Ride all winter!

I’ve been an all-winter bike rider for several years now. A couple of Articles at Planet Green just reminded me It’s really time to talk about winter riding.

Here are a few of tips I’ve found for winter riding:

1. Get a beater bike. Salt and slush can be murder on a nice bike, if you love your bike, get another one to ride in the winter. My winter bike is on it’s 4th year in that role, and it’s still quite functional but it’s noowhere near as pretty as it once was. Old mountain bikes work well, because cheap knobby tires are plentiful, and they do well in snowy conditions. Winter riding is murder on drive trains and bearings, so expect to replace things like chains and freewheels seasonally.
2. Get some fenders. Full coverage fenders keep the snow from spraying your back and feet, that makes a huge difference in rainy or snowy weather.
3. Change your tires. Nothing short of metal studded snow tires will make much difference on glare ice, but they are expensive. A cheap set of knobby mountain bike tires will do a LOT better in the snow than smooth road tires. Widely spaced aggressive knobs work well, because they have less tendency to load up with snow. While they are more plentiful in 26″ mountain bike sizes, you can also get knobby tires in 700c, and 27″ road bike sizes.
4. Lubricate liberally and frequently. Salt and slush will make short work of drive train parts, and bearings. Lub will wash off your chain in no time. When you pack your bearings, use lots of waterproof grease, and keep that chain lubed up. I frequently spray my bike down with penetrating oil in the winter to remove grit, then reapply a good quality chain lube over the top. If you ride every week you will want to lube your chain at least once a week. more if it starts to look dry or rusty.
5. Don’t bring your bike inside. Rust is a reaction of water and air, and it’s accelerated by salt, but your bike can’t rust if the water on it is frozen. You’ll get lots of rust over the winter, but bringing your bike inside and letting all that slush and ice melt will only make it worse. Also thawing and refreezing will allow ice to get in places you don’t want it like inside cable housings, so avoid bringing your bike inside unless you’re planning to clean and relube it.
6. Dress for the weather. It’s best not to dress TOO warmly when riding, but wind chill can be a literal pain, and cold leg muscles don’t like to work. I like to try to get some wind protection, especially for my hands and face, and I wear long johns at anything below 20º F
7. Use Lights. The days are short, and visibility isn’t very good sometimes even in broad daylight. A set of blinkie lights front and rear can help make sure drivers see you. In the interest of promoting safe winter riding we’re providing blinkie light sets at the coop at the reduced cost of $6 a set.

I’d love to see more bikes on the road this winter, and I’d love some company for my Tuesday night shifts at the Coop. So why not come by next Tuesday or Thursday evening. We can help get your bike ready for winter, or help you find a good winter bike from our stock of refurbished bike, and if you’re riding regularly, you might want to stop by for a few minutes once a week just to relube your cables and drive train.