Hello all!

Long time lurker, occasional poster but anyway,

I'm new to Boston (but came from even more frozen Burlington, VT) and am wondering about how well the plowing is and how bad the ice on the roads get here.

I rode a fixed Jamis Sputnik all last winter in Burly (about 1.5 mile commute each way) without much trouble, but the roads are far less busy there, and I didn't have any hills to contend with. Here I have about a 2-3 mile ride to work from Somerville to Cambridge, (still no hills though!) and want to know what to expect in terms of road quality.

I have the option of bringing my full suspension bike w/ knobby tires down, but can only fit 1 ride in the house at a time so bye fixie for awhile.. (i don't really want her to go away)

The downside to Sputnik is the fork doesn't allow much in the way of tire choices, perhaps a fork swap and some studs?

What would you do?!

Honestly, I'd find a middle ground. Drop like $100 on an decent older MTB (really old steel Specialized bikes have horizontal drops), turn it into a single speed, and crush stuff with it. To me, it'd be more fun than either of those bikes.

EDIT! No information on the roads up there. You should be fine if your commute is just 2-3 miles though.

A good idea no doubt, I'm astounded that Boston doesn't have a bike swap or anything where people can trade/sell/buy used bikes! ( or not that I can find online at least!) Up in Burly every year all the bike shops accept bikes from the locals and sell/swap them over a weekend (or two) it's a great way to get cheap stuff and meet some cool locals.

Perhaps something should be started, I'm damn sure there is a huge cycle community down here.

There were really only 2 days last winter that sucked for riding.
And even on those days I got by with 28's

I rode Somerville to Cambridge for a few years. Snow gets cleared off the main streets pretty well. The only times there will be snow on the street is the morning after a big storm or during an actual storm. I don't think there was a year that I couldn't bike my commute more than 4 days due to snow.

The streets get sanded and will be wet, so it gets messy. And the snowbanks make the street narrower. Get some fenders, stick to the major roads, take it easy and you'll be fine.

what tires did you use exactly

i have a pair of all season ultra gatorskins but they are 23

If I were you I'd pickup a cheap cross fork for the winter, and get some fenders. If you can only have one bike fenders are gonna be real nice to have for those wet days, and in the winter/spring the roads seem to be wet most of the time..

I live in brookline, and really don't venture to cambridge/sommerville during the winter so I can't say how their plowing is.. brookline and boston are both pretty quick; they do sand/salt quite a bit. FENDERS!

Jer

jooaa's comment is pretty accurate in my experience, they usually do a good job on the main thoroughfares.

I wouldn't necessarily presume that you'll be dealing with much snow in the road, some years you'll get a bunch of snow, some years you'll barely get any.

I still feel that narrow road tires work just fine for most Boston snow days, although you will slide around a bit... if you don't have to deal with crossing any trolley tracks it usually isn't too big a deal.

haha yeah, god those are horrible in the summer... also lots of bridges around here have metal plates sticking out, juts something to watch out for i guess

thankfully they replaced or closed some of the worst offenders: the old Northern Ave bridge (closed) and the old Summer St bridge (replaced).

Vittoria Randonneurs
My daily commute from Cambridge->Charlestown is pretty well plowed. And over salted/sanded. Yuck.

this winter will be done on Bontrager Hardcases, also 28's. Unless the weather makes me go wider, knobbier or studdier.

I have some SKS Raceblades (no eyelets on frame) that served me very very well through the wet/snow sludge and I will be using them here too, I actually used road slicks last winter and only had 4 falls all winter!

(best one was right in front of the office I worked at, after I told a fellow employee how great it is to bike in the winter, I started going, made a right turn and the bike rocketed out from under, he laughed!)

The main reason for larger tires is that it is pothole city here in Beantown. Other than that, what the above posters have said goes.

heh taking chances at falls is something im not into and don't you get more contact with wider tires? id say thats useful in winter o_O

+1 for fenders, i rock mine all year and wouldn't have it any other way.

Ha. I've ridden in Boston for 10 years, and wiped out exactly twice- both on wet trolley tracks.

In the winter I drive a car, you could always try that too.

I must say that option hadn't occurred to me.

Come over to BostonFixed.com. We've got several winter prep threads going already, and this one might be a nice addition.

+1000

was gonna say the same but you beat me to it