Andy_K 

We don't get winter here. We usually only have a few days of ice or snow per year, so I just don't ride on those days.

What we do have is about nine months where rain is the usual weather. This can really foul up a drivetrain. When I made my first N+1 transition, I got a "nice" bike to be my "main" commuter and kept the old one as a rain bike. Eventually I got fed up with riding my beater more than my nice bike so I made the decision that I'd build a nice rain bike and make that my primary commuter.

My point is, you should enjoy whatever you're riding. If you have a winter bike that makes you wish you were riding your summer bike, it makes a bad season even worse. Parts wear out. You replace them. But different weather conditions make for different priorities in a bike. I've got a few road bikes that I ride when the weather is nice, but they wouldn't be as good in the rain so I don't miss them when I'm riding my rain bike.

So to answer your question more directly, fill your stable as you are able and tailor each bike to the conditions you want to ride it in. That may mean a second bike so that you can have a non-winter bike that isn't held back by the restriction that it be able to handle the winter tires. Or maybe you want one bike that can handle winter tires and messy fall/spring days (two wheel sets) and a sportier bike for fair weather. Either way, you need another bike.

grolby

While I now have a dedicated commuter bike after about a year of making do by clipping fenders onto my race bikes, I don't expect to bother with studs. While I understand that they are essential equipment for some, I've never felt I needed them and don't really want the speed penalty. 28-32mm tires and fenders should do the trick for me. The streets here get cleared so quickly and treated so thoroughly it's really not an issue for the most part. Bike paths are less reliably cleared, but for me it makes more sense to switch routes than spend the energy to push through four miles of snowy path.

tjspiel

During a typical winter we will have at least some ice, snow, salt, and/or slush on the majority of my commutes for 3 to 4 months. For me it makes more sense just to leave the studded tires on. Because of all the sand and salt, I'd rather use an IGH in the winter and for performance reasons I prefer a derailleur bike during the rest of year. However, plenty of people see no real downside to an IGH and prefer them year round. It's strictly a preference.

Given my preference, I set up a bike with winter use in mind. I like the bike and ride it during the summer now and then too, it's just that most of the time I'd rather ride something a little more nimble and quick. So I have a different bike for winter riding.

There is no particular reason you have to have a separate winter bike. I didn't for several years. You may find that you want one.

If they use a lot of salt on your streets during the winter and you find it pretty inconvenient to rinse off your bike regularly you might want something that's either highly corrosion resistant (both frame and components) or something that won't bother you if it gets a little rusty.

PaulRivers

It's far more convenient to have a 2nd winter bike. I can definitely understand changing tires, but if you're changing wheelsets, in my opinion, might as well just have a second cheap bike.

Reasons I like them separate:
- Can switch back and forth in the spring and fall easily. In Minnesota March is very fickle, can be 70 one day and a foot of snow the next. I don't have any annoyance or stress trying to decide when to leave them on and when to take them off.
- I find changing wheelsets to be an annoying hassle, and wheelsets take up almost as much space as a full bike. (Like I said this is different than changing tires on the same wheels). So I don't really see a savings in there.
- In the summer I prefer a drop bar bike, in the winter straight handlebars which are far better at handling bumpy roads (similar to why mountain bikers use straight bars)
- I don't really like fenders or an igh on my summer bike, but the fenders I find fairly necessary for winter biking, and the igh is nice as well.
- Related to the IGH, I don't like mucking up my fairly smooth running with little maintenance summer bike with all the winter road crap. If I road my more expensive road frame more component replacement cost would start to be an issue as well.

I don't personally see a realistic advantage in having a 2nd wheelset for summer and winter biking. In my opinion, either stick with 1 bike and 1 wheelset, or buy a second bike for winter riding.

wphamilton

Wheels fit in the utility closet, but another bike doesn't.

Easier to keep a wheel maintained than a bike.

Cheaper to buy a spare wheel than a spare bike, especially if you've ever upgraded wheels in which case it costs nothing.

If you keep a wheelset anyway as a spare, how is it an advantage not to have it ready to go with a tire?

It takes a minute to swap a front wheel, maybe 10 or 15 to add a tire swap on top of that. I don't know about you, but I won't do that in the morning headed out the door but I'd take a minute for the wheel if it was icy and I had studs on it.

Robert C

I have a single dedicated commuting bike. I switch to studded tyres in the winter and then to touring tyres in the spring.

tjspiel

Are you talking about one wheel or two?

Anyway, I had two wheelsets for awhile and what I found was that typically in the morning, I don't even want to take time to swap wheels. We have an old house with small closets. No way was I going to be allowed to keep a set of wheels in a precious storage area like that. They were hung up in the garage out of the way, - which means it wasn't so convenient to get them down. Plus the wheels need to be pretty close to the same, if not the same or you're going to have to adjust brakes and shifting.

I'd rather swap wheels than change two tires but as it turned out, I really didn't want to do either.

Steely Dan

Amen to that. Swapping out anything in the morning is a no-go for me.

Back when I had only one commuter, I ended up riding on studs on many, many winter days when I really didn't need them because I couldn't be bothered to swap tires or wheels in the morning. I'm the type of person that just wants to hop on my bike and go, go, go! I will never again be a 4 season bike commuter in a cold winter climate without a minimum of two bikes.

wphamilton

Two wheels, but just a front with big tire and tread, or studs as the case may be, is very quick to change.

