Winter Cycling - How much snow is too much?

I am toying with the idea of building up a frame I have into a single speed just for this winter. I have all the parts I need, but I wanted to know how much snow is too much?

I would not be riding on the road, it would be an entirely off road experience.

It is a fully rigid frame, with relatively narrow rims. I was going to mount some 2" tires and run the pressure very low. I know that they make super wide rims and super wide tires, but I don't want to invest a lot of money. I basically want to do it with the equipment I have with the exception of some new tires. The terrain I would be riding is very hilly We have about a foot to two feet on the ground now.

Just wondering if it is worthwhile. I am kind of going trainer stir crazy, and thought It would be fun to move as I spin.

Any experiences would be much appreciated.

I dunno, I thought skinnier tires would be better in the snow. My Nokian studded tires are 1.5" and I've gone biking off road in fresh powder and I found my regular 2.1" MTB tires a little squirrely. They would fishtail alot unless I was good with keeping the weight there and not pedalling in too low a gear.

The more you are off the ground (more float) the harder it is for traction, unless the snow is hardpacked..

Jay

The depth of snow you can ride in depends a lot on the type of snow. I was riding through about 8" of powder a couple of weeks ago and it was great! But if it's heavier snow 5-6" of it can be more than you want to ride through. It is a lot of work to push a bike through that stuff, it never wants to go straight and it's like riding up a steep hill all the time. If you're riding on trails, it depends on who else is using them, usually the footprints, or tire tracks turn into ruts and freeze into ice. If your area is like this, you'll want studded tires. They're great on icey stuff, makes it almost the same as riding in normal condtions.

I was up at my cottage last winter, thought it would be great to ride the MTB on the snow covered lake, but.... There was about 2' of heavy snow on the ice, it was too tough to make any progress. You could work your heart out and still have a max. speed about the same as walking.

I agree with Jay, skinnier tires would be better.

skinnier tires are more effective in snow bc it puts more weight over a smaller contact patch, so you sink through the snow to the base for traction.

thicker tires spread your weight out more and are more effective for loosely packed ground, like sand, or deep mud.

this isnt definate though, for a heavy rider in mud it would be better to run standard width tires to sink to the base of the mud and grind through. but for a lighter weight rider a wide tire would be better because you can 'float' through the mud at a high speed to avoid sinking. heavy riders have no choice though, you sink no matter what, so a wider tire wont necessarily benefit you, but it might depending on conditions. nothing is definate! for sand, the wider the better, always.

i do agree with everyone else though, dont get fatties for the snow!

There are really a lot of variables in for snow riding. Fresh, deep powder is ridable, but requires lots of energy. I prefer trails that are already packed down by either hikers, snowmobilers, 4-wheelers, or anything else.

Different types of snow require different tire widths and different pressures. For really deep, unpacked snow, yes, skinny tires would be best because they reach the bottom of the snow and give some amount of traction. However, if the snow is at all packed down, such as in boot tracks or snowmobile tracks, a skinny tire will be a real problem. A wide tire run at low pressure works great in packed snow because it floats over everything. On a nicely packed trail, a wide tire can make you feel like you're riding on hardpack. Most of the people i ride with in the snow prefer wide tires all of the time. I haven't found a need for studded tires. I'm sure they'd be nice on icy streets, which I try not to ride anyway.

Single speeding in the snow is great, although plan to do some hike-a-biking.

This is getting there. Other than that I haven't found it yet.

I rode a little over 8 miles in the snow yesterday. The more I ride in the snow, the less convinced I am that I like it. As a matter of fact I am starting to be pretty sure. It is just a personal thing. I would rather be moving faster than a walking pace for most of my ride.

Even on the trails where there have been foot prints it is not good. The trail in these areas is the roughest known to man kind. There isn't a square inch that doesn't have an ice hard foot print in it somewhere. That is hard on the bum. :eek: After my ride yesterday I went home and got my 5 yr old son and a sled. We spent the rest of the afternoon sledding. We had a blast.

Maybe it is that i need to have at least some form of speed in order to have fun. Whatever it is, I have resigned my self to the fact that snow biking just isn't for me. I'll probably have to do it again here in the next day or two just because I love to be on the bike and the stuff doesn't appear to be going to melt before Independence day.

These will be fond memories this Spring when the grass is green and their are flowers in the field. Right now however, it just sucks.

This is getting there. Other than that I haven't found it yet.

Since a plow has been used in that photo, I disagree. That looks like easy sailing! :roflmao:

I rode a little over 8 miles in the snow yesterday. The more I ride in the snow, the less convinced I am that I like it. As a matter of fact I am starting to be pretty sure. It is just a personal thing. I would rather be moving faster than a walking pace for most of my ride.

Even on the trails where there have been foot prints it is not good. The trail in these areas is the roughest known to man kind. There isn't a square inch that doesn't have an ice hard foot print in it somewhere. That is hard on the bum. :eek: After my ride yesterday I went home and got my 5 yr old son and a sled. We spent the rest of the afternoon sledding. We had a blast.

Maybe it is that i need to have at least some form of speed in order to have fun. Whatever it is, I have resigned my self to the fact that snow biking just isn't for me. I'll probably have to do it again here in the next day or two just because I love to be on the bike and the stuff doesn't appear to be going to melt before Independence day.

These will be fond memories this Spring when the grass is green and their are flowers in the field. Right now however, it just sucks.

you just need to go snow biking in the right conditions. when there are frozen footprints it is the worst. you need to go before the footprints freeze... on a good layer of packed snow you can really get some speed, and have fun with controlled slides. if you go when the conditions are perfect youll become addicted!

you just need to go snow biking in the right conditions. when there are frozen footprints it is the worst. you need to go before the footprints freeze... on a good layer of packed snow you can really get some speed, and have fun with controlled slides. if you go when the conditions are perfect youll become addicted!

