Observations on winter cycling
Jan. 22nd, 2009 08:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnridleyJust as much to remind myself in the future as anything else:
1-the Marathon Winter tires are NOT working out. Sure, tons of studs, but crap for tread. They are great on ice and hard pack snow, roll easily on pavement, but slide and wallow in mashed-up snow. NOT an acceptable trade-off. A thread on BikeForums today confirms that I'm not alone in this opinion. Next time, I'm going back to Nokian W106s, and may even go to 45s instead of 35s, though that probably won't fit under my fenders.
2-straight platform pedals are definitely the way to go. When the wheels slip, it helps a lot to be able to put a foot down in a fraction of a second. Any unclipping time is too much.
As an aside, a guy on BikeForums today posted pics of his winter rig. Surly Pugsley frame, Surly Large Marge rims with Endomorph tires and Avid BB7 disc brakes. Oh yeah, and a Rohloff 14 speed internally geared hub ($1200 for just the hub, but smooth and bulletproof). Yeah, it's a $3000 bike, but *damn*. That is NICE.
1-the Marathon Winter tires are NOT working out. Sure, tons of studs, but crap for tread. They are great on ice and hard pack snow, roll easily on pavement, but slide and wallow in mashed-up snow. NOT an acceptable trade-off. A thread on BikeForums today confirms that I'm not alone in this opinion. Next time, I'm going back to Nokian W106s, and may even go to 45s instead of 35s, though that probably won't fit under my fenders.
2-straight platform pedals are definitely the way to go. When the wheels slip, it helps a lot to be able to put a foot down in a fraction of a second. Any unclipping time is too much.
As an aside, a guy on BikeForums today posted pics of his winter rig. Surly Pugsley frame, Surly Large Marge rims with Endomorph tires and Avid BB7 disc brakes. Oh yeah, and a Rohloff 14 speed internally geared hub ($1200 for just the hub, but smooth and bulletproof). Yeah, it's a $3000 bike, but *damn*. That is NICE.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-23 03:02 pm (UTC)Not a single puncture since I switched to them mid last year, compared to monthly puncture-based embuggerance before.
I do use a higher than usual pressure to keep rolling resistance down.
Rohloff? Oh yes, if I could afford one. Costs £995 here (or $1400 currently).
I'm wondering about one of these, in conjunction with a more ordinary internal hub gear:
http://www.kinetics.org.uk/html/mountain_drive.shtml