Ahh yes, here in ohio i have nothing better to do then to look outside, and sigh. Im preparing to take my dad (yes, thats right, i will force him to come with me) and my mom hopefully, to go and ride. All though its beautiful and in the 70's right now, i know about the horific winter, and all i can do is sigh. So, if you lived in near cleveland, what would you do to help survive the winters here???

Studded tires, full-coverage fenders, platform pedals, disc brakes, IGH, and belt drive. At least, that's what I'm doing to survive winter this year.

We were surviving Cleveland winters long before a lot of that stuff was readily available. Indeed, for most of the winter the roads are fine, albeit a bit salty.

Every winter so far here, I spend most of my time wondering why the hell I stay here. Maybe this will be the year I escape...

Same here... "that stuff" is for those other days.

Lot's of lights, high visibility clothing, full fenders. It really doesn't matter what type of a bike you use. Almost any bike will do as long as it's in good working order. As for me.. personally I prefer fixed gears or singlespeeds. Studded tires make riding on ice much safer but they are not 100% neccessarry.

Looking at what used to be the chain on my snow bike makes that belt drive look really attractive

For winters I slightly change the gearing on my SS to make up for the heavy clothes, tires and slower riding. All bearings get a fresh packing of grease and I switch over to Finishline XC Wet lube. I get the bike nice and clean and give it a rub down with a silicone/teflon spray. A drop of wet lube goes in every bolt head to keep salty water from collecting there and I cover all the frame vent holes with electrical tape. Already have the full fenders on.
I also change my tires from slicks to knobbies. This year I think I will be trying some studded tires as I went down twice last year on ice, once coming within an inch of falling into Lake Erie. That would have been cold. I'm thinking a Schwalbe Marathon winter in the front and maybe a Schwalbe Snow Stud in the rear, but have never used studded tires, so don't know which would be best.

@Glynnis: Marathon winters are mainly for ice and just a little bit of snow. I live right on Lake Erie in Willoughby and more than once wish I had a bit of a more agressive tire. They roll great but don't handle so well in the snow. If I can squirrel away the money I may get something a bit more agressive for when it really snows and ust the marathons for the light stuff.

Cleveland winters are not so bad except for the wind chill and cold winds off the Lake. the exception of course was the Blizzard. Made it through that one and a couple almost as bad in Chardon,OH. the Snow capital of the ne oh area.. I would agree that the marathons may not have the best tread for snow and slush. I did not have that luxtury as when I was there the tire size of the Day was 27x1 1/4 and not a lot of choice of treads. If you had an extra set of wheels you could run what ever tread set was needed for the road conditions. Unlike the Autos we don't have to ride on snow tires all the time..

Peter

I ended up buying the Marathon Winters before anyone responded. I will give them a try and see how they work. If I don't like them, I will try something else next year. I also have 2 identical sets of wheels for the bike so it will take less than a minute to change over if I don't have the correct tires for the day.

I had to read the post to tell you were being sarcastic with the title. I'm actually looking forward to winter riding. I think one of the biggest keys to success with winter riding (or anything for that matter) is to bring a good attitude.

Enjoy the ride!!

Paul