I have a surly 1 x 1 that I'm getting ready to build up as a winter bike. I had been using a vintage MTB so I have 26 inch studded tires. I have the parts for the build. Now I just need to finish it before my garage becomes too cold to work in.

-22C yesterday morning, then today got up to +4C and its still above freezing at 11 pm. Much of the fresh snow we got is melting, but it is supposed to be cool down again tomorrow afternoon upping the ice factor. Then a potentially warm enough stretch next week to get rid of most of the snow in non-shaded areas. This in between season weather isn't a lot of fun, particularly the wet part.

I tried the new highway near me earlier in the week before the new snow, but they put a ton of salt on it. When the road is dry passing vehicles kick up clouds of powdered salt. Salt isn't used much around here since it gets too cold for it, but the highway is maintained by a private company. Maybe they are just trying to make a good first impression and will dial back on salt use soon.

-4C here this morning.

They use a lot of salt here, but definitely not enough to send clouds of it as you are riding. I think if it got to that point, there would be outrage from the environmentalist-types. As it is, they don't salt a lot because the small towns simply cant afford it. My town has only 1300 people. We pay high property taxes, but its never enough to include the luxuries of unbroken pavement and bare asphalt.

Winter is right around the corner Today (11/9/19) it was 23°F (-5°C), and snow is predicted for Tuesday (11/12). That still seems a little early for studded tires, and I anticipate a light dusting with “frictionable” underlying pavement, but I still would not ride my road bike with 25C slicks if this early snow occurs.

Even with dry roads in the Winter, after the first salting I still think that salt dust can be corrosive.

Ran into snow flurries out on my ride Friday afternoon, will be putting the studded tires on the fat bike this weekend. I'll wait to put the studded tires on the plus bike until we really get some coverage.
Put the car into winter hibernation mode this week.

heard on the news, this morning, that Winchendon was the jackpot, w/ over 20" of snow from Sunday afternoon thru today?

That's a lot of snow. Wow. Seems like parts of Massachusetts have really gotten a lot of snow these last few years.

Something about the areas SW of Mount Monadnock - they always get dumped on. https://weatherstreet.com/city_snow_...snow-depth.htm

I'm about an hour north of Winchendon, and we got just about 17 inches.

We got 14" yesterday and another 13" today. New Ipswich really hit the jackpot--32" total as of this morning.

Wow. Wow. Wow. That's all a lot of snow. 13" is a lot, but 32"**********? Wow.

My inlaws have little sympathy for our snowfall. Five years ago they had a storm that dumped 86" of snow on them in two days. Ah Buffalo--there's a reason I don't live there. The funny part is that it warmed up to 60 degrees three days later and a week after that all that was left were a few parking lot snow piles a couple feet deep.

I seem to go to all the snowy places. I've lived here, Buffalo, Minneapolis, and northern Illinois...

Meteorlogical Winter began December first. The snow was right on time.

We topped out at 25" of snow, but I'm working 7 days a week until the Christmas shopping season is over. In at 5am and out at 5pm, to tired to get out. Should get back to normal come Christmas week, so I can go play in it.

Good luck, my friend, I must also work 7 days a week until Christmas to make the budget balance. I hope you have a great time when you are able to make it outside

Thanks !

90% sure I'm pulling the trigger on a new bike once work is back to normal, and oh how I can't wait to ride in the snow.

Rained all day today. Still raining. there's about 2" of white slushy stuff left. It's supposed to be 47F tomorrow, so I'm guessing it'll be gone by tomorrow afternoon.

Not all of it here....and then it snowed again. Once I get the more aggressive tires for my Fuji I'm taking it out on the Winchendon trail. They should be coming in today.

Tomorrow looks decent, around 40 degrees and little wind. C'mon UPS!

Are you putting studded tires on it?

Unfortunately, no. It's on 27" wheels right now. I couldn't find any studded tires so I went with a set of Kenda KrossCyclos. As long as I don't push it, I should be okay with a small amount of snow.

was riding Saturday & wondering if my studs were really necessary. the conditions were "mostly" wonderful packed flat snow. but occasionally I hit some areas with a layer of bumpy ice under the snow. watch out for that sneaky stuff!

The ice under snow makes me the most nervous. Last year I was training for a marathon and we had some crazy conditions where snow melted the day before, then froze overnight. It snowed again during our run. My training partner fell twice that day, the poor gal. I'd rather not wipe out the same way. I normally stick to the trainer or treadmill in conditions like that but I'm missing sunshine and the box fan is a poor substitute for the wind in my face.

sorry to hear about your friend. yeah snow over ice is trouble even w/ studs cuz some types of snow will stick in the treads lifting me off the studs, then I'm just free wheeling over ice w/ snow tires! :eek:

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...870cc8d701.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...01be8884b4.jpg

rumrunn6 where are you riding where you find the hard-packed snow?

plowed paved MUP (recent)
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8ac379fba3.jpg

and frequented dirt road (last February)

Yeah man that’s Heaven