My first attempt at a Winter bike. I'm thinking this one will become a dedicated "ice" bike for next year. It has horizontal rear dropouts and reinstalling the rear wheel and keeping it straight with gloves or frozen fingers is a PITA. I'd only be riding on ice close to home and wouldn't be trying to fix a flat but with dry roads I might be venturing far enough that fixing a flat in cold weather could be a possibility. I have a Bendix 2 speed kickback hub that combined with studded tires might make for an interesting ice bike. Most of the components and accessories on it now would migrate to another frame with vertical dropouts for my beater/Winter bike.
The picture was taken today after a failed attempt at riding on glare ice. I stayed upright but the bike didn't go where I was wanting to go. The streets here are covered with it and they have a pretty steep crown. Once you get off the crown you start sliding toward the edge of the road and all you can do is go with it. Snow is no problem but the ice wins every time and right now there is no money in the bike budget for studded tires.
