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There are sooo many things that you need to do to make cycling in winter possible; snow must be cleared, you need special tires, you need extra warm weather gea
by jbob2000 8y ago
There are sooo many things that you need to do to make cycling in winter possible; snow must be cleared, you need special tires, you need extra warm weather gear, you need to wait for the blizzard to end, etc. etc.
Or I could just get in my car with a light jacket and blast the heat. Rain, shine, snow, blizzard, whatever. I'm good.
- adrianN 8y agoExcept for the warm clothes the same is true for cars. Snow must be cleared, you need special tires, you shouldn't drive during a blizzard. It's just that you've normalized those things when it comes to cars. When the snow is cleared you are generally fine with normal tires on bikes btw, because you can just go a little slower.
- skh 8y agoI live in Minnesota which is a cold weather state. We get lots of snow and winters last a long time. I’m not from Minnesota but have lived here for 18 years. I have never changed tires on my car. I will never bike in the winter time. Too many chances to slip in winter while biking. Pockets of ice, areas that aren’t cleared well, etc.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoStudded tires make riding on slippery roads a non issue. The risk is from drivers sliding into you.
- village-idiot 8y agoProper biking infrastructure would reduce this risk in all weather.
- weberc2 8y agoAlso you don't need special tires. As the name implies, all-weather tires work just fine. And I can make it through quite a lot more snow in my car than on my bike (the converse is that it's a lot easier to unstick a bike than a car!). Also the risk of commuting in the winter is a lot greater for cyclists than motorists (i.e., if a car loses control and hits you).
- KozmoNau7 8y agoThe same goes for driving (well, driving safely at least). You need winter tires, you need an ice scraper, probably a snow shovel and other gear. You probably also shouldn't be driving around in a blizzard, either. Come to Copenhagen or Amsterdam. We bike in all kinds of weather, backed up by great public transport.
- weberc2 8y agoYou definitely don't need winter tires; all-season tires work just fine. And an ice scraper (or even a shovel) isn't a burden for motorists. Also, winters in Copenhagen are probably quite a lot warmer than many places in the U.S. (the lowest average monthly temperature is barely below freezing!). Quite a different story from Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, or Des Moines.
- village-idiot 8y agoYeah, you actually need winter tires. All season tires are garbage.
- weberc2 8y agoI’m guessing you’re not accounting for wear. I can’t tell the difference between my all seasons and winter tires, but the performance gap between summer tires and all seasons (in winter conditions) is enormous.
- village-idiot 8y agoWear matters a ton. Winter tires are usually made of very soft rubber to maintain pliability below freezing. Driving them when it gets warm destroys them quickly.
- weberc2 8y agoI'm not sure if you meant that as a rebuttal or not, but I completely agree. :)
- germinalphrase 8y agoIt hasn’t stopped a lot of us up here in Minneapolis. Other than - possibly - a balaclava, I don’t dress significantly different for winter biking than I do for general winter weather. The effort warms me up quickly.
- mjhagen 8y agoNo one in Amsterdam has special tires on their cycles during winter and everyone here has a winter coat, it really is not a big deal.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y agoAmsterdam the average winter temperature is like 3 degrees Celsius. Where I live it's -10, and it can easily dip into the -20's for weeks and the -30's for days.