How many inches?
#1
Full Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 475
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 200 Post(s)
Liked 136 Times
in
86 Posts
How many inches?
How many inches of snow does it take to stop you from unpowered bike riding.
Seven inches today near Chicago, rode with studded tires , not far but rode!
gm
Seven inches today near Chicago, rode with studded tires , not far but rode!
gm
#2
Veteran, Pacifist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Seattle area
Posts: 13,354
Bikes: Bikes??? Thought this was social media?!?
Mentioned: 284 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3908 Post(s)
Liked 4,864 Times
in
2,244 Posts
0.1". Or any ice.
edit: I gave up hating an indoor trainer, too. Mine has a good 2 window view now.
edit: I gave up hating an indoor trainer, too. Mine has a good 2 window view now.
__________________
Vintage, modern, e-road. It is a big cycling universe.
Vintage, modern, e-road. It is a big cycling universe.
Likes For Wildwood:
#3
Banned
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Mississauga/Toronto, Ontario canada
Posts: 8,721
Bikes: I have 3 singlespeed/fixed gear bikes
Mentioned: 30 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4227 Post(s)
Liked 2,489 Times
in
1,286 Posts
Lot's of variables here, it's not just about how much snow.. It depends on what type of snow. Fresh powder snow is a lot easier to ride through than heavy wet sticky snow. Traffic snow can also be hard to ride through. The type of tires you have also makes a big difference. Some tires grip well and others just slide all over the place. Gearing ratio also makes a big difference on how many inches of snow you can ride through. I don't bring tape measure with me on my rides so I can't tell you exactly how many inches.
Likes For wolfchild:
#4
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Mich
Posts: 7,460
Bikes: RSO E-tire dropper fixie brifter
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Liked 3,024 Times
in
1,940 Posts
i dont get my rocksalts off riding in snow. 000.00"
__________________
-Oh Hey!
-Oh Hey!
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Posts: 4,816
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1593 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 1,026 Times
in
576 Posts
I haven't seen snow in decades but even when I was young and crazy and living in the snowbelt I avoided riding in it.
But I admire the rugged commuters who do.
But I admire the rugged commuters who do.
#7
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 12,955
Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder
Mentioned: 129 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4845 Post(s)
Liked 3,974 Times
in
2,581 Posts
Lot's of variables here, it's not just about how much snow.. It depends on what type of snow. Fresh powder snow is a lot easier to ride through than heavy wet sticky snow. Traffic snow can also be hard to ride through. The type of tires you have also makes a big difference. Some tires grip well and others just slide all over the place. Gearing ratio also makes a big difference on how many inches of snow you can ride through. I don't bring tape measure with me on my rides so I can't tell you exactly how many inches.
And the big variable here - how strong is the rider and how important is the ride? As a young man, I didn't drive and didn't have access to mass transit that could get me there faster than on bike. If I needed to go there, I rode. One winter in Boston, that ride was 12 miles each way. I had started racing and was told by the club vets to set my second bike up fix gear the summer before. Rode it with cyclocross tubulars and heavy, cheap rims. Simply dropped the pressure to whatever I needed. Very hard on the rims. By March they were irregular polygons but tubulars simply don't care.
And the rides? Mostly on plowed and lightly salted streets (1976 so less than now). Mostly wet pavement, soggy snow and soft ice but cold and hard did happen. On morning 6" of fresh snow. I was first one out and it was magic. Tires cut right to the road. Traction, good control and a wonderful silence. It continued to snow all day, warming some. Coming home was a different story! Hard! Like epic hard. Took everything I had to turn that big gear. (I actually geared higher in the winter as I learned very fast that the higher the gear, the easier controlling the bike in snow ans on ice was. Fewer crashes.) There was a two mile stretch of gentle downhill on a parkway that hadn't seen a lot of traffic and no plow. 10' of heavy NE snow except the tire width ruts of hardpack. I could stay upright as long as I could stay in the rut. Every time I needed an extra inch I crashed. Soft and wet crashes. No pain, no injury. Just wetter and heavier.
So, going into work that day was pure magic. A wonderful ride. And coming home was one of my really hard rides! I had the perfect tires and wheels going in. I don't know to this day what would have served me better coming home. Wider would have been easier - probably but maybe it would have required pushing around more of that dense heavy stuff and I can't imagine the tires that would have done well on that 10" of heavy snow outside those ruts. A fat bike? Riding the 12 miles in on a fat bike? Certainly not the magic I saw. And riding up Boston/Brookline's Goddard Ave on a fatbike? Not my idea of fun.
