Winter weather tips thread?

[Rockford10]

My best winter tip is to moisturize! I found a layer of regular moisturizing cream on the arms and legs adds another (little) layer of warmth. A swipe of aquaphor on the face eliminates a face mask or balaclava for me 99% of the time. Even yesterday in the rain, whatever I got on my face didn’t bother me.

[Crickey7]

The lower numbers of riders in the Winter allow me to belt out show tunes without embarrassment. My winter riding tip is to stick to Andrew Lloyd Weber and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

[Tania]

@Rockford10 151400 wrote:

My best winter tip is to moisturize! I found a layer of regular moisturizing cream on the arms and legs adds another (little) layer of warmth. A swipe of aquaphor on the face eliminates a face mask or balaclava for me 99% of the time. Even yesterday in the rain, whatever I got on my face didn’t bother me.

My face rarely gets cold biking (unless it’s single digits) but it freezes when I ski. Absolutely going to try this!!!

[vvill]

It’s possible (or probable?) that there will be a few days where studs still won’t help a MVT commute (unless perhaps it’s a studded fat bike tire, but then it would definitely be 1hr+).

I think either go with light studs that will help with glaze/black ice/etc. or – just use the widest tires that fit your bike and use transit on icy days. I would go front and rear if you go studs, based on what I read here http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.php although I have occasionally run front-only studded (out of laziness).

Quote:

… If the rear tire slides you can still go down, but not as fast, and the results are usually not so calamitous, since you usually have enough time to get a foot out of the pedal. But with just a front studded tire, you can still crash. You can still not be able to climb a hill with black ice. You can still not be able to get out of an icy rut. You can still spin on a downhill curve. You can still lose control in a busy intersection with lots of traffic. And you can still spin during hard braking. So, for the life of me, I can’t see any reason to use a single studded tire in front, except to save a few dollars.

Studded tires will slow you down but some of the lightly studded ones will only have studs on the edges so they won’t be too bad. Of course it’s a trade-off with grip on ice.

I love my belt drive for salty winter roads (and having a spare stock/cheaper wheelset is great for that too.) Although I need to clean out my EBB and set it back up again, I know your pain Sunyata! And I also have a cheap beater 26″ MTB for really bad days. The drivetrain finally went totally kaputt after 3-5 years? of winter riding, outside storage and zero post-ride maintenance (just chain oil) so this past summer I finally upgraded it to 1×10 (started life as a 3×7, then “morphed” into a 1×7).

[cvcalhoun]

@vvill 151407 wrote:

I would go front and rear if you go studs, based on what I read here http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/studdedtires.php although I have occasionally run front-only studded (out of laziness).

I’ve never used studs. But I’ve been thinking about them, and I’m wondering about the practicality of the rear studs, if you don’t have a spare bike hanging around to put them on. It seems like you’d either have to change the tire (in the snow, which is not terribly practical for those of us who don’t have a rack to get the bike out of the snow for the changing process), or have a spare wheel and cassette (which would be a lot more expensive than just a front wheel). Is there some third alternative I’m missing? I mean, other than buying a house which has room for N+1 bikes, a rack, and a lot of tools?

[bentbike33]

@cvcalhoun 151416 wrote:

… or have a spare wheel and cassette (which would be a lot more expensive than just a front wheel).

I move the cassette when changing wheels because the cassette matches the wear in the chain. If you have a different cassette on the wheel that doesn’t ride as often, you are likely to develop chain-skip problems.

[cvcalhoun]

@bentbike33 151420 wrote:

I move the cassette when changing wheels because the cassette matches the wear in the chain. If you have a different cassette on the wheel that doesn’t ride as often, you are likely to develop chain-skip problems.

All right, that sounds like way more than I could manage in the snow, or in my very limited shed space (even assuming I could learn to move a cassette). It seems like my choices are studs on front wheel only, or just do my best with my current (wide, but not studded) tires.

[drevil]

@cvcalhoun 151425 wrote:

All right, that sounds like way more than I could manage in the snow, or in my very limited shed space (even assuming I could learn to move a cassette). It seems like my choices are studs on front wheel only, or just do my best with my current (wide, but not studded) tires.

Alternatives? A bag o’ zip ties or Slipnot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOaqqNS_oyY

BTW, I have used neither, but had good laughs at my friends that did the zip ties

[cvcalhoun]

@drevil 151427 wrote:

Alternatives? A bag o’ zip ties or Slipnot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOaqqNS_oyY

BTW, I have used neither, but had good laughs at my friends that did the zip ties

As I understand it, though, neither of those work with rim brakes, which are what I have.

[drevil]

@cvcalhoun 151428 wrote:

As I understand it, though, neither of those work with rim brakes, which are what I have.

Doh! Well, the Slipnot works with rim brakes. You can see that in the video there aren’t any discs on the wheels and you can kinda see the v-brakes in that still.

[QuikAF77]

Bag of Zip-Ties makes turning even worse, not a good idea.

[DCAKen]

@ewilliams0305 151368 wrote:

At least once every winter go out in shorts and t-shirt and ride really really fast, you won’t regret the momentary laps of reason

I like the inadvertent misspelling…this is how I’ll refer to any circuits around Hains Point.

[cvcalhoun]

@drevil 151429 wrote:

Doh! Well, the Slipnot works with rim brakes. You can see that in the video there aren’t any discs on the wheels and you can kinda see the v-brakes in that still.

All right, I think I ordered those. (PayPal said it took my money, then offered me a link that didn’t work to go back to the merchant.) In prior years, I’ve ended up Fred Flintstoning some days to get at least a sleaze ride in. But now that I’m commuting 25 miles round trip each day, I’d like to have a more practical alternative.

[ginacico]

@DCAKen 151435 wrote:

I like the inadvertent misspelling…this is how I’ll refer to any circuits around Hains Point.

Me too! I gave ewilliams0305 credit for a great double entendre.

[Greenbelt]

@TwoWheelsDC 151392 wrote:

Also, Vittoria Randonneurs are heavy AF…

Which must be why I like them so much! And Schwalbe Marathon Plus (and Pro Tour)

[Author]

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