I agree. I like riding in light, undisturbed snow. That just seems hard to find. Sort of like finding a day with no wind i suppose. :p

i like riding in snow, but it varies day-to-day in conditions... and a LOT of snow is no good.

here in munich we had snow covering the trails for about a month and there was some good riding - fresh power, then packed (from hikers/bikers), but then we had some warm temps and wet snow and it was SLOW going/walking. last week was really warm and it all melted and i rode dry dirt (10% still under snow) on Friday. now it snowed again...

on the fat/skinny tire: i agree with some of the comments that it depends: in fresh snow that is not too deep a skinny tire is good as it cuts through for traction. but in hard-packer or crusted snow a wide tire that "floats" is best... i currently ride a 2.0 agressive studded front tire (about 300 studs) ont he front and a 2.5" mud tire in the back on one bike -- on the other i have both front and rear 1.9" non-agressive studded tires ---- the agressive stud and wide rear is good for all but wet fresh snow... and the narrower tires are good except for crusted snow.

but i don't even try and ride the DEEPLY covered trails in the mountains where stud or no studs, narrow or wide, the tires sink anywhere from 3 to 10 inches and you can't ride even a few feet...

The only chance of finding light/powder snow around here in northern NJ is to go during a snow storm. We are always in the period of mixed precip or days where it gets above freezing and then freezes overnight. We are too far south to the temps to stay freezing and too far north to get nothing but rain so what we always have here is ice and slush. Slush during the storms and ice afterwards, Especially when the tracks have been passed by ATVs or people. But I agree, biking in light powder is a whole lotta fun.

Jay

Since a plow has been used in that photo, I disagree. That looks like easy sailing! :roflmao:

Yes easy sailing, But not a before it was cleared away. I would not want to live in that part of Oswego NY. These were taken
on NY State Route 11 in Oswego.

By the way, thats a full size Cat front end loader with a blower on it
down in that hole. YIKES!

Yes easy sailing, But not a before it was cleared away. I would not want to live in that part of Oswego NY. These were taken
on NY State Route 11 in Oswego.

By the way, thats a full size Cat front end loader with a blower on it
down in that hole. YIKES!

Yea, I guess snow shoes would be a better choice of transportation prior to the plow clearing the way. :p You have to go to the highest elevations around here to even get close to that much snow! :eek:

:D Just one more.

Yea, I guess snow shoes would be a better choice of transportation prior to the plow clearing the way. :p You have to go to the highest elevations around here to even get close to that much snow! :eek:
I'm just having some fun.I can't believe I live less then 200 miles away from that much snow! ;) :)

I'm just having some fun.I can't believe I live less then 200 miles away from that much snow! ;) :)


Yes, AWAY is a good place to be.. :)

Man, that's spooky!!!!

how do you get out of your house when there is that much snow??!?! 2nd story windows?

Where I'm from, we have 192" so far this year, and counting. Last I checked the snowstake (2 days ago), there was 36" on the ground.

Yes, 36" is too much to bike in...

I run a website with a weather cam for snowmobilers. You are invited to check it out. (http://www.upmich.com/vagabond/weather.htm)

I have never ridden my bike in the snow. Main reasons are: Salt from the roads promotes rust, and it's not safe to ride on snowmobile trails.

~upbiker

Where I'm from, we have 192" so far this year, and counting. Last I checked the snowstake (2 days ago), there was 36" on the ground.

Yes, 36" is too much to bike in...

I run a website with a weather cam for snowmobilers. You are invited to check it out. (http://www.upmich.com/vagabond/weather.htm)

I have never ridden my bike in the snow. Main reasons are: Salt from the roads promotes rust, and it's not safe to ride on snowmobile trails.

~upbiker

Why is it not safe to ride on snowmobile trails?


A lot of people up here ride on snowmobile trails. The only incidence that I can recall up here where someone got hurt on a snowmobile trail while doing something other than snowmobiling is when a couple of snowmobilers stopped and kicked the living snot out of a cross country skiier because they didn't want him on "their" trails. The corridor where this happened happened to be a public rail trail.

My town is pretty much "snowmobile central". There are tons of sleds(snowmobiles) in town on the weekends, and people ride in from other towns, up to 100 miles away. It's not uncommon to see 10,000+ of sleds on any given trail on the weekend here. Weekdays aren't too bad, but I still wouldn't do it.

My town is pretty much "snowmobile central". There are tons of sleds(snowmobiles) in town on the weekends, and people ride in from other towns, up to 100 miles away. It's not uncommon to see 10,000+ of sleds on any given trail on the weekend here. Weekdays aren't too bad, but I still wouldn't do it.


I hear you. I am from maine originally, and a lot of the trails up there are snowmobile specific (maintained by clubs with property owner permission for snowmobiling only) with speeds in excess of 70mph. I would not bike on those trails either. Around where I live in New hampshire the trails are more common use, and some of the best winter cycling is on the trails right after a freeze thaw (or so I've been told). I was just curious, if I was missing a hidden danger of the trails. Happy sledding

How do you know you even have a house with that much. I did have a snow once where I had to climb out the kitchen window because the front door had no porch and the back door was drifted in (porch roof didn't help). I live only about 90 miles from all that snow above. I believe Syracuse has had something like 150 inches of snow this year.

150 inches is low for Syracuse, it is usually around 200"

Fulton, NY got 8 feet of snow in less than 72 hours earlier this year. Too bad there is no vert there.
The Tug hill region 1 hour drive north of me regularly gets 300" or more a year.

As far as going off road in the snow on a bike? There are better tools than a bike for that! :)

Eye candy:
http://www.telemarktips.com/video/NL1.mov
http://www.telemarktips.com/video/Bohemia.mov