The three unknowns of snow and ice. The conditions. The rider's conditioning. And the rider's willpower. (Will power, a blend of gumption and lack of smarts.)
#8
With a mighty wind
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 2,624
Mentioned: 13 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1111 Post(s)
Liked 906 Times
in
509 Posts
Im a 10 minute walk from work. Not worth getting bundled up for a ride. Just a casual walk.
I’ll go mountain biking as long as I’ve got enough grip that I can sort of climb. That’s maybe 3-4”. Once it melts and refreezes, that totally keeps me away.
I’ll go mountain biking as long as I’ve got enough grip that I can sort of climb. That’s maybe 3-4”. Once it melts and refreezes, that totally keeps me away.
#9
Forum Moderator
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Kalamazoo MI
Posts: 20,682
Bikes: Fuji SL2.1 Carbon Di2 Cannondale Synapse Alloy 4 Trek Checkpoint ALR-5 Viscount Aerospace Pro Colnago Classic Rabobank Raleigh C50 Cromoly Hybrid Legnano Tipo Roma Pista
Mentioned: 59 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 3101 Post(s)
Liked 6,644 Times
in
3,806 Posts
Thread moved from General to Winter.
__________________
#10
aka Tom Reingold
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Posts: 40,524
Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem
Mentioned: 511 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7359 Post(s)
Liked 2,502 Times
in
1,451 Posts
If there is snow in the morning, I won't head out on my bike. But when I'm riding home from work and the snow starts, I'll ride home.
__________________
Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
New York City and High Falls, NY
Blogs: The Experienced Cyclist; noglider's ride blog
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments.” — Elizabeth West, US author
Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
#11
hard to kill
Lot's of variables here, it's not just about how much snow.. It depends on what type of snow. Fresh powder snow is a lot easier to ride through than heavy wet sticky snow. Traffic snow can also be hard to ride through. The type of tires you have also makes a big difference. Some tires grip well and others just slide all over the place. Gearing ratio also makes a big difference on how many inches of snow you can ride through. I don't bring tape measure with me on my rides so I can't tell you exactly how many inches.
Not necessarily the depth, really, and more the nature of the snow and ice. Maybe a foot or two or so of fresh powder is an awful lot of fun on the creek path here in town. Actually fresh anywhere is fantastic, but there's also deep boot prints and snow shoe ruts that freeze in place, or multiple car tracks a foot deep and frozen solid, or the grey granular stuff that forms when too much mag chloride meets continual frigid temps. I think I hate washing out in that grey crap most of all. Ice storms are pretty great.
But that's just me and I only go ice riding for fun, and I firmly believe in confidence inspiring, condition-specific, studded tires and have several mounted, like Nokian Extremes and Hakas and M&Gs and Ice Spiker Pros.
Something I learned from experience early on was that fenders will save your derailleurs from freezing when it gets deep, and when it gets deep you really don't want to be limited to one gear. Well, not around here anyway.
#12
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 25 miles northwest of Boston
Posts: 29,589
Bikes: Bottecchia Sprint, GT Timberline 29r, Marin Muirwoods 29er, Trek FX Alpha 7.0
Mentioned: 112 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5234 Post(s)
Liked 3,602 Times
in
2,356 Posts
I guess 2"-3"
some preferences
some preferences
- ride bike at the beginning for the storm, then go home when it gets bad
- wait for plowed & packed snow conditions on paved bike trails
- avoid fresh powder over glare ice
#13
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 859
Bikes: Cannondale '92 T600 '95 H600 '01 RT1000
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 92 Post(s)
Liked 109 Times
in
82 Posts
My Schwalbe studded tires don't do well with snow, so maybe an inch or two and then I quickly lose interest. A bigger factor these days is that even with an inch, it usually means they've salted the roads. The road spray from the cars will turn me off of riding before the snow will.
#14
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: 25 miles northwest of Boston
Posts: 29,589
Bikes: Bottecchia Sprint, GT Timberline 29r, Marin Muirwoods 29er, Trek FX Alpha 7.0
Mentioned: 112 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 5234 Post(s)
Liked 3,602 Times
in
2,356 Posts
+1 that road slop is nasty. much prefer paved & plowed bike trails or forest trails, well away from the auto traffic & chemicals
#15
Sr Member on Sr bikes