Originally Posted by
absoludicrous
The next thing that has piqued my interest is what bike to ride in the winter. Based off what I've read here I'm less inclined to ride my warm-season drop bar bike, and more inclined to think a cheap old hard-tail mountain bike or all-terrain bike might be the way to go.
Is it pretty much an "anything'll do" sort of deal or are there recommendations for capable winter bikes? Flat-bar better suited than drop?
Very Strongly recommend:
- 700c tires, I've ridden both and they're noteably better than 26" tires
- Full fenders
- Either a cheaper bike, or an expensive winter specific bike - for what you wrote I'd go with cheaper. I'd point you towards a $400 or so hybrid (new cost). If you can find used great, I'm to lazy to go used to save $150 lol.
Recommend:
- Straight handlebars, for the same reason mountain bikes have straight bars - leverage is much better for dealing with nasty uneven road surfaces.
- I've not seen many people using shocks. The sentiment seems to be that they might be nice if they worked perfectly, but the tend to get gunked up and fall apart in winter riding, and because a lot less effective when it gets real cold anyways, so don't use them.
My 2 cents.