I've definitely lost brakes, while riding in freezing rain. The rims were completely coated in ice. Tires and myself as well - when I dismounted and shook myself, I had a 1/4" thick me-shaped shell crack off and fall to the ground.

It impacts discs a little but only for half a second, the ice sheds off instantly.

My problem with IGH is that if it goes wrong, which it does a few times a year for me due to gunk or ice in the cable path, it can get into a situation where I just can't find a gear that it will stay in and it's constantly grinding and catching and generally sounding like it's about to cough up a gear.

If the derailleur got gunked up, it would still work, it just wouldn't shift. I'd have to ride to work in 3rd or whatever but it worked.

In freezing rain it doesn't matter how well your brakes work because you'd be riding on a sheet of ice anyway.

Freezing rain is a whole different animal that I never have to deal with!

Not so. On studded tires, the sheet of ice on the road is pretty much irrelevant. I can stop and turn just fine. No studs on the rims for the brakes though.

The biggest problem with freezing rain is that the studs grip just fine, but when you stop you forget that there's ice on the road and you fall on your ass because your shoes have no traction.

I have in the past tried to drive to work and the car couldn't move on the roads, so I go back and ride the bike instead, which has no problem with the ice.

My experience as well Riding in a Van with studded tires and stopping to pee at the Rest Stop on top of the Coast range
on Hwy 26 on the way To Portland from Seaside 12/21/15.. frozen fog-drizzle precipitation as the temperature dropped ,
made it Invisible on the parking lot pavement.

Single speed hubs, not fixed, but with coaster brakes also have the benefits of nothing to break, nothing to go wrong, always work even if you get lazy and neglect to clean and lube your drivetrain, are cheap because single speed chainrings and track cogs last a lot longer then multi speed cassettes and provide stopping capability in all weather under all all conditions with 100% reliability; in addition they allow the cyclist to coast.

If the OP really needs gears and wants reliability in all weather any S-A AW or Sachs Torpedo hub should provide it if 3 speeds are adequate for his winter bicycling tasks.

One of my winter commuters has a 1x8 drivetrain. 42 T front, 30 something out back. Enough for the slight hills and headwinds that I encounter. 8 speed stuff is pretty cheap as well. I run a full length shifter housing with a thumb shifter on the stem. Very simple and works well.

emphasis mine for correction

Well spoken and agreed, with the exception of the Ti bit. Corrosion resistance, and for that matter any benefit of a Ti bike, at the average Ti price point is not financially advantageous with respect to the consumer as is evident by the market share of Ti bikes vs. carbon fiber.

Hmm. I have a 105 52/40 drivetrain'd CX bike which I rode through the last two midwest "polar vortices" that would patently disagree with you, on the scale of around 3000 miles. This drivetrain saw very little cleaning, if any at all, and has yet to neither fail nor malfunction. To be clear, I have the setup running on DA TT shifters so indexing is not part of the equation herein. Neither am I inherently opposed to SS/FG, as I am currently commuting exclusively on a frame with track ends.

I could see your point, to an extent, based on mechanical wear alone per the difference in material with respect to a FG cog vs. an indexed freewheel, but the question that then begs an answer is: does the average commuter - i.e. the common denominator of this subforum - gain any measured performance from the use of a SS/FG drivetrain vs. a geared setup?

My posit is that, no there is no way you can - or will, whatever the case may be - prove that. I know you live to contrast, on the forum at least, but at least give some evidence of definitives.

I quoted a specific post and my point was to discount the alleged winter advantages of a fixed gear bike over any other kind of drive configuration for bicycle commuting, especially over any single speed with a coaster brake. I mentioned other IGH possibilities for winter because the OP stated that "I would go single speed. However...I need some gears."

I can't quite make out what you ride as I am not up on all the equipment lingo that you cite. I will note that the "common denominator of this subforum" only represents a small slice of the population of "average commuters" unless you choose to discount everybody who rides a bike to work (let alone school) who doesn't fit the profile of an LBS patronizing bicycling enthusiast and/or long distance bicycle commuter.

I personally prefer IGH coaster brake setups for all weather commuting and for the last 10 years of my bike commuting prior to my retirement used my Sachs SpectroSeven 7 Speed IGH w/coaster brake equipped bike for 50,000 miles of all weather year round commuting with almost no maintenance or cleaning except monthly spray of Silicone on the chain and annually replacing the $8 chain.

105: Shimano 105
52/40: a double crank with a 52t big ring and a 40t small ring
CX: cyclocross
DA: Shimano Dura Ace
TT: time trial
SS: single speed
FG: fixed gear


I actually meant to quote wolfchild but failed and quoted you instead, which is ironic because we essentially share the same opinion and only differ pragmatically.

Thanks for the clarification.

As a MN refugee, I can laugh about this now, been there done that.
I was the "stupid kid" who rode to school all winter.

The only thing more insane is attempting to circumnavigate the north pole in winter.
I read that it would take a whole day to repair a flat, unpack gear, find wood, start fire, warm up wheel, severely low temperatures would make it impossible to unseat the tire from the rim, nevermind frostbite.

If I had to commute by bicycle in a MN winter, hopefully with a large budget, I'd be curious to know how well di2 holds up.

Low budget, I would use a single, dingle, or a tringle speed. (single speed rear hub, double or triple crankset with a tensionor)

Whatever you use, expect it to fail at the worst possible time in the worst possible way and try to have a backup plan in place. (I had a rusted high tensile steel frame fail on me while jumping a curb, didn't end well, frame inspection was an afterthought when I was young)

My strategy in Shanghai if I have a major issue is to lock up the bike somewhere and deal with it later, there are many public transportation options here. It also helps that my commuter bike has very low resale value, and can be locked up securely overnight without incident.

I guess our winters are mild compared with winters for some of you. I don't have to use a special drivetrain in winter, nor do I have to do any special maintenance. Winter does seem to wear chains out faster, so that means a little more frequent cleaning of the bike and more frequent chain replacement. Oh, is that considered special treatment?