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
A simple change to a bike you like to ride is add/remove a studded tire on the front wheel. I've done this in the past. I know have two winter bikes, one for ice (studded tire MTB) and one for snow (fatbike). I saw this great price on a studded tire today and wanted to share -
Nokian Hakkapeliitta 72 Studs 700x32 - Freewheel Bike Shop - Minneapolis - Twin Cities - St. Paul
Other winter bikers in Minneapolis suggested front-only studded tire, for commuting you want the grip on the front wheel for stopping and steering. The only issue with the rear wheel is you can spin out at a start and slip into ruts. I find both of this rear wheel issues easy to deal with, rarely gone done because my rear wheel slipped out. I have gone down, hard, when my front slips out.
I have tried many combinations and for the ice bike, I have a Nokia Mount & Ground on the front and Conti Top Contact Winter on the rear. This combo has kept me on my bike in a wide variety of icy conditions.
The main reason I have dedicated winter bikes is two-fold, I can have a lot of bikes (lots of storage space) and I'm kinda busy (I don't always have time to change tires on a days notice). ... or maybe I'm just lazy. My bike commuting buddy puts studded tires on his LHT after the first snow and leaves them on until the snow/ice is all melted in the spring. I've thought out this for my Kona, but like I said, I have the space to keep old bikes.... Now I'm just rambling.