Winter bike / Snow bike thread

Out again tomorrow, but into the lanes…

New bike, after its first spin in the woods today. Much fun.

I did the old pop rivets/washers thing with an old 23c tyre and its been great for miles and miles this winter.

This sounds like a stupid question, and probablly is, but is there a way of helping to prevent drinks turning to blocks of ice inside water bottle? Will a sugary drink take longer to freeze for instance?

piss in it.

• any solution will freeze at a lower temp than water:
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freezing-point_depression
  
  

however, with the temps we've been getting you may have no luck- so a camelback under the jersey works.

also- make yourself budget lucozade/ isotonic:
for 500ml:
1 lemon- squeeze juice into bottle.
1-1.5 teaspoon salt
3-4 teaspoon sugar.
mmmmmm.

^ Use LoSalt for a similar ratio of potassium chloride & Sodium Chloride that you would get in a sports drink.

^
Salt's the best.

Back home this is how we drink beer from the tap in the winter - with a pinch of salt, to go easy on one's throat, when's -15° outside.

Also, a neat flask with Smirnoff works well and never freezes.

Also, a neat flask with Smirnoff works well and never freezes.

Gonna try this, seems like a good place to start. And I can use it to de-ice my brakes too.

however, with the temps we've been getting you may have no luck- so a camelback under the jersey works.

Did an ultramarathon a few weeks ago and my Camelbak froze in the first few miles leaving me lugging a useless block of ice for 40 miles. Didn't think about wearing it under my clothes.

well, doing the ultramarathon was your mistake there.
are you mental?

good work, thats massively, massively impressive.

you also need to insulate the tube and / or blow the fluid back into the bladder when you have finished drinking. Otherwise you can have nice fluid drink but a frozen tube! HillBilly taught me that one when my tube was gettign a bit crunch a couple of year ago.

Yesterday, Birmingham.
Rode home from work on the canals, was like playing QWOP on bikes but without actually falling off, was with a mate on a Kona Coiler with ridiculously wide tyres, I had 35mm Schwalbe Land Cruisers and got up a few ramps/bridges that he didn't.
I can't recommend the tyres enough, they have a centre line for riding on tarmac but plenty of grip. Perfect happy medium for me anyway, might tour on them next year.

Sorry about phone picture

We're still to get any proper snow in the north east so I had to go looking for what little I could find.

Yesterday, Birmingham.
Rode home from work on the canals, was like playing QWOP on bikes but without actually falling off, was with a mate on a Kona Coiler with ridiculously wide tyres, I had 35mm Schwalbe Land Cruisers and got up a few ramps/bridges that he didn't.
I can't recommend the tyres enough, they have a centre line for riding on tarmac but plenty of grip. Perfect happy medium for me anyway, might tour on them next year.

Sorry about phone picture

are you using downtube shifters? can't quite make it out - if not, what are you using?

^^Very nice. Looks like fun near the sea. Where are you based?

are you using downtube shifters? can't quite make it out - if not, what are you using?

Yes, Dura-Ace downtube shifters. I liked the bar-end shifters that came with the bike but didn't like how busy the cables were coming off the bars.

I have the same issue - there is quite a lot of cable action going on, but I really like how the bar-ends work.

I'm thinking of putting the cross tyres that came on it back on my bike (got 32c randonneurs on at the moment) to deal with the snow / slush that will no doubt be encountered on my commute this week, but they don't offer much by way of puncture protection (ritchey speed max pro).

Does lining the tyre with an old tube actually work to increase puncture protection? all i've got to hand that might help is gaffa tape and a couple of old tubes.

^^Very nice. Looks like fun near the sea. Where are you based?

South Shields. It's only on the beach and cliffs we have any snow. Plenty of ice though, as I found after having my confidence (over) boosted from riding on nice grippy frozen gravel/sand/mud and then riding full pelt onto a car park that was under almost 3" of glass like ice. I thought I'd caught it and it was all set to look awesome to all the passers-by, but no...on my arse for the usual lightening quick get back up, remount and ride away with a cheery "No problems, I'm fine" while actually in agony.

My pompino in winter mode. Which merely involves adding guards and more powerful front lights

Looks lovely in South Shields but very far away from here. Those fat tyres must be grippy too. At least you're all right and fell down whilst going fast! I love riding in snow but ice is just crazy. I also fell down earlier in the park whilst going at 1mph. I lost my balance in the snow and and fell into the shrubberies. I acted as if I was ment to do that. hmmm....

^^ are they the lights on-one are selling at half price? Any good?

^^ are they the lights on-one are selling at half price? Any good?

Yeah they are. Very pleased with them but don't have anything to compare against - my other lights are just small ones. They're very bright but the beams aren't particularly wide. I'm happy with them though, especially for the money