curbtender

Looks a lot like our coastal area here.

curbtender

Took the Raleigh Sports for a shake down and caught up with a pelican catching some rays...


My wife came along and tried to set her health app for cycling. She had me laughing when we finished and went to check it out. I guess it's for menstrual.

zukahn1 

Great riding weather today for winter 40 degrees and zero wind. Road up to Pike forest only one other person in the forest and dead quit very nice.

Sir_Name 

I got out for a short ride during yesterday’s nor’easter. A nice and peaceful way to experience the snowfall in the woods.

Johno59

I'm intrigued to ask about riding in snow. Does the bike wheel have to penetrate the covering down to the ground for you to acquire traction or can you actually ride on ice? Having considerable experience with beasts of burden - once the snow touches their bellies they just stop - one suspects the main reason is they can no longer feel the ground with their hooves.

smontanaro 

I just put studded winter tires on my Super Sport and took it out for a short shakedown ride today. Here's a quick shot at Lighthouse Beach in Evanston. Kind of hard to get the bike well lit. Northwestern's football team practice facility in the background. Must be rough.



The lake hasn't frozen solid yet. I'm guessing that will all be solid after next week's polar vortex visit. No lifeguard on duty today.

smontanaro 

Ice and snow present two different problems. I think unless you want to float over the snow (and want a fat bike) you will probably be better off with more narrow knobby tires. That will allow them to sink down to the pavement beneath. Of course, if you can't see the pavement, you won't quite know what you've landed on. Here in the midwest, I think the freeze/thaw cycles and the insulation provided by the snow mean you will often wind up with a layer of ice under the snow. For that you need studded tires. Here's the front-end of my Schwinn Super Sport:



These are Nokian W240 tires I got for free. I used to commute on 45NRTH Xerxes tires. I like them much better (but the price on the Nokian couldn't be beat ). The Nokian's are labeled as 42mm wide, but I think they are a bit less than that. The Xerxes are only 30mm wide. Note also that they don't have studs in the middle, so they ride nicely on pavement. The studs there only come into play when you're cornering.

Johno59

That's amazing! How much do they weigh?

smontanaro 

Haven't weighed either myself, but the W240s are quite heavy. The Xerxes aren't bad, but obviously a bit heavier than normal tires of similar size. The Internet tells me: Xerxes 425gm, W240 907gm.

Sir_Name 

@Johno59 as with most things related to tire selection, a big part of it is up to the conditions you plan to ride in. I’ll generally ride in fresh snow if not too deep or on packed snow, and will avoid ice. The type of snow matters. A bit skinnier of a tire can help to slice through a bit of the snow for traction, though the tires aren’t really gripping the ground. They’re packing the snow and (hopefully) gripping or sticking to it to an extent. Knobs can sometimes hold some snow that might help interface with and stick to the snow under the tires — think snow that sticks to itself and is good for snowballs. I’ll also avoid snow with much of a crust as that’ll usually hamper progress pretty significantly. The tires I’ve used this year so far are 26x2.3/2.4” and did well in the few inches of sticky snow I’ve ridden in. I have a set of 26x1.95” ‘skinny’ tires that I usually switch to in the winter, I just haven’t had enough reason to do so yet. I haven’t used studded tires, and have no real interest for that matter. Maybe if I were commuting and found a need. FWIW, rigid 26” MTBs can make great snow machines in my experience. It’s a fun type of riding that might improve bike handling a bit.

northbend 

I finally got out on a shakedown ride after installing a new set of fenders.
Front fender detail by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

I was able to re-use the reinforcement plates by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

My test track:
My test bed by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Cemetery trail to Fall City by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Damp mist in the lower valley on the way to Carnation by Matthew Pendergast, on Flick

Nothing fell off and neither did I so all's good..
Shakedown ride after installing new fenders by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

rccardr 

Oooooohhhhh.
Fenders!!!!!!!

fender1

Nice fenders.
Maybe a set of these?

PDW Fender Safety Tabs

sakuvelijuhani

Waitin for the snow to melt here in Finland to get my bike in action!

thinktubes 

Waiting for that, and a 50 degree warm up...

Phillipnamese

somewhere amazing

nlerner

I got out for a morning ride ahead of another snowstorm tomorrow. It was a bit over freezing and felt balmy!

LucasHartong

Well then. Expecting storm, heavy snowfall and frost here in The Lowlands (NL), so I post a reminder of summertime in France. In the background my Gazelle Tour de l'Avenir. Deep orange of course.

malcala622

Nice weather today for a 20 miler down to Long Beach CA.

Took the Krono and beat my PB by 6 minutes.

malcala622

I like your yellow jersey LucasHartong

curbtender

We have another high sitting off the coast. Made for perfect soil condition on a



MTB ride. New area for me, Pleasanton Ridge. A lot of climbing but it paid off with some great views. The park itself is well groomed but bikes are restricted to the main trails.

LucasHartong

Thanks! Mercatone Uno, Pantani time... I kept it from the time I had a Bianchi reparto corse in yellow/celeste, with full Campagnolo. Was such a great and sweet riding bike, but unfortunately too small frame for me. Had to sell it, but got a yellow Fausto Coppi back, in the right size, so it was quite OK.

LucasHartong

Here I was on a local ride with the Coppi at an old lock, protecting our island from the sea inlets.

zukahn1 

A windy snowy slushy ride on some no name trails near home. Still a lot of snow drifting on trails so a bit of walking wading through deep spots.

ascherer 

First non-utility ride since November. The paths were too icy and slushy to get down to the Hudson River Greenway so I joined the Freds for a quick run along Riverside Drive. Today we're getting another dumping of the white stuff.