So I comute by bike and this week I ride through fast changing snow condition. It got from completly covered cycle route, to badly cleaned roads, to mushy brown sludge, and today there were loads of frozen bits of snow and ice patches.
I managed to fell only twice - inertia is your best friend and worse enemy at the same time. And I hope that these conditions will be over soon. Most annoying part is that I dont know what to expect and how to prepare because conditions vary from day to day.
It doesnt make sense for me, these conditions are max 10-15 days per year.
This weather is just unusual in my region early in winter. Winter here is usualy dry or too mild to get some snow let alone to have snow cover for few weeks. Last winter there were 10 cm of snow for 1 week.
Max out your tire size. Like big fat tire style. You can sometimes get really big tires depending on your setup. Schwalbe Fat Frank 26´´ x 2.35 was the biggest I could get and they where great.
Let some air out for snow. Works especially well with packed snow and ice.
Probably not as good as studs, but works for me.
On ice it doesn’t matter much how big tires you have. I’ve got 4.8" wide ones on my efat that I ride with extremely low pressures, but on ice they’re just as grippy as the 2.5" ones on my mtb. I mean yeah bigger tires are obviously better but as is the case with cars too; on snow all tires work more or less but on ice you need studs.
Honestly my personal advice is “Always be ready for just get off the bicycle and push it instead” for when the snow gets too bad.
Yeah it happened - i didnt thought about the wind and got on road that was covered in 50 cm of snow.
And unpushable I had to carry my bike.
I thing that the bike gets most of the beating and as much as I try to take care of it something will need replacing in the spring.
What type of bike is it and what type of tires? If it’s got disc brakes you can zip tie some zip ties around the tires for extra grip. If that doesn’t work for you buy some chunky mud tires like maxxis shorty. Also make sure your tires and suspension are fairly soft so they can track the snow better. A hard suspension will be bouncy on ice and that can be dangerous.
I have gravel/touring/all road/do it all bike so no suspension. But I may try the zip tie trick. I dont have a problem on packed snow, problem is when there are ice chunks and ice.
My bike handeling skills are minimal and I got this bike recently (my first drops). So it is good way how to improve them.
The zip ties may work on ice but they’re more for the snow. With it being a rigid bike and you being a newer biker I would suggest getting a front tire with ice studs. I suggest front tire only, because you could swap it yourself quickly for those days that its very icy. Front tire traction is better for keeping the bike in control, you’ll quickly get used to drifting (plus it’s fun). Back tire would be annoying to swap all the time if you don’t know a lot about bikes and it’s also more expensive if you want a full rear tire setup.
As someone who biked year round while at college in Wisconsin, congrats on making it with minimal falling, it’s not easy.
Echoing what someone else said, sometimes you just need to hop off the bike and walk it for a little.
