MNBikeCommuter

So jhill44 has time to prepare a second bike between all the summer rides. :-)

I have a hybrid for a winter/rough weather bike with fenders and studded tires. It has a fifth the miles of my "summer" bike, but goes through components at the same rate because of salt and sand. Spreading miles over two bikes will make them both last longer and makes logistics easier, so I don't see having two bikes as "double the cost" in terms of dollars and time in maintenance, etc.

tjspiel

Here's my problem with it. Newbies come in here, read the posts and come away thinking that commuting by bike is fairly complicated and requires a lot of gear:

spare tubes
fenders
lights
multi-tool
tire levers
pump
rack
panniers
rain gear
etc, etc.

Now we're going to tell them that a dedicated commuter should really have a spare bike?

I'm sorry. No. We don't have to make it that hard because it's not.

If you have the sort of job that you simply can not afford to be twenty minutes late one day, then you can't afford to awaken late. You need to have a plan for what you're going to do if something goes wrong. A spare bike is one option of course but it does you no good if something happens while en route, - which is more likely anyway.

nubcake

x2.

There is a good chance that he is trying to figure this out now because some people (myself included) have so little disposable income that it really does take this long to be able to put something together without worrying about if you can pay bills/buy food because of the expense. I admire his ability to think ahead, it seems to be a lost trait in our feel good, gotta have it now country.

fietsbob

I used to pull out the studded Nokian tires, and put them on overnight,
before a freeze up was forecast.

Now they stay on that bike, and for my daily use , when water is not a solid,
as black Ice on the street, I ride the other bikes..

The forecast, now, is just having me check the inflation pressure on that bike's tires..
charging up the battery for the light.

ThermionicScott 

To paraphrase John F Kennedy, "The time to build a badass studded-tire winter fixie is when the sun is shining."

SlimRider

Steely Dan

i like to think of my main bikes that i commute on as my "fair weather bike" and my "foul weather bike" as opposed to "summer bike" and "winter bike" because the truth is that both bikes get ridden to work in all seasons.

fair weather bike: titanium race bike

foul weather bike: and IGH/hydraulic disc brake hybrid with full fenders and clearances for wide tires.


in the warm seasons my foul weather bike rolls with 35 slicks and in ice season it rolls with 35 studded tires. my fair weather bike rolls with 23 slicks year round because that's all it has clearances for. i love having a IGH disc brake bike for crappy weather because braking is just so much more reliable than rim brakes when it's wet and messy. and an IGH is just a beautiful thing for getting through winter's slop with minimal maintenance.

also, if ice threatens, i won't roll without studded tires. i learned that lesson the HARD way in chicago.

pallen

I dont have a winter bike because we dont have winter.

DVC45

Truly depressing, yes. I haven't even felt summer in my area yet. ' still trying to forget winter.

Anyway, here's me with my winter bike.



Why have a winter bike? Because I like to ride year round.

Sixty Fiver

I have a dedicated winter bike that has studded tyres, an internal gear hub, generator lights, and was built to handle the worst weather that mother nature can toss at us here which could include -40 C, snow, ice, and a great deal of crud.

Jseis 

'Cause our winter roads have rocks, gravel, sand, ice, de-icer, bark, limbs, branches, leaves, dead opossums, and the salt air is hell on metal.

slcbob

Well said tjspiel and others. N+1 is a great philosophy to justify doing what you already want to do, but far from a hard requirement. By most of those arguments, we also need extra cars, phones, spouses, etc.

Excess winter corrosion is very valid. But unless you're sporting a super high end bike and a real clunker, I think the extra winter wear on the components is no worse than the cost of maintaining a second bike. Ride what you want and replace what needs replacing when it needs replacing.

I wound up making a winter Franken-bike primarily because I could from stuff I already had. The real benefit I notice is the flexibility to choose studded or not tires. Sure, you could get by with just a spare wheelset, or ride studs even when the streets are clear, but I don't have to and I like it. Another guy I know really amps up the lighting for the dark winter AM and PM commutes, but doesn't like to have all that kit on his bike for mid-day winter weekend rides or have to mount/dismount it, so that's what he likes about a second winter bike.

jhill44

My thoughts exactly
Thanks for the input all. I didn't realize this was such a big topic. I think I'll start the process of piecing my old steel frame into a single speed commuter. It can double as a rain bike and when all is said and done it will probably only cost around $100, which isn't bad considering a transit pass is $86/mo. here in Chicago.
I think my decision would be different if I didn't have 80% of what I need lying around, meaning that if I only had 1 bike, I wouldn't be worried about getting a second one to ride.

jdswitters

Dead opossum tread patterns, not something I have given much thought to.

