Commuting - one reason to ride a beater

This is my winter fixed gear after yesterday's ride through the snow. Nice crust of snow, road crap, and weather, along with a liberal amount of chain lube. And I thought this only happened in car wheel wells.

Imagine what a deraillure would look like, and how long it would last, one more reason to ride fixed.

Cool! (I didn't know people rode bikes way back then. Is that, like, an Ice Age artifact?) :D

That's exactly why I'll take a warm, sunny day anytime.

AWWWWSSOOOMMMEEEEE!!!!


Won't you miss that cool stuff if you move to AZ? :)

OH, by the way... When my derailer gets like that it becomes a fixed or single speed.. :p

This is my winter fixed gear after yesterday's ride through the snow. Nice crust of snow, road crap, and weather, along with a liberal amount of chain lube. And I thought this only happened in car wheel wells.

Imagine what a deraillure would look like, and how long it would last, one more reason to ride fixed.
I ride with a derailleur on days like these, but I do have to spend a half hour eery night when I get home to clean it. It's still doing pretty well, however.

Hmmmm... I've been riding derailure bikes year around for over 22 years in the same crap and I haven't had any problems, a messy bike, but no problems. It's been kind of fun the this week hasn't it, naisme? My bike looks like yours.

I ride a three speed junk folding bike with a Sturmey Archer hub gear in the back. I rarely clean the bike and it shifts on a dime even if all that snow where on the rear wheel. I won't ride a single speed or fixed gear when you can still have gears that work even in the snow and salt by simply using a rear hub from Sram, Shimano or Sturmey Archer. Furthermore, I don't have to clean the bike after a snow storm because it's optional since the snow will not destroy the internal gearing. After the last snow storm, I did not clean the bike for weeks and only did so after getting tired at looking at a dirty bike!

I couldn't imagine spending a half hour each evening cleaning a derailleur. That would be a waste of time.

I ride 21 speeds year round. When the ice and crud build up on my deraliers, I just kick it with my heel. Granted, I go through freewheels pretty quickly, as I clean and oil the bikes less frequently than I should, but its worth it to me to be able to adjust capabilities for hills, thick snow, and open road.

Beautiful pic, by the way! Thanks for sharing this and all the others. If I get a digital camera for my birthday( its coming up guys), I'll post glossies detailing my adventures too.

By the way, the green tires look really good in the snow!

I ride a three speed junk folding bike with a Sturmey Archer hub gear in the back. I rarely clean the bike and it shifts on a dime even if all that snow where on the rear wheel. I won't ride a single speed or fixed gear when you can still have gears that work even in the snow and salt by simply using a rear hub from Sram, Shimano or Sturmey Archer. Furthermore, I don't have to clean the bike after a snow storm because it's optional since the snow will not destroy the internal gearing. After the last snow storm, I did not clean the bike for weeks and only did so after getting tired at looking at a dirty bike!

I couldn't imagine spending a half hour each evening cleaning a derailleur. That would be a waste of time.

Hmmmm... People clean their bikes? I should try that sometime, it gets pretty ugly by the end of the winter (yes, it's a derailleur bike).