Originally Posted by
TransitBiker
I went down for the first time on the new bike a few minutes ago on black ice that was literally in the process of forming. The ONLY warning was my rear wheel slipping but i thought at first the N360 may have a problem (one i could deal with later) but no it was simply slipping on ice that had formed literally minutes before i rode over it. As soon as the sun goes down, the IR light keeping things wet vs frozen goes away, it seems. I am OK, bike is OK, broke strap on one of my shoes, but that is fixable as i have a pack of plastic rivets.
Has this happened to anyone else, where the black ice simply wasn't there not too long before (under an hour)?
I am really looking forward to getting a winter wheelset this autumn if possible, and maybe even a set of studded tires in addition to a default set of slightly knobby tires.
- Andy
Sounds a little like this...
This was AM ice on brand-new blacktop, going from the sunny section to the shady part of the road. I was going so slow and taking such care to make an easy turn, but the ice won.
If there is ice, I will only ride my Marin with studded front tire. I won't even ride my fatbike on icy conditions, without studs, a fatbike isn't much better than the Kona.
The best compromise if you want to avoid studded tires but get better grip on winter conditions,
Continental Top Contact. I've used Top Contacts for one winter on front and back wheels, but they weren't a match for bare ice. Now I have the Top Contact rear and Mount & Ground (studded) front - (knocking on wood) no wrecks with this combo.