Sixty Fiver

My old winter bikes used to double as my rain bikes but they were far too nice for the brutality that winter brings and this was why I decided to build a dedicated winter bike last year... the mtb geometry makes it easier to pop the front wheel up and over obstacles.

Not that the new winter beast is a crap bike... it's a well made entry level bike with a chromoly frame that rides and handles beautifully and winter here is too long to ride a crappy bike.

My "beater" bike is an old Peugeot that I converted to a coaster bike... it is great for those trips where I would not want to leave other bikes for fear of theft or vandalism and handles the rain pretty nicely as there is no braking loss from the coaster hub when things are soaking wet. What looks like a rear brake is actually a wheel lock... with a shackle around my front wheel and frame my wheels are kept reasonably secure.

Jseis 

Maybe I'm getting lazy and prefer to drive over the damn possum. One thing about road kill, they don't move on you.

AdamDZ

I like the low reaching front mudflap. I need to do something like that for my kommuter.

Sixty Fiver

It makes so much difference in that it keeps your front wheel from throwing crud into you drive train which extends the drive train life considerably.

The 3 speed wheels and chain came off my old winter bike after I had ridden them 7000 km... there was no measureable wear on that chain and after another winter where I may have ridden 2000km... the chain still looks and measures out like it was new.

It is not inconceivable that one might get 15,000 - 20,000 km out of a quality chain on a 3 speed if you keep it clean and lubed.

Bikepacker67

OK, I've gotta post a pic of the Kona on Ice.

Bike Gremlin

I can not agree with you. If you use bike as means of transport, you do need a backup. But backup bike can be cheap. 30 euros, no problem. It will roll. How much does a car sost? A monthly bus ticket?

Also, all the gear you mentioned is needed indeed. If you move more than 5 kilometres away. Doesn't cost too much and lasts a long time.

robi

Each member of our family has 1 bike. Me and the boys pretty much ride to school./work everyday, regardless of the weather on the same bike, all fixies.

A friends moved abroad recently and left us his old road bike.... I have used it twice once just to see what it was like and once because my kids forgot to replace the patches in the patch kit and had used my spare tube......

I see no reason for a second bike.. sure it would be a nice toy/tool to have if you can afford it. but if I can get by for 15 years using one bike, then I suppose anybody can....

Bike Gremlin

Afford? But.. I had a 15 euro spare bike. Just in case. It's not about money. Space, if you live in a flat, but money is not an issue when it comes to backup bicycle. I've had breakdowns that I can't fix myself and LBS had like 1, or 2 days. Or parts can't be found. Last time I got hit by a car, bike damaged. Etc. It is good to have a second bike if you commute by a bicycle. And it is not expensive, or a matter of affordability.

acidfast7

you are correct. space is the real issue for inner city dwellers.

kookaburra1701

Heck, not even inner city. I live in a town of 8K and my lease agreement prohibits bicycles (and kayaks/canoes/fishing gear) from being stored in the apartment. Fortunately there is secure on-site storage included in my rent, but I need to clean out more of my crap from there before I can even start shopping for a second bike. My goal is to turn the space into a small bike stable/workshop.

acidfast7

yeah, we have a traditional room in the basement (4ft wide x 10ft long x 10 feet high) and get both bikes, all of our winter equipment (skis and such), luggage (suitcases and rucksacks) and our storage boxes in (and still have enough space to work on the bikes a little). there is a dedicated bike room (with a few beaters in there) but i don't trust it as there in nothing to lock to within it.

however, it's a trade off, I could have moved into a new building but the pre-war unbombed stuff is much nicer with respect to details (tile and wooden stairwells ... high ceilings ... nice wood details throughout). the newer places we looked at had really nice bike and buggy/pram/stroller rooms (not so much in the pre-war buildings).

i'm not convinced keeping the bad-weather bike inside. i'd just chain it to the fence outside (like the bike left outside at the train stations.)