Lets see your winter bike.

[us56456712]

I know about this but I don't ride as often as you do. I use drops once in a while but otherwise my regular glasses work pretty well. Used to have great prescription sun glasses (now gone) but my transition lens are doing okay. We get really bright sunshine sometimes after a new snow and snowblind is an understatement. 25mph on ice, even with studs, sound hairy, nice going daredevil.

It's been warmer here lately and some of the snow is gone The paths are relatively dry but have intermittent ice running across them. It was a perfect Mpls winter day yesterday at upper 20's, Full Sunshine, and light winds. Decided to not take the knobby tires off my aluminum winter bike but run my Triangle Roadmaster with the Michelin Country Rock tires. Put a different set of bars and stem on it and it was great! Got a 15 mile ride in to the lake chain and back.

Got up the hill in the background no problem, yeah!
Early winter ice ride on Ostrander Lake with the 59 Schwinn Corvette.

Rode on the ice along the edge of Lake Calhoun for about a mile. The ice fishermen nearby said about 6" thick . No wipeouts with no studs at a very slow and steady pace. Tires were speedy on the paths too.

I tried to sell this bike for $100 at a swap meet last spring, now I'm really glad I didn't because it my revived "mild" winter bike.

Keep though pictures coming. Got any ride pics Mornview or anybody?

Thanks for looking
Steve

 

[patman73]

anyone try a full suspension bike in the snow & ice !

 

[us56456712]

anyone try a full suspension bike in the snow & ice !

I personally have not seen this. I see almost all rigid bikes and a few older front suspension bikes. I see a lot of fat bikes and they run 5-6 pounds of pressure for snow and I guess that is sort of like a full suspension bike. You usually go slow and cautious on roads. Single track trails are very smooth in the winter as the packed snow is like paving. If it is cold enough (hard snow) I ride my cruiser or mountain bike on the snow bike trails but I have quit as the fat tire guys think I am ruining their trails. It is really the hikers/dog walkers that make it so bumpy that it is hard to ride on them. You can't tell where I rode on them when it is cold but this year they don't seem to appreciate someone riding a $10 bike alongside their $4000 bikes. Thats OK, I have the bike path to ride on, but a jaunt on the hard packed single track trails once in awhile helps releave bordum. I might rent a fat bike once a month just to go on the trails.

 

[patman73]

some people think they own the trails
i knew some guys that build some trails & people started bringin little kids runnig around climbing on the dirt jumps that the guys built ,people walk dogs & hike in the woods where the trails were built
they get mad when people ride when it's muddy!

 

[us56456712]

My homemade studded ice tire experiment failed miserably. When previously making studded tires I sprayed the inside of the tire with professional contact cement, then put in fiberglass reinforced double sticky backed carpet tape, then an old inner tube split on the inside as a liner. Then a regular inner tube. Never had a flat. This year I lined my tires with Gorilla Tape only. That didn't work, or only worked for about 10 miles on the back tire. The front tire is not yet flat but it will be unless I improve the system. The screw heads ripped the Gorilla Tape from the back and forth screw flexing and put a hole in my tube. There was a slight cut at each screw head in the tape. I am going back to the the inner tube liner as it will flex and not be prone to ripping. I was hoping that my previous experiment with the glue, tape and inner tube liner was over kill. I am going to just try the inner tube liner and hope that is enough. The problem I am trying to avoid is the removal of the glued in carpet tape. This is very difficult to remove if you want to put new screw studs in the tire after the original ones wear down. I removed the carpet tape by placing Gorilla Tape over it and mounting up the tire, I rode on it a little until the gorilla tape bedded with the carpet tape and the Gorilla Tape helped remove the carpet tape, but it was a hard pull.
My advice, don't try Gorilla Tape.

 

[patman73]

gorilla glue would be bad also !

 

[mornview]

I've had just plain bad experiences with the Gorilla Glue family of products all around. But man, I appreciate your dedication to this project. Especially when you consider all the work you're putting into it, I'm starting to see how commercial studded tires might just be more practical .

