Originally Posted by 79pmooney

I spent a few winters in Michigan and Massachusetts in my no-car days. My solution was simple. Ride a beater fix gear. I used Peugeot UO-8 which I stripped and brush painted with two-part epoxy. Fix gear, fenders, brakes. In those days I ran cyclocross tubulars as my winter tires, dropping pressure to whatever was required to not crash and basically saying "to h*** with my rims". Late March, early April, I rebuilt the wheels, packed bearings, etc, and rode it as a new feeling commuter, second bike and training bike for poor weather days.

Good bike got put away. That beater lived indoors on a 6' plastic carpet runner in the hall. Carry the filthy bike in and dump it on its runner. No mess anywhere else. Easy. Bike was so simple there was no need to be rigorous with cleaning. (Apartment life. No outside water. I had to take over the bathroom or kitchen.)

And fix gears - ultimate snow, ice and salt drive trains. With skill, you can save a lot of slides that would put a geared bike down. You acquire the skill just riding fixed. Start now and you will be well on your way when snow hits. The rest is pure reflex. And reliable! No derailleurs so no need to keep the chain clean and lubed. Yes you should but no, you absolutely do not have to. Frozen links from the salt environment? Just slide the wheel forward a 1/4" and get the proper chain slack back. You'll never see that link or two that doesn't straighten out. (I drew the line at three. Time to clean and lube though I never took the chain off and this was the days before the chain cleaners.) And you can do all this with a cheap 1/8" chain that takes very kindly to being loosened up with a chain riveter.

Best bikes to use are old steel bikes with horizontal dropouts. In the '70s and '80s many thousands were made. A lot are still around, looking not very elegant but still excellent candidates as winter bikes. Pack bearings with so much marine grease (any auto parts store and cheap) that some squeezes out when you turn the wheel/crank/handlebar. Coat all threads with the same. Rub it on bare steel. Keep the brakes, get them running good with Koolstop pads. In snow and ice, you need all the tools you can get. You may be trying to stop in conditions where a fancy fix gear skid will lay you down instantly.

Winter riding is a different world. Having the right bike makes it fun. Having a bike where what happens to it doesn't matter really makes it fun. And in March when you roll past that guy on his first ride of the year on his $$$ ride with you winter tires, out of round wheels and rusted chain, well it doesn't get much better!