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Stalled Riding Rant

So I've kind of stalled on riding. I will need to put my studded tires on. Since this is the second year I've owned them, I'm wondering if I should put puncture liners in them. We haven't had any accumulation of snow yet. Once they are on, I ride on them. I believe we are suppose to get 3 to 6 inches of lake effect snow by Tuesday. I remember last year I rode my good bike to work and crossed paths with a truck spraying liquid salt. So this year I went to the other extreme and my good bike is put away already. I've been riding my grocery/bad weather bike with knobby's. If I would just splurge for a extra set of rims, this wouldn't be an issue. I have other set up issues that are compounding the issue. Trunk bag is coming un-VELCRO-ed. It doesn't work as well with this rack. Not a big deal, but I want to switch to a different light. It would also help to have a bike stand, so I don't turn the bike up side down to change the tires. Oh also my wool sweater's weren't ready, so shame on me. It was really cold last week. So as far as stalling, I missed a-little less than a week, but It feels like an eternity. How do you deal with the transition? Do you line studded tires or uses beefier tubes? (I would think the slime wouldn't work in the cold weather.) Do you ride with studs on bare pavement? Tuesday will get here and none of this may matter. I hope to have everything ironed out this weekend. Thanks in advance for any of your advice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by baldilocks (Post 21201305)

...Do you line studded tires or use beefier tubes? Do you ride with studs on bare pavement?

I live in goat-head thorn country, so all my bikes get tire liners, even the studded snow tires. If there is no snow or ice present and none in the forcast, I prefer to ride my non-studded bikes. The studded tires, Suomi Nokian W-106's, require more pedalling effort than their smooth, summer counterparts, and my other two smooth-shod bikes.

The W-106's are lightly-studded commuter tires and running them at their max psi of 65 goes a long way towards getting the bike's weight off the stud-lined shoulders. Banking through turns puts the bike on a line of studs, and the slight loss of grip is noticable, but not as bad as when I tried hybrid tires with a smooth center section and knobby shoulders.

For ice I drop the pressure by half to ~32psi and the tires are amazing! But then they are even more effort to pedal when encountering bae-pavement. Dropping them to ~25psi gives then even more traction and stability on loose snow, ice grip is still great, but dry pavement is even more dufficult.

I'd say my studded snow tires drop my average speed by 1.5mph on dry pavement at max psi, and they drop my average by almost 2.5 mph at medium inflation. At minimum inflation on dry pavement they are a chore.

Thank you Bobby G. Good Info. I am holding off till tomorrow to put on the studded tires. Think I fixed the bag problem. I don't have the trunk bag and collapsible basket on the bike so I may take it for a quick ride today. I also think if I put all the stuff on it I can do the step ladder and a pole trick to change the tires without flipping it upside down.

We don't have goatheads in my area (eastern Iowa) so I don't bother with tire liners or thorn-proof tubes in my studded tires. Anything that wants to puncture these tires would need to get through a lot. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by baldilocks (Post 21201305)

So I've kind of stalled on riding. I will need to put my studded tires on. Since this is the second year I've owned them, I'm wondering if I should put puncture liners in them. We haven't had any accumulation of snow yet. Once they are on, I ride on them.

I believe we are suppose to get 3 to 6 inches of lake effect snow by Tuesday. I remember last year I rode my good bike to work and crossed paths with a truck spraying liquid salt. So this year I went to the other extreme and my good bike is put away already. I've been riding my grocery/bad weather bike with knobby's. If I would just splurge for a extra set of rims, this wouldn't be an issue. I have other set up issues that are compounding the issue. ...

It was really cold last week. So as far as stalling, I missed a-little less than a week, but It feels like an eternity. How do you deal with the transition? Do you line studded tires or uses beefier tubes? (I would think the slime wouldn't work in the cold weather.)

Do you ride with studs on bare pavement? Tuesday will get here and none of this may matter. I hope to have everything ironed out this weekend. Thanks in advance for any of your advice.

FWIW, I posted to this thread,

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcours2006 (Post 20642682)

"Emergency Winter Cycling Kit?"

A phone to call someone to help...but I suppose that's a given. If it's a flat, you try to fix it, but using your bare hands when temperature is so extreme is not easy, or even possible, in which case a phone to call someone for help is crucial.

Anywhere along my route is no more than a ten minutes walk from some kind of indoor business into which I can probably beg/plead for help, or at least a warm place to change my tire..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 20647276)

. I too ride on urban / suburban routes with similar measures, but early, before 6 AM. I envision going to an indoor ATM machine to fix a flat, so I carry a bank card too.

PS: I also use Kevlar tire liners year round, even on my fair weather carbon fiber road bike, to hopefully forestall flats…

and

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 21154667)

" Winter is right around the corner"

… For me, it takes a while to make the transition between warm and cold and vice versa. As for the bicycle, the definitive transition to winter is mounting the studded tires, early in December, and removal signals winter is over, usually in late March.

PS: And I transition entirely to the beater bike with the studded tires until a late winter storm thoroughly rinses off the road salt; then I bring out the pristine carbon fiber road bike.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 21201323)

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..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston (Post 20805261)

”Protecting bike from salt and rust in commutes”

So too I don’t bother cleaning my beater either. We live in a small downtown condo, and I don’t have easily accessible facilities, like a garage.

If the bike, mainly the drive train is particularly filthy, my bike shop one block away does a good cleaning.

My beater is a good quality aluminum Specialized Diverge, and I bought it as a good-riding beater that I would nonetheless subject to the elements, without the distress of messing up my high end Specialized S-Works. :twitchy:

Thanks for the responses. The sweaters are washed and the bike is set up except for the studded tires. Not working tomorrow, so I may hold off on the studs. It looks like it may warm up a-little thru November. Thinking I may skip the tube liners as well. I rode yesterday, so that was good. Hoping to commute to work Wednesday thru Friday.