winter and summer bikes

andy610

do most people on here have a bike for winter and one for summer and would i find a lot of difference between an aluminium frame and a carbon frame

feel

1) I have a bike for wet roads and one for dry roads
2) weight and price maybe

stevewheel

Sure do !

I started out thinking you can do it all with one but in my view you can't...not without a lot of faffing around anyway.

You'll be surprised how hard road salt, grit, water etc etc is on a bike I don't think it's worth subjecting the finest kit to all that. For any serious mileage in winter you will want to fit guards, you may consider wet weather tyres for our lovely climate and you may want to carry a bit more gear for all the changeable conditions. I reckon it's easier to do all that on a cheaper winter "hack" and keep the fancy steed for the dry/sunny? times...fingers crossed. Personal view of course, others may disagree.

Smokin Joe

Apart from the fact that it is handy to have two bikes (at least) because in an emergency you will never be stranded without a ride, mudguards do more than just keep your backside dry. Even in the filthiest conditions a bike with guards needs little more than a wipe down with a damp rag to look like new again, whereas if you keep using your best bike through the winter all the crud that would otherwise collect under the guards will be finding its way into the bearings and the working parts, as well as grit blasting the paintwork.

manick0de

I only have one bike. I have a spare components for pretty much the whole bike except frame and fork. I ride It all year round with out full mudguards and occasionally use race blades on very bad days. I clean the whole bike once a week in summer but in winter I give the drive train an extra clean midweek a week. I don't use the bike on very icey days, usually around 5 days a year as It's too dangerous. As I'm not riding on icey days I don't have any problem with grit and salt etc.

I did used to use a MTB with studed tyres on icey days but it got nicked.

Haven't got round to get a new one yet and that was 2 years ago.

Lagavulin

I have my current alu bike and I'll soon (early/mid-May ) have a shiny new Izoard carbon jobby.

It was my plan to use the current bike as a dedicated naff weather/winter bike though in reality I'm not sure how much use the Allez will be in this role.

It’s a bit too big for me really and it won’t take full guards. It was a bit of a bugger its first winter with no guards and this year I put SKS Raceblades on it. They kept me clean(er) but, in my experience, ended up just chucking crap at the brakes and drive train.

Unfortunately there's small dint in the top tube. It’s still structurally sound and has had its geo checked in a jig at a bike shop but any resale value will have been virtually nullified.

I suppose I might as well just use it till it wears out and not throw any more money at it.

TheGreatGatsby

absolutely. I tried using one bike all year round but the high end stuff get wrecked through constant rain, snow, grit and general use. So no have one bike for commuting and wineter that I can leave anywhere and then have a summer weekend pimp ride that will only see sunny dry roads(in Endland> we can hope right?!)

Gats

giant_man

IMO it's quite essential to have more than one bike, one for the shittiest rainy days, and one for the warmest. Does save a lot of mucking about. And cleaning!

Rich Hcp

I have a road bike for roads and a mountain bike for maountains. (And muddy roads)

markos1963

I have two bikes now. First for nice days is a carbon Orbea the other for winter/commuting and poor days is a steel Raleigh Record Sprint with mudguards. It saves all the fretting over cleaning and damage. Its strange though that I use a frame that would rust for poor weather and a non corrosive carbon on dry days :?

Eat My Dust

I have 2 bikes but only use the carbon one. I don't know about wearing stuff out as I buy a new bike every year!!! :shock:

gavintc

I deliberately bought a winter bike as my 'first' bike. I knew if I did not get hooked on road stuff, I could use it as a fast commuter. It takes mudguards and is pretty robust. After a few months hanging on the back end of the club run, I decided to buy a summer bike. The difference is remarakable; faster, smoother and of course more beautiful. I use my winter bike daily and still like it, but keep my summer bike for club runs and sportives.

schlepcycling

I have an aluminium Ribble winter bike and a carbon Colnago summer bike.

Adamskii

I do now. I'm looking forward to never having to clean my old bike again because that is now my wet bike.

I shouldn't ever have to clean my new bike either because it's only going to be used in the dry.

The only annoying thing is I can't seem to be able to predict the weather at the moment and neither can the BBC. They said it was going to rain today so I'm on my winter bike but it's glorious sunshine out! Annoying.

redddraggon

I've got a nice and comfy (less aggressive position) summer bike, a halfords winter bike (soon to be binned) and a ribble winter frame I've nearly built up (bar a few essential parts like wheels and cassette)

Adamskii wrote:

I shouldn't ever have to clean my new bike either because it's only going to be used in the dry.

The first week I used my good bike, even though it wasn't necessarily raining, I got covered in all manners of shyte and sludge that covered the lanes outside farms around me.