 

[mornview]

I personally have not seen this. I see almost all rigid bikes and a few older front suspension bikes. I see a lot of fat bikes and they run 5-6 pounds of pressure for snow and I guess that is sort of like a full suspension bike. You usually go slow and cautious on roads. Single track trails are very smooth in the winter as the packed snow is like paving. If it is cold enough (hard snow) I ride my cruiser or mountain bike on the snow bike trails but I have quit as the fat tire guys think I am ruining their trails. It is really the hikers/dog walkers that make it so bumpy that it is hard to ride on them. You can't tell where I rode on them when it is cold but this year they don't seem to appreciate someone riding a $10 bike alongside their $4000 bikes. Thats OK, I have the bike path to ride on, but a jaunt on the hard packed single track trails once in awhile helps releave bordum. I might rent a fat bike once a month just to go on the trails.

This is one of the best feelings in the world. I even just get a rush out of passing by guys on derailleur-equiped bikes.

I'm having a hard time climbing some of this city's hills on my Heavy Duti. It's the same gear ratio as all of my other bikes (48-16), and can't be too terribly much heavier, but I think it's the longer wheelbase that's doing me in. In any event, I still do get up the hills, and I love biking past guys walking their derailleur-equiped bikes up the hill .

 

[mornview]

I know about this but I don't ride as often as you do. I use drops once in a while but otherwise my regular glasses work pretty well. Used to have great prescription sun glasses (now gone) but my transition lens are doing okay. We get really bright sunshine sometimes after a new snow and snowblind is an understatement. 25mph on ice, even with studs, sound hairy, nice going daredevil.

It's been warmer here lately and some of the snow is gone The paths are relatively dry but have intermittent ice running across them. It was a perfect Mpls winter day yesterday at upper 20's, Full Sunshine, and light winds. Decided to not take the knobby tires off my aluminum winter bike but run my Triangle Roadmaster with the Michelin Country Rock tires. Put a different set of bars and stem on it and it was great! Got a 15 mile ride in to the lake chain and back.

Got up the hill in the background no problem, yeah!

Rode on the ice along the edge of Lake Calhoun for about a mile. The ice fishermen nearby said about 6" thick . No wipeouts with no studs at a very slow and steady pace. Tires were speedy on the paths too.

I tried to sell this bike for $100 at a swap meet last spring, now I'm really glad I didn't because it my revived "mild" winter bike.

Keep though pictures coming. Got any ride pics Mornview or anybody?

Thanks for looking
Steve

I could be wrong on the 25mph; I've never had a spedometer on my bikes, but I know that I average 10-15mph on flat land, and going down some of these big hills feels at least a good 5-10mph faster. The studs honestly barely make an impact on my speed. Yet they are extremely helpful when they need to be. Couldn't be happier with those tires.

As far as pics go, I'll definetely be posting some as the time comes. After a brutal November, this December has just been amazing - temperatures constantly flirting around the freezing point and almost no snow. Riding in the snow and the cold can be a blast, but about 99% of my commuting is done on bicycle, and it can take a while to get all that gear on and off that you need to ride in -20F. As far as I'm concerned, keep the beautiful weather coming .

By the way, that Roadmaster is pretty sweet. Do you have a coaster brake on it?

 

[us56456712]

This is one of the best feelings in the world. I even just get a rush out of passing by guys on derailleur-equiped bikes.

I'm having a hard time climbing some of this city's hills on my Heavy Duti. It's the same gear ratio as all of my other bikes (48-16), and can't be too terribly much heavier, but I think it's the longer wheelbase that's doing me in. In any event, I still do get up the hills, and I love biking past guys walking their derailleur-equiped bikes up the hill .

I find winter riding is way more difficult. Could be a combo of stuff like stiff tires from the cold, the long wheel base on my cruiser and heavy studded tires. I have a hard time with hills that are no problem in the summer.

