Originally Posted by
TransitBiker
My biggest concern about black ice, which is a few days a year phenomenon here, is what if i judge wrong and go out with only slightly knobby tires only to crash 10 minutes into my ride? That is probably the biggest single factor in my decision to get a dedicated bike for these rides which can also be used year round with normal tread tires. I understand some people have a "winter bike" and their dry ride bike is not used in rain or snow etc, but i cant justify sidelining my uptown (a really, really wonderful thing to ride and have) all winter. So enter my winter plan: second year round/winter storm bike, and some minor changes to the uptown to make it better in plain snow.
Anyone else buy a bike just to handle black icy days, or do what i'm planning to do?
- Andy
It's seem like quite a number of people in these forums have a bike for every day of the week if not more. So I'm sure there are folks that have multiple bikes they'll use in the winter depending on conditions or mood.
I live in a different climate and for most of a typical winter I'll encounter some ice or some snow even if the roads are predominantly clear. So I ride the winter bike all the time from the first big snow of the year into March and sometimes April. I might be fine without the studded tires on several of the days but I don't want to expose more than one bike to the salt and crud that comes with winter riding. It adds a lot of extra maintenance.
A "dry" bike is something I don't have. Any bike I own will get ridden in the rain.
The question I'd have for you is whether it's really worth getting studded tires for the few days a year that you'd intend to use them. It sounds like you have some other ambitious plans for your bikes and you could save some cash by forgoing the studded tires and taking the bus on icy days instead.
I have a nicer winter bike now but for many years the studded tires were worth more than the bikes I had them on. They're not cheap. If you are going to buy them though, in the next few weeks is when you can find some deals.