phoshizzo

My fall/winter training bike is a 2006 Tarmac Pro w/ an older Dura Ace 9 speed gruppo I had. Its fitted w/ 32 spoke Open Pros and thorn proof tires and heavy thick tubes.

My spring/summer training/race bike is my Specialized SL2 w/ DA 10 speed and Ksyriums SL's as everyday wheels. Carbon wheels for racing.

My reasoning for my training bike is that I do long 4+ hours rides in the winter in cold/wet conditions. This takes its toll on the drive train, bearings, brake pads and rim braking surfaces. Having a training bike allows me to have a bike ready for rough conditions and wet weather, w/o having to worry about costly repairs to my race bike.

As for my MTB, I have a Titus Racer X that gets ridden regardless of the weather.

Bekologist

the 'winter beater' definitions:

noun: abuse resistant bike outfitted for winter riding

verb: the motion a rider does with their foot while riding to get the derailleurs unfrozen.

if you ride a nice road bike in summer, a winter beater as a bike makes sense. less expensive componentry, etc. performance wise, a bike with a upright posture and platform pedals allows a rider to much more easily execute skid turns and outrigger drags while stopping on ice.

riding in winter is fun! if you're not running studs, find some nice white ice or greazy blacktop frazil and practice your countersteering skid turns! whoot!

don't live in snow country now, but when the roads were slopped out, i used to LOVE gracefully entering a corner, bike delicately balanced, throwing the back wheel out, the front wheel akimbo, and skidding thru without ever letting my inside foot touch the ground... fun stuff. this skill still comes in handy every other winter or so around the northwest.

vger285

Winter riding has many aspects,for me it's a time to train for the coming spring,Meaning the gears go in the barn! the single speed comes out!When i come to a hill, i turn the crank or get off and walk,Human nature makes you down shift,so,no gears,more training,come next spring your much stronger and your riding will show it!But some people like it easy all the time, and thats ok, just no improvement.So i figure you have to seize the moment(winter)!

caloso

We don't have snow or ice, but we do have a fair amount of rain and fog. My winter beater is an older Trek 660 set up as a fixed gear with full fenders and tons of reflective tape. Since it's the older sister of my Trek 5200 race bike they have nearly identical geometry.

I spin all winter long and in the spring, I rip the legs off the trainer riders.

unterhausen

I used to have a beater bike that had racing geometry. I never really had any trouble with snow. I guess there may be snow conditions I didn't ride it in, but I can't really think of any.

Newspaperguy

Almost any bike can work as a winter beater. I personally prefer older mountain bikes in winter, but some bikes with racing geometry will work too. I've used both when riding in the snow. The most important element is to have good tires in winter, especially in icy and snowy conditions.

swwhite

One of my goals (which I set mainly as a tool to keep my motivation up) is to be able to get to work by bike no matter what. Therefore, I have to cover two situations, where the main bike breaks (has happened, had to order a freehub, bike off-line for three days), and where we get a big dumping of snow (has happened, started to work on the heavily-outfitted main commuter, had to turn back).

To address those issues, I got a used mountain bike. During the summer, it sits in the garage and is available as a backup, or when I might have to take a bus somewhere. This bike is not has heavy as the main one (no milk crate, no heavy battery for lights), so it is easier to heave it up on the bike rack on the bus. Around November 1, I put studded tires on it, and it sits in the garage waiting for snow. When it snows, I use it until the streets are clear. When all the streets are clear, I go back to the main bike so I don't wear down the studs on bare pavement and waste them. In April or May, I take the studs off and get it tuned up, and the cycle repeats.

It does seem wasteful to have a bike that is mostly unused, just waiting for special cases to use it. On the other hand, those special cases have come up, and I have been glad to have it.

TRaffic Jammer

Many of my buddies will use their tarck/FG as a winter ride but I still prefer my knobbies from the day in Montreal messing in the snow and slush. Not a winter specific bike though.

ianjk

My $.02

My "normal" bikes are steel (all vintage except for one) and almost all original. My everyday ride for spring/summer/fall is a track bike.

I wouldn't even think about riding any of them in temps from 20F to -20F on icy/sandy/salty roads.


Why I love my "Winter beater":

The frame cost a whoppin' $2 (old Bianchi that had a bent rear triangle, easily fixed).
I can leave it outside for 5 months and not worry about the paint/rust.
I can run cx tires, which do much better in the snow than slicks.
Plastic saddle never gets wet.
Fixed/Fixed hub and the resulting simple drivetrain = almost 0 maintenance.
Fenders until the roads are no longer wet.
When I go down, I worry about myself, not the bike
I can leave it locked up pretty much anywhere and nobody would even think of grabbing it.
I don't wash it other than tossing it in the snow and giving it a "rub-down".