 

[us56456712]

I could be wrong on the 25mph; I've never had a spedometer on my bikes, but I know that I average 10-15mph on flat land, and going down some of these big hills feels at least a good 5-10mph faster. The studs honestly barely make an impact on my speed. Yet they are extremely helpful when they need to be. Couldn't be happier with those tires.

As far as pics go, I'll definetely be posting some as the time comes. After a brutal November, this December has just been amazing - temperatures constantly flirting around the freezing point and almost no snow. Riding in the snow and the cold can be a blast, but about 99% of my commuting is done on bicycle, and it can take a while to get all that gear on and off that you need to ride in -20F. As far as I'm concerned, keep the beautiful weather coming .

By the way, that Roadmaster is pretty sweet. Do you have a coaster brake on it?

Yes Bendix Red Band replacing the shot skip tooth

 

[patman73]

you need to not over dress for winter rideing as you ride you will start to sweat & that is not good in the cols, you have strip layers off as you start to feel warmer so you don't get sick !
i hate when the snow is slushy & the frozen the rough tracks made me slip out in 2011
i don't have studded tires

 

[Nagant]

I din't know anyone would notice. I don't want to load up the forum and deleting them would make more room?

I sent you a PM with my thoughts on this.

 

[mornview]

I find winter riding is way more difficult. Could be a combo of stuff like stiff tires from the cold, the long wheel base on my cruiser and heavy studded tires. I have a hard time with hills that are no problem in the summer.

That's encouraging to hear. I put in over 100 miles last week, many of which were in the hilliest (is that a word?) area of the city, and by the end of the week I was starting to power through some of those hills. I'm glad I can pull it off, but I'm just a bit worried about pushing myself that hard when the temperatures start to get really nasty. I think I'm going to have to suck it up and switch to an easier gear ratio at some point.

 

[mornview]

you need to not over dress for winter rideing as you ride you will start to sweat & that is not good in the cols, you have strip layers off as you start to feel warmer so you don't get sick !
i hate when the snow is slushy & the frozen the rough tracks made me slip out in 2011
i don't have studded tires

What area of Texas do you live in that you see that much snow? My sister-in-law lives near Houston and said that when they got snow last year the whole city basically shut down; they didn't know what to do.

 

[mornview]

I sent you a PM with my thoughts on this.

Personally I find his posts often times full of useful information that I may want to go back to and reference later. I wouldn't mind having to wait a few extra seconds loading a page as a trade-off .

 

[patman73]

What area of Texas do you live in that you see that much snow? My sister-in-law lives near Houston and said that when they got snow last year the whole city basically shut down; they didn't know what to do.

i'm in dfw & we don't get much snow but i meant the cold wind , as i ride my bike all year round so the cold wind can make you feel like a popsicle lol
it has not been that cold this year , in 2011 we had ice & it was bad for rdiing just to go to the store !

 

[Nagant]

Personally I find his posts often times full of useful information that I may want to go back to and reference later. I wouldn't mind having to wait a few extra seconds loading a page as a trade-off .

I agree completely.

 

[us56456712]

i'm in dfw & we don't get much snow but i meant the cold wind , as i ride my bike all year round so the cold wind can make you feel like a popsicle lol
it has not been that cold this year , in 2011 we had ice & it was bad for rdiing just to go to the store !

I lived in San Antonio and New Orleans for awhile in the 60s. You get more use to the heat down there so when it get to 45 F you really feel it. I remember feeling the bite of the wind at 45 F and realizing I was as cold as I ever got up here in the north. I felt like I was loosing it, I felt like I was turning wimpy, but it was that I was not acclimated to the cold but to the heat. Weird

 

[us56456712]

We are having bad weather, 36F, raining and foggy. Rain is predicted through Monday night, then some snow, then sunny and around 30F midweek and the weekend. I could ride my road bike if it weren't for the residual salt. It will probably turn to ice again later in the week. At this rate I will need 4 winter bikes. My studded tire cruiser for short distances and shopping, the old studded tire rigid frame mountain bike for 10 mile +, then I would have to get 2 more: a regular tire old rigid frame MB for when the weather is like it is today and a fat bike for snow bike trail riding.