Building my winter fixer
 

Sad news, my silky Gios is not going to handle too well in the winter crud that will overcome Colorado here in the next month or so.

So rather than get sad about putting the bike away, I got glad and bought a Surly Cross Check frame and will be building up my winter fixie! yay for me!

I have a question about the bars. I love my bullhorns. Is there any valid reason I should not get another pair for a cross-fix? I don't think I care too much about being in the drops, while riding through sketchy terrain.

Any other suggestions for building a winter bike? You know like great tires, or cold weather gear, yadayadayada.

Oops just realized there's another similar post out there. Oh well, tell me about the bars.

If you feel like you have excellent handling with your bullhorns, stick with them. I personally use drops on my winter ride, and a friend of mine uses flat bars. The idea is really that you want to be riding whatever is the most comfortable for you, as winter riding is more about how you handle it than what you have on the bike.

Upright position and a low gear. It's hard to fall gracefully if you are bent over in the drops. My bike went down twice last winter. Both times I landed on my feet because I was in an upright position to start with.

I'm thinking about building up the same kind of bike for a winter ride! What size wheels are you going to put on? Were you thinking about studded tires?

I wasn't thinking about studded tires until I read the other winter bike post. I'm looking at these

I'm thinking of getting another set of Mavic Ellipse wheels. I love the set I have on my Gios pista.

How do I maximize my "upright-ness"? tips? (without doing the ol' upside down drops trick)

I have a Jamie Roy that will be my winter ride. For bad weather, I use profile airwing bullhorns that are slightly wider than my usual drops. I find that the handling is a bit more stable with the wider bars. Also, I plan on keeping my current wheelset with slicks for the rainy days (with fenders), and then setting up my backup wheels with a bigger cog and some knobby or studded tires for snow. That way, I can switch wheels as quickly as the weather changes.

You can raise/flip your stem or get a riser stem.

thin tires work great in the snow and slush, they just slice right through that ****

I haven't tried riding in winter/snow yet but am getting bullhorns placed on my winter bike. I am counting on the roads being good about as often as being bad. If that holds true, the bullhorns will be fun half the time and suspect okay most of the time.

I think that's probably a waste of money for your application. Get some sturdy but cheap wheels you can beat on.

Slush, yes. But not on snowpack and ice like we had in Denver last year (I tried).

By keeping your reach to the bars short and high. A riser stem ought to do ya. Note that drops with hoods provide the same hand positions as a set of bullhorns, plus an added aero position for heading into the winter wind. You don't have to use your drops all the time, but they come in really handy when you do need them.

Has anyone considered the Surly Pugsley? I just noticed that, and it looks like it would be a fun bike to build...

I think there have been a couple of those posted in the photo thread. They look like they could take damn near anything.

My only concern would be finding a bottom bracket to fit that thing. 100mm shell?

They are around. My understanding is that it is a specialty size for use with e-type front derailleur mounts (see that funny little braze on the bottom bracket). The derailleur actually slips onto the bottow bracket and then is secured place with a screw to that braze on on the BB. According to the Surly site, the 100mm shell allows for the chainstays to be set wider and thus the ability to use those super fat tires.

A thing from the mountain biking industry. The BB are definitely around and easy to find. Just not sure about price.

Man, I love that thing though. I would love to make it a tank with HUGE tires.

get the Pug and use two flip flop fixed fixed hubs yo

I hear those wheels cost a fortune to build...

True, but it just takes a drop of a few degrees to turn that into slick and/or jagged ice. Winter in places like Montreal can throw anything at you, and that's the worst part about trying to take on this godforsaken season with a bike.

I think a complete winter bike probably needs two sets of wheels, or at least tires (not as quick to switch, obviously): one pair of narrow-ish slicks plus a pair of as-wide-as-possible treaded tires? The sweet spot for snowy conditions if often somewhere in between, but that doesn't give you the same "range".

I'm still building a summer bike, stupid me, but if I had $ for a winter ride I'd consider a BMX fixie with fat ass tires for short haul winter rides. Y'know, to pick up my poutine on -40C days.

nokian mount and ground tires are the bees knees for winter city riding:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/imag...unttopview.jpg

wide enough to deal with real snowfall, but the spaces in between the tread allow you to squish through slush down to the pavement, instead of floating over it. Enough studs to make riding on ice fun, but not so many that you feel like you're dragging a zamboni behind you all the time. The thick blocks of tread don't flex and skitter on dry pavement like knobbly MTB tires.
In addition to all this, they last essentially forever.

good bullhorns will give you a good aero position that will also move your forward and open your lungs for better sprinting. i'm talking like the nitto 021, for example...drops down and goes forward. a lot don't have those.

-HCE

what's the $$$?

I have those tires. I found them to be good in snow and okay on ice. Not enough studs on the side in my opinion. They were the biggest PITA to get on and off though. If I was to get another set of studded tires I would get something else.

peter white has them for $50 ea. Pricy, but my 5 year old tires are still in like-new condition, aside from some surface rust on the studs, so the life span is pretty long. They're also only available for 26" or 24" wheels.

A primer on studded tires:

http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.asp