Originally Posted by
wphamilton
We did have one day of real winter here this year so I get to chime in with my one trip experience. My big surprise hazard: chain frozen to the cogs and rear derailleur! I got overconfident and up-shifted, not realizing that the chain moving over the gears was the only thing keeping the ice off. Chain sliding over, then frozen solid when I stopped. You can't shift, you shouldn't stop, who knew?
56) Iced up drive train
Darn, Alan S beat me to it post number 22, so this should be 35) freezing drive train
This is the reason my winter-bike is a single-speed.
The other issue: 57) Frozen freehub. At temps below 0F the pawls can freeze in the recessed (coast) position, then you start pedaling and there is nothing there. You can sometimes fix it by pedaling at the same speed as the wheel and get the pawls to re-engage (like shifting your car without using the clutch). This is why some winter riders go fixie, but I just get the freehub rebuilt/greased every fall and that keeps it happy.