.95, once again, Sierra Trading Post. Sure you have to pay for shipping, but I combine my purchases to lower the cost of shipping. Happy Hunting!

When the temperatures here reach a high of 60F, I know summer has finally arrived!!

But ... this thread was originally started back in 2001. I suspect the OP is long gone.

Steele-bike, I don't think you have to "BUY" much stuff to get ready for winter commuting. The big thing is prepping your bike.

As far as clothes, winter biking in really cold places like Iowa is a dirty job that requires the same clothes you normally would use for an outdoor activity. Forget the tights and fancy biking shoes.

Two special pieces of clothing you might not have, but should for biking are a balaclava hat and a pair of gaitors (gators save your clothes from the slush and keep your legs warm).

Change your pedals to old-fashioned granny pedals. You will need to get your feet off your pedals at lightening speed when you are "going down" on ice.

Make sure your spokes and rim are stainless steel or some other non-corrosive material.

Give your bike a couple of coats of the best automobile wax you can get.

Lube you chain with heavy weight motor oil.

Prepare a convenient area or location where you can wash salt and slush off of you bike. Salt and road slush eat a bicycle fast. I really started to admire how well built automobiles and their parts are when I compared how much better they hold up in winter than bicycles do. You will have to clean your bike frequently.glad I saw this post....I wouldnt even think to do some of this stuff....its my first winter

Foxwear.net can take care of your cycling clothing needs at affordable prices. The only thing else you might need is a merino wool sweater.

Steele-bike, I don't think you have to "BUY" much stuff to get ready for winter commuting. The big thing is prepping your bike.

As far as clothes, winter biking in really cold places like Iowa is a dirty job that requires the same clothes you normally would use for an outdoor activity. Forget the tights and fancy biking shoes.

Two special pieces of clothing you might not have, but should for biking are a balaclava hat and a pair of gaitors (gators save your clothes from the slush and keep your legs warm).

Change your pedals to old-fashioned granny pedals. You will need to get your feet off your pedals at lightening speed when you are "going down" on ice.

Make sure your spokes and rim are stainless steel or some other non-corrosive material.

Give your bike a couple of coats of the best automobile wax you can get.

Lube you chain with heavy weight motor oil.

Prepare a convenient area or location where you can wash salt and slush off of you bike. Salt and road slush eat a bicycle fast. I really started to admire how well built automobiles and their parts are when I compared how much better they hold up in winter than bicycles do. You will have to clean your bike frequently.

You forgot the frame saver for steel bikes!

Today we had a high of 60 degrees, and it got me thinking of Winter.

That's SUMMER!

Ditto the idea that you don't need to buy much. If you're not looking at negative f. temps, there's no need to go hog wild. For subfreezing avoid cotton and use layers of wicking poly and polartech. Gloves and balas are nice, but you don't have to spend much on either. My very best gloves, that held up down well below zero f., were some surplus wool ones that cost about two bucks.

and, the time to check Campmor(and I'd assume Sierra trading Post also) for winter cycling stuff is proibably starting around February of next year. That's when they'll start blowing out this season's winter gear at very low prices.

I bought 2 pair of Sugoi Firewall tights for something like $60, which was half off their regular price. And a Sugoi jacket with Firewall, originally $200, for around $50. Only wore the tights a few times last winter, and haven't even tried out the jacket yet, but couldn't pass up those kinds of prices. And am now all set for this season.

craft.Layers of craft. Layers and layers of craft. I also recently discovered defeet arm and knee warmers and they are wonderful...:)