JWSurrey

gavintc wrote:

I deliberately bought a winter bike as my 'first' bike. I knew if I did not get hooked on road stuff, I could use it as a fast commuter. It takes mudguards and is pretty robust. After a few months hanging on the back end of the club run, I decided to buy a summer bike. The difference is remarakable; faster, smoother and of course more beautiful. I use my winter bike daily and still like it, but keep my summer bike for club runs and sportives.

Spot on! Spooky - I did exactly the same - It's nice having something light and nimble for the "offical stuff" and something more tardy for training/shopping/getting about.
Besides - In our house, there's always a damn bike that needs some work - Helps keep me occupied throughout the winter/summer!

saif

I started with one bike , Bianchi .. very nice and elegant. But soon I felt the need to have another one which I could use for my commute , so that I can could increase my mileage. I got that from E bay , another Italian bike ..Benotto. I must admit that has helped me a lot to commute and use that as a winter bike. It is smooth and light and very quick. I'm now averaging around 100m/week , where as earlier it was limited to weekend rides of 30-40m/week.

I'm working on a plan to acquire a third one !! with Bike To Wok scheme , which my company does with Halfords.

LingfieldXC

I was thinking of getting a single speed as my winter/wet bike, it would also be my first road bike and i was wondering if getting an ss would be too much of a leap?

JWSurrey

LingfieldXC wrote:

I was thinking of getting a single speed as my winter/wet bike, it would also be my first road bike and i was wondering if getting an ss would be too much of a leap?

Go for it!
There's a guy in his 70s who I've seen riding Box Hill on a flat bar Lightspeed Fixie - I raced to the top, and collapsed in a heap - He came casually riding past, and just kept on rolling!

s/s for commute sounds a great idea - Nice and light, direct, and low maintenance.
Condor do a nice steel s/s that takes mudguards (and I think it may also take a carrier) - useful for commuting - Obviously not as stiff and direct as a full on track bike - but more commute friendly/less whippy, which may be a better option for windy and wet days.
Ridgeback make a nice s/s too, and I think the Spez. Langster comes with a flip-flop.
I think it's Mosquito of London who do a lot of s/s set ups - or is it Brixton Bikes? Can't recall.

Saif - Bike to Wok scheme? Is that a typo. or are you a chef?!

Campy King

Eat My Dust wrote:

I have 2 bikes but only use the carbon one. I don't know about wearing stuff out as I buy a new bike every year!!! :shock:

My sentiments entirely, how are the rest of you justifying buying new bike if you do not wear the old one out?? Ride them all year and then they wer out quicker and you can get a new one. Easy!

DavidTQ

Campy King wrote:

Eat My Dust wrote:

I have 2 bikes but only use the carbon one. I don't know about wearing stuff out as I buy a new bike every year!!! :shock:

My sentiments entirely, how are the rest of you justifying buying new bike if you do not wear the old one out?? Ride them all year and then they wer out quicker and you can get a new one. Easy!

Well by my maths my first hybrid paid for itself in car cost savings before I brought the Giant SCR1, The Giant SCR1 has well and trully paid for itself many times over in car costs (I was paying £300 a month for the privelidge of owning the cars before running costs) Ive now got my eye on something carbon and dura ace for a summer bike, with the SCR1 becoming the winter bike as it already does all year all weather work.

Largelly just an excuse to get in a new lighter bike no reason the SCR isnt good enough for summer use it got used all last summer.

If a bike replaces cars completely then theres all the justification you need to spend as much on bikes as you did on cars

saif

JWSurrey , well spotted !

feel

gavintc wrote:

I deliberately bought a winter bike as my 'first' bike. I knew if I did not get hooked on road stuff, I could use it as a fast commuter. .

Is the sensible answer - there seems to be dozens of posts on here where people want to spend £1000/£1200 on there first bike. If they started on something cheaper it would not be a waste of so much cash if they didn't get hooked, but would also give them time to really appreciate which good bike they wanted. The first bike then becomes their winter hack/back up.

PhilofCas

Like others earlier, i always thought i could have one bike for all occasions, i've decided this winter that i now need a winter bike. This winter, more than others, seems to have been hard on my bike, just noticed a decline in certain alloy/chrome parts (yes, i know 'cause i haven't exactly had a brilliant cleaning regime).

So will maybe relegate this one to the winter and see Mrs about new one for the summer

Mossrider

Depends a bit on where you live and the climate there (and the amount of salting) . I'm on the edge of the Pennines and if you want to keep your best bike in good nick you need to resign yourself to 6 months a year on the winter bike (I'm being a bit harsh on the poor beast here, I still like it). I'm hoping to pull out the Bianchi in the next couple of weeks, but that may have to wait since I was riding in blizzard conditions twice last week! You may get away with one bike (and regular washes) in somewhere like central London where the climate is more benign. Two bikes are always handy though.