Originally Posted by
salcedo
Hi guys. I've been living in the northeast for almost a decade now, and I've been "car free" for about 5 years. We do have a var but it's my wife's car and I rarely use it.
Last year I moved to a new city in Ontario and I discovered that they only plow the main avenues here. On residential areas you have to wait for the melt to snow. Bike lanes and bike paths are even worse because they get covered with the snow plowed from the road. This means I have to commute sharing arterial roads with cars when the road is snowy and slippery and that seems a bit irresponsible.
I thought maybe I could buy a fat bike and ride on the sidewalks. But I don't know anything about fat bikes. So, I was hoping you can help me with some questions.
Would I be able to ride if there is, say about 1 feet of snow on the road?
The city is pretty flat. Do I need a bike with gears, or do you think one of those cheap fixie mountain bikes that you can only find in Walmart will do?
What should I look for on a fat bike?
Thanks!
I bought a Specialized Fat Boy for my adult son. What convinced me to buy this particular make and model is the gear ratios that allow riding on just about any grade and terrain. He has ridden on soft sand and mud but not but not snow . However, given its performance on wet, slippery ground, there is no reason to believe that with the right tires, it will not do well in snow. I would consider mounting studded tires for traction over the frozen ground patches.