I use the work-horse fixed gear as a "winter bike". AND I change tires on it seasonally, AND I have a spare wheelset, set up with tubes and tires (currently the winter tires). I have a spare for the MTB's as well but I don't ride those. My hard-shell bike, good for hard and freezing rain, lives outside on the landing - yet another bike just for sloppy/frozen winters would be excessive. But I don't mind a few wheels. I just don't see how storing an entire extra bike could be easier or take less space than storing just a wheel.

There's no way I'd leave studs on the winter bike, not for the amount of ice we get here. I might get some mini-studs someday, if I did they're going on the front spare wheel and I'll take a minute to swap them the night before as the rare occasion merits.

noglider 

This past winter, I kept one bike ready with winter tires and upright handlebars. It turned out that I didn't need it, because we had only one significant snowfall, and it was plowed away pretty quickly. By the time I was ready to ride again, I didn't need winter tires. But every winter is different. My winter tires have carbide studs, so I'm ready for ice. I got them in response to some terrible ice we had in the 2014-2015 winter. But hmm, I may never end up needing them.

PaulRivers

Yeah, it sounds interesting on paper / screen, I just don't find it practical in real life. A second bike gets used, a second wheelset is always a choice between "do I want to spend my time riding, or spent my time changing wheelsets?". For a morning commute it's especially bad. Whereas a second bike doesn't take more time to switch to.

A second bike has other advantages as well - being able to do maintenance on one in it's off season. It's convenient to have 2.

MuddyBikeRider

I just use one bike. I have knobby tires and fenders. I used to take the fenders off (zip ties) but now I just leave them on year round.

SouthFLpix

I agree with this. If you depend on your bike for transportation, having two is really the way to go.

Jaywalk3r

I have one bike, so I swap tires whenever frozen precipitation is expected. Some winters, that means I swap tires 2-3 times per week, other winters that means I swap tires twice all winter. Swapping tires is no big deal (I have a bike stand and my bike lives inside), but if I had a second bike, I'd keep studded tires on one of them all winter.

PaulH

I put the studded tires on in December, take them off in March, and pretty much hop on th bike and go without thinking about the weather.

Arcanum

I used to swap to studded tires on my commuter bike every year around Thanksgiving, then swap back some time in March. This past winter I bought a fat bike, converted it to electric, and ran studded tires on it. That will be my winter bike from now on. I still swapped to regular fat tires after the winter, though, since I want to be able to use it for other things as well.

rjmeyer67

I brought a set of Slipnot tire chains this winter and they worked great! Worked on loose and packed snow. Never tried ice. Fat ties would be an option but a lot of added resistance. I was going to use zip ties around my tires but it wouldn't work with rim breaks.

CrankyOne

The bikes we use for transportation are all upright Dutch city bikes ( City Bikes | LocalMile ). My wife and I each have our own and a few others for people to use when they visit (we'll often ride to dinner and such). I don't have a dedicated winter bike but I will put studs on one or two of the omafiets for my wife and I to use when needed. Some winters the studded are all we'll ride from first snow until spring. Some winters, like this past one, they'll hardly get any use as we had little snow and our city keeps the bikeways fairly clear.

With a fully enclosed drivetrain, stainless parts, and powder coat paint, these bikes have little to fear from winter. They can splash through salt day in and day out, stay outside all year every year, and keep on ticking decade after decade.

OneIsAllYouNeed

When riding a bike was my only way to get to work, I had two bikes for commuting. For winter, one had 700x35 studded tires and fenders while the other had road tires and fenders. At some point in April or May, the studded tires went away and the bike transformed into a CX/gravel/anyroad machine for the warmer months. Choosing which bike to ride was sometimes difficult because the studded tires were so much slower. An accurate black ice forecast would be amazingly helpful.

jrbz

We have snow on the ground here 5 months of the year so studs are pretty well mandatory. It's the "shoulder seasons" that make having a summer bike and winter bike really nice. If you get up in the morning to a bit of early or late snow you take the winter bike, otherwise take the summer bike.

FBinNY 

I don't think there's a right or wrong approach. It depends on your finances, room for bike storage, how much you worry about exposing your A bike to adverse weather and road salt, and maybe most important, how consistent your winter weather is.

Here in NY, the weather wouldn't warrant needing studs most of the time, but it can swing back and forth so mounting and removing tires could be a PIA. If it were always icy, you could mount them for the season and remove them in March, but that's not the case here.

However it's not icy enough to justify a separate winter commuter, so I opt not to ride those few days when ice is a concern. Otherwise, I'd probably opt for a spare pair of wheels with studded tires and switch wheels which is far quicker than switching tires, yet cheaper than owning yet another bike.

esmith2039

I have a dedicated bad weather bike ie it has fenders so is ridden in the rain and snow etc. Also the back up bike. I say that but since I can't the freehub off my Trek it's my only bike right now. The Trek is the good weather bike.

HardyWeinberg

I actually have a winter bike that I change the tires on when it gets really dire.

DiabloScott

I have one commuter bike - I take the fenders off and put on 37mm tires in the dry season, and 28mm tires under the fenders for the rain.

This photo shows 32mm under the fenders and there just wasn't quite enough room... lots of rubbing.