freshnfunk

I plan on riding a fixed gear this winter in montreal but I'm trying to figure out what's the best, relatively cheap way to do so. I was going to go with a windsor or something cheap from bikesdirect but I've been seeing SE drafts for 150 on craigs and I have a fixed rear wheel lying around. They seem horrendously cheap though. Any thoughts on how well it would handle as a fixed gear and in the snow all winter. Thanks!

ianjk

Go with something that can take wide tires if you plan on running studs (which you should if you get ice/snow in the winter). Plus if it has clearance for wide tires, it will probably have room for fenders too.

Some people swear by skinny tires w/o studs, but if you hit any black/rutted ice, you will go down hard.


Also: https://www.bikeforums.net/winter-cycling/ <---- tons of info.

juggleaddict

if you're running 2.5 inch wide knobbies and hit ice, you're going down hard (speaking from experience) O:-) any ice and you NEEED spikes

Ken Cox

I've ridden fixed gear through four winters of ice and snow.

I use two bikes: one conventional fixed gear for dry streets and a Sury Karate Monkey with big fat studded tires as my fixed gear ice bike.

If I wanted one bike to do it all, I'd go with the Surly Steamroller and put either Nokian or Schwalbe 35mm studded tires on it for winter.

I'd also recommend gearing down for winter.

I ride at 60 gear inches on my winter bike.

Fixed gear bikes handle severe winters on maintained urban and suburban roads much better than do geared bikes.

For deep snow, though, I recommend a geared bike.

psirue

you want clearance primarily -- your frame should fit full fenders and fat tires. that's assuming the winter of your location is an actual winter with months of snow and ice and total frozen desolation and not some place where the winter low is 50 degrees and the weather is a little wet.

full fenders + fat tires is what you want. I also prefer a beater for winter time since all the salt and sludge tends to destroy components fast and you'll wipe out at least once or twice.

freshnfunk

I appreciate the info, definitely useful although I've biked in montreal in the winter already. does anyone have experience with the SE draft though?

andmalc

I can confirm that a Steamroller can fit a Nokian Hakkapeliitta 240 700x40c but not with fenders in there too.

I think a better choice than a Steamroller would be a touringish frame (with horizontal dropouts of course) for the rack & fender attachments and longer wheel base to handle rutted snow. The Masi Special Commuter is a bit like this but I can't tell from the specs how much wider than the stock 32's it can take.

If you end up mounting fenders, adjust them so the rear is closer to the tire than the front end. This way snow won't clog them up.

jakerock

Yes, I have some advice on the SE Draft:
If you already have one, enjoy it!
If you dont already have one, buy a better bike!

Cyclist0383

+1

Also, make sure that you get cartridge bearings in your hubs, and if they are are cheap ones be prepared to change them as the salty slop of winter destroys them very quickly.