rumrunn6

get the right tire for the job

ridingfool

Best techniques walk bike down the hill save on medical bills and fixing your bike

rumrunn6

can you ride down on the shoulder which might be bumpy & snowy, but not icy?

ksryder

Ignore the naysayers -- go as fast as possible and no hands! Touch your brakes and you lose.

cb400bill

Thread moved form General Cycling to Winter Cycling.

Ironfish653

Can be done, but I don't know if i'd want to be doing it every day in a 'I have to get there' mode.

Snowy / Icy conditions, wear 'regular' winter boots, with BMX-style flat pedals, and drop the saddle so that you can use your feet as 'Flintstone' style outriggers.

If I was going to be riding in the snow / ice on the regular, i'd look in to a fatbike, or at least an MTB with the biggest tires I can fit.

2manybikes

This is a good idea. ^^^^^
Maybe even walk through a yard or a path somewhere else.

alias5000

Imagine yourself on this icy hill on 2 instead of 4 wheels. Cheers.

2manybikes

Hang glider.

ThermionicScott 

I love watching these videos as winter approaches, but the music really makes this one.

AstroEng

This.

I had a bike path that had a drainage problem and regularly got coated in ice when the rest of the ride was dry. Go off to the side and take the grass/gravel if you can.

Otherwise, studded tires help some, but if there's enough snow or slush on top, you'll still slip a bit, just not as severely as ice and no studs. Take it really, really slow.

Daniel4

Has anyone noticed?

1) "First" of the season. Even in cold climates, people forget how to drive when the first snow falls.

2) Everybody in the collision has locked their wheels. The only car that avoided the collision and survived was the taxi who kept his wheels turning.

Actually, I think you may come out better on two wheels. When you do fall, between you and your bike, there will be a lot more surface contact that you will not slide a long distance. This will give you time to run or crawl out of the way before the next car comes.

bikemig 

Depends on whether you are wearing cleated shoes or not . . .

MinnMan

Depends on many things. Do you have to stop or slow down at the bottom of the hill? Is it at all curvy, or can you just go straight down? how long and steep is it? What kind of ice?

Oh, and it depends on your skillz, too.

Gresp15C

Just noticed this thread. There's a hill at the end of my street that's often solid ice in the mornings during February. I can negotiate it with my studded tires, but I realize that the cars can't stop, and their strategy is to hope for the best and stop when they hit the small portion of salted road at the bottom. So I hop over to the sidewalk, which is also solid ice, but no cars.

_ForceD_

Lean bike against nearest tree. Walk home. Return to bike after spring thaw. Then ride down the hill.

Dan

Daniel4

Be sure to wear cleats.

Once when I cycled to work after a night of ice rain, a coworker asked if I found it slippery. I said "Only when I get off the bike."

After that day, I carried cleats.

Advice to the OP: Get studded tires or Grip Studs, or Slipnot bike tire chains. Your risking a fall isn't worth not spending the money and worrying about it.

PaulH

Lower the seat enough so you can slide both boots on the ice, tripod style. Gentle rear braking is OK. You can go a bit sideways to control speed. Did this all the time when I was 13. Nowadays, the studs go on in December, off in March, which is a good deal easier.

Obeast

how do you manage this when thereīs like zero traction to begin with? Unless you have spikes in your shoes or some type of crampons.

jeepseahawk

I would point that sucker straight ahead, not use brakes (they will make you slide) and pray to make it to bottom. Now, if I had a choice with hill, get off bike and walk it.

PaulH

Obviously won't work in zero traction. Given some snow or other source of surface roughness it can work, or at least did when I was thirteen. Winter boots with sharp tread can gig in pretty well at -10 or so. Black ice is pretty hopeless, though.