Easy Peasy

I've started commuting with a hybrid and hope to use it as much as possible, but when the winter hits, I was thinking of using my mountain bike with wider tires. Anyone else change rides for the winter?

eofelis 

I have two commuter bikes. Both are built on older Novara Randonee frames. Both have 26" size wheels.

One has drop bars, STIs and road slick tires. I've been using it all summer.

The other one has flat bars, thumb shifters and semi knobby tires. I use it mostly in the winter as the shifters are easier to use with thick gloves and mittens.

robi

I have one bike, currently a fixie built on some old frame from here in Hungary... I will use it until it no longer works.....

MNBikeCommuter

I use a road bike for dry conditions, and a hybrid with fenders and studded tires for wet/snow/ice conditions.

wolfchild

I have three bikes, all of them have fenders, all three get ridden year round. The only thing I change in winter is the tires and gear ratio, I also have few sets of wheels with different tires on them.

Pete In Az

I have one usable bike and one I am restoring (my, what a tedious process) so, no I do not change bikes. Fair weather or foul, I use the same bike.

D Boz

I wish!

Currently looking for a winter bike tho

randomgear

Same bike, I just throw the studded tires on. Depending where you are, you may or may not need them. See how much clearance you have at the chainstays near the bottom bracket and at the fork to see how much of a wider tire you can fit. If you area uses lots of salt on the roads, you might not want to use your nice bike during slushy, snowy or snow melt commutes. Salt will cover your bike, fenders help a lot, but the salt can really damage the finish on polished aluminum and help to seize components - pedals to cranks, cogs to hubs, and bottom brackets to bottom bracket shells.

akrejci

I use an Sun EZ-Sport for good weather commuting. When there is snow or ice, I use my EZ-3AX trike.

CliftonGK1

I've got 2 road outfitted bikes that work well with 32mm tires in anything up to slush and light snow dustings. I can throw some file-tread CX tires on there and it's all good.

For real deal winter: Packed snow, ice, etc. I'll throw a pair of studs on my 29er/CX rig, smack a couple of clippie fenders on it and be ready to rock the gnarly stuff.

Sixty Fiver

The difference between fair and foul here can mean a temperature change of over 120 degrees between summer and winter and dry roads vs roads packed with several feet of snow and ice.

I have had a dedicated winter bike for as long as I have ridden through our winter... preferred weapon is a bike with a 3 speed internal hub and 26 inch wheels with knobbies and am in the process of building up a new one as my old one was actually too nice to subject to such nasty conditions.

1nterceptor

No, I ride the same roadbike in all kinds of waether.

STUCK IN SNOW by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

labrat

Apparently, I'm at the other end of the spectrum than most. I have 4 bikes that see frequent action in the commuter rotation. Road bike for nice spring, summer and fall days. Cyclocross rig with fenders for wet conditions and no snow or ice. Hybrid with fenders and racks front and rear for utility work and most winter commutes with light studs. Finally a rigid mountain bike wearing Nokian Extremes for the days when it's too gnarly for the light studs. It's really nice to be able to pick the ride that matches the conditions.

catonec 

get some wide studded tires (if they fit) and you can use the same bike.

Monster Pete

I just switch tyres. Slicks for summer and semi-knobbly for the winter. The towpath I sometimes use gets pretty muddy after heavy rain, and on the rare occasion that it snows they're a bit less overwhelmed.

MijnWraak

Same bike for winter. I make no changes. 700x23 slick tire road bike

Jim from Boston

Likewise though my beater bike is a Cannondale Mountain Bike. Using a beater allows me to cycle commute about an extra 5 to more than 10 days a month throughout the year for six commuting days per week.

Mithrandir

No, I only have one bike at the moment. I want another, but cannot decide whether it will be a commuter bike for utility or a road bike for fun.

Maybe I'll just buy 2 more bikes...

scroca

This is what I did last year, but I don't like changing out tires when it's icy versus not and riding with studs when they are not necessary is tedious and wears them out prematurely. So this year I am building a winter bike i.e. fg with straight bars to accommodate poggies and studded tires.

Transformer

I change FROM a bike in bad weather. I'm one of those poseur fair-weather commuters!

nashcommguy

No, but as I've read the length of your commute on other threads you may want to consider it. Mine's too long. If I switched to an mtb it would take me about 2 hours...no thanks. It doesn't snow that much here in Mid-TN, so it's not a great concern.

What I do is lower the psi on my multi-geared utility bike from 120 to 80 or 90 psi. That helps alot for stability w/o slowing me down too much. If my commute were 10 miles or less I would definately use my mtb as a 'snow day' commuter, though. It's got 1.75 street tires w/65 psi max. I'd run them at 50 like I used to do when my commute was 20 mi rt in heavy urban stop and go traffic.

Though I use fg on 'light days' commutes I stay off it altogether for snow/icey conditions. "I'm not a complete idiot"...to quote the late, great Sheldon Brown.

Ira B

I ride a road bike in good weather and daylight conditions and a Frankenbikefenderbeast for night time and bad weather conditions.

cranky velocist

I switch it up, because I don't like playing with cable tension on my main rig if I can help it & a coating of salt-melt everywhere can't be good for the life of my bikes, which I am trying to conserve long term. My 'new' bike became an 'old' bike after two or three New York City winters & I aspire to build the fleet rather than simply replace it.

Jim from Boston

From December to April I commute 14 miles on Schwalbe Marathons Winter studded tires only. I have not noticed any appreciable wear on the studs for the three past years I've used them. This seems to be the consensus of the Winter Cycling Forum about carbide studs. The Marathons have an insignificant increased rolling resistance on dry pavement compared to my usual fair weather tires, but tires with a more “aggressive” tread are reputed to be more significantly more difficult on dry pavement. Changing tires to suit the ever-changing weather in winter would indeed be tedious.

Rhodabike

I'm considering retiring my main commuter to strictly winter use and just leaving the studded tires on it. My new tourer can be my fair weather/summer bike.