Now that spring is just around the corner and thoughts are turning to riding you might think about winter cycling. I hope I am not preaching to the converted or too late for the snow season but if it isnt in your repertoire, riding in the winter has advantages. It keeps you in a bit of cycling shape, it gets you places (the motor always starts!), and it is fun.
For your first forays I would recommend an old clunker of a bike. Anything will do, but dont use your randonnée bike, prize mountain bike or a fancy racing machine. The slop (mixture of snow, salt, water and dirt) is hard on machinery. This is the perfect use for that old bike you had as a kid or even something recycled from the trash. I have been using an old mountain bike Norco frame for six years now that I recycled from the garbage. Any bike will do, just get out and try it. Thats enough advice for a try! If you like it I've got lots of opinions from riding in the winter since 67, but I learn from other riders and from riding almost each time I'm out.
Assuming you like it and want to hear more:
Look at other winter bikes. As this is a relatively recent expansion of popular riding, things are evolving fast and are very interesting. You will get lots of ideas from other riders.
My wife suggests that a specialized snow machine might use soft ATV- type tires like some beach bikes built for sand, but I've not heard any reports of such applications.
Flat handlebars are superior to dropped hooks, having more leverage, so use flat bars on your renovated ten-speed, mountain bike or whatever.
Fenders are well worth installing in our climate - even the courier riders have to give in to practicality in Montreals winter slop and use some kind of fenders. Fenders and boots keep you dry and warm. You need good clearance between the tires and frame/fenders as under certain conditions slop will freeze between the tire and frame/fender increasing friction enormously.
Leave your bike outside all the time. You can throw a piece of plastic over it to keep the rain and snow off but dont bring it inside with all the slop on it. It will rust very quickly brought indoors, be messy and hard to clean and not make you a favourite with your spouse. The low temperature outside slows oxidation right down and you are going to use the winter bikes friend...
I put a new chain on (from my road bike) every spring as well as any other discarded or replaced components from upgrades. This is a good place to use those old components as well as see what works in the severe testing ground of winter riding.
A few sprays into any frame access holes with light oil and then sealing them up will forestall rust inside the frame.
CABLES
The worst area is in the control cables, especially any U - shaped loops that can collect water. Try and minimize these loops, using open runs of the core and lubing the cable with oil or penetrating oil.
BRAKES
Try your brakes before riding.
Some winter bikes use internal expanding hub brakes but I have not found rim brakes to lack power and all the hub brake models I've examined still use cables.
GEARS
Gear cables obviously suffer the same problems.
When/if you do find the cables frozen you probably will have to bring the bike inside to thaw it out (upside down is sometimes the best to drain water) and lubricate it. (If caught away from home a banking machine foyer is sometimes used for this by couriers.)
LOCKS
The next problem area is the U-Lock. Pick one that only has a mechanically actuated mechanism at one end. Protect it from rain (constant cold and snow is not a problem). I use plastic sheeting but others have used condoms etc. Lock it so the mechanism faces down.
FREEWHEEL
Finally the freewheel/freehub can give trouble by freezing so that the pawls do not engage. Here too, the immediate solution is thawing the bike (this time left side down for a freewheel) and draining / spinning off the water, then lubricating it.
LIGHTS, REFLECTORS
Use your randonnée equipment (except that generators don't work unless modified to prevent slipping) (see Effective Cycling by Forester). Obviously the amount of dark and poor visibility of snowy windshields makes good visibility of the rider of prime concern. I use lots of strap reflectors (legs and arms), a vest, two or more of the blinking LED lights and a homemade 6v battery light. I am now working on a 12v 40 watt light light which will use a small lead acid battery and a car driving light.
The important tire is the front. A rear wheel slide just entails putting down your foot but I usually drop the bike if I skid the front wheel (except in deep snow when the front end may plow and still be steerable. In extremely slippery conditions (freezing rain, glare ice) you may be better off on your bike than walking. When the bike slides you put down a foot and become a tripod, and thus very stable.
Bicycling Magazine also suggest using car studs through holes in one tire and using an inside tire to hold them there and protect the tube. I haven't tried this either though carbide is bound to last better than steel. Before I used studded tires I would drop the bike a number of times a season (winter clothes and snow eliminate road rash). Now some seasons I dont drop it at all!
If you get into it, the best friend of the winter cyclist is a fairing. (HERESY!!)
I have used a fairing made from a Magic Carpet, (yellow polyethylene plastic) for over eight years, and its now time to replace it. It is a developed shape to fit the material and cost about $4. Hunched down, hiding behind it just peeking over the top protects you from even -40 temperatures and a lot of slop. It is less drag than an unprotected rider (informal coast down tests). A fairing also attracts a lot of attention, (good or bad depending), but makes fitting the bike into a car difficult.
Other things that would be worth trying out include Shimanos new five speed rear hub, control rods instead of cables, and fully enclosed rear chains/derailleurs (like the little oil well of the past). Sounds like back to the future! I did build up a 3-speed hub with mountain bike rim for my wifes winter bike. It worked OK but seemed to have significantly more friction than a freewheel and it still had a cable to freeze up. An open chain cover over her bikes chain did improve its longevity and skirts enclosing the forward half of the rear wheel kept slop off the chain and her boots too.
When you need a bit more adventuresome riding you can try riding on snowmobile trails deep into the woods. Pick ones that aren't used much, not those highways! The cross-country skiers who see you, but not the trail, are quite surprised. Maybe the I-DID-A-BIKE will have some eastern riders next race.
Nowadays there are lots more winter riders in Montreal you wont look strange and you will have a lot of fun. Most of all have fun!
Chris Latchem
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