Are winter bikes a bloke thing?

lark
lark Posts: 15
edited February 2010 in Commuting chat
Why do people need a "winter bike" for commuter riding?

Can't you just swap tyres and add or remove mudguards as the seasons change?

Or, is it just a bloke thing, as it's an excuse to buy an extra bike?
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Comments

  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    lark wrote:
    Why do people need a "winter bike" for commuter riding? Coz we do. Also to have a 'best' bike/summer bike.

    Can't you just swap tyres and add or remove mudguards as the seasons change? Where's the fun in that?

    Or, is it just a bloke thing, as it's an excuse to buy an extra bike? Nope, burds do it too.
    :)
  • lark
    lark Posts: 15
    quote] Nope, burds do it too.

    :)[/quote]

    Sorry for my ignorance - but why a totally separate bike? is the frame, gears and even saddle different?
  • secretsam
    secretsam Posts: 5,120
    one good reason is the weather is crappy in winter, so you're more likely to have a spill and wreck it.

    Unfotunate on a £550 Ribble special; forkin' disaster on one of ITB's Wet Dream Machines
    It's just a hill. Get over it.
  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    N+1 is the formula to live by. As a newbie to cycling I'm a convert to this view and am enthusiastically looking forward to my +1 come October/November.

    Already thinking about the next +1, but sanity might, possibly prevail :roll: :wink::D
  • wgwarburton
    wgwarburton Posts: 1,863
    edited February 2010
    lark wrote:
    Nope, burds do it too.

    :)

    Sorry for my ignorance - but why a totally separate bike? is the frame, gears and even saddle different?

    'cos riding through winter wrecks bikes- the salt, grit, rain and, often, lower maintenance opportunities caused by short, cold dark days take their toll.
    After you've had a nice bike trashed once or twice by using it/them in winter you come round to thinking "s** this for a lark" and either go and buy something cheap and tougher or re-purpose one of the worn out steeds as a Winter Hack, with proper mudguards, permanently fitted lights and a durable drivetrain.
    You now have a "winter bike", that you can ride without worrying that you're going to have to replace half the components before summer gets going...

    Cheers,
    W.

    Edit- fixed quoting.
  • lark
    lark Posts: 15
    [quote="

    Unfotunate on a £550 Ribble special; forkin' disaster on one of ITB's Wet Dream Machines[/quote]

    Ok - you've lost me. Know what a Ribble is. But what is ITB? :?
  • jonginge
    jonginge Posts: 5,945
    ITB=ITBoffin and was a reference to this thread:
    http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12678430
    FCN 2-4 "Shut up legs", Jens Voigt
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    Rides
  • lark
    lark Posts: 15
    WGWarburton wrote:

    'cos riding through winter wrecks bikes- the salt, grit, rain and, often, lower maintenance opportunities caused by short, cold dark days take their toll.
    After you've had a nice bike trashed once or twice by using it/them in winter you come round to thinking "s** this for a lark" and either go and buy something cheap and tougher or re-purpose one of the worn out steeds as a Winter Hack, with proper mudguards, permanently fitted lights and a durable drivetrain.
    You now have a "winter bike", that you can ride without worrying that you're going to have to replace half the components before summer gets going...

    Cheers,
    W.

    Edit- fixed quoting.

    Thank you Mr Warburton. I now understand.
    A whole new world of multi-bikes opens up for me as I prepare to move up the cycle food chain. I have managed to persuade my husband there is space for me to have two bikes: old hybrid for parks and shopping mum-duties, road bike for daily commute... so now need to find space for winter bike too ...

    N+1. Bring it on. :D
  • lark
    lark Posts: 15
    JonGinge wrote:
    ITB=ITBoffin and was a reference to this thread:
    http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12678430

    Oh I see. Thanks!
  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    [quote="lark

    Thank you Mr Warburton. I now understand.
    A whole new world of multi-bikes opens up for me as I prepare to move up the cycle food chain. I have managed to persuade my husband there is space for me to have two bikes: old hybrid for parks and shopping mum-duties, road bike for daily commute... so now need to find space for winter bike too ...

    N+1. Bring it on. :D[/quote]


    Yay!!! :D

    Just don't tell him about this site :wink:
  • Aidy
    Aidy Posts: 2,015
    lark wrote:
    Ok - you've lost me. Know what a Ribble is. But what is ITB? :?

    I don't think anyone is sufficiently well versed to give you an answer to that question.

    :)
  • Clever Pun
    Clever Pun Posts: 6,778
    I'm giving due consideration to a snow bike... I just have to move the bbq out of my shed
    Purveyor of sonic doom

    Very Hairy Roadie - FCN 4
    Fixed Pista- FCN 5
    Beared Bromptonite - FCN 14
  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    Aidy wrote:
    lark wrote:
    Ok - you've lost me. Know what a Ribble is. But what is ITB? :?

    I don't think anyone is sufficiently well versed to give you an answer to that question.

    :)

    A tad harsh, surely? :lol:
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    WGWarburton wrote:
    'cos riding through winter wrecks bikes- the salt, grit, rain and, often, lower maintenance opportunities caused by short, cold dark days take their toll.
    After you've had a nice bike trashed once or twice by using it/them in winter you come round to thinking "s** this for a lark" and either go and buy something cheap and tougher or re-purpose one of the worn out steeds as a Winter Hack, with proper mudguards, permanently fitted lights and a durable drivetrain.
    You now have a "winter bike", that you can ride without worrying that you're going to have to replace half the components before summer gets going...

    Strictly speaking 'riding through winter wrecks bikes - if you don't do a bit of light maintenance'. So far, fingers crossed, my bike does still look pretty much like new despite not having missed a days commute. This is after well over 2000 miles. I do tend to clean the chain a few times a week and chuck a bit of oil and or GT85 at it and hose it down as often as possible when there is salt around but I really don't spend long on it. That said, it is a mountain bike and the components on those seem designed not to dissolve in the rain like road bike components! So far, the cheap crap bottom bracket has been replaced and I've worn one chain out. That's it.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Aidy wrote:
    Ok - you've lost me. Know what a Ribble is. But what is ITB? :?

    ITB is BikeRadars answer to The Stig :lol:
    Faster than a tent.......
  • Jay dubbleU
    Jay dubbleU Posts: 3,159
    Rolf F wrote:
    Aidy wrote:
    Ok - you've lost me. Know what a Ribble is. But what is ITB? :?

    ITB is BikeRadars answer to The Stig :lol:

    +1 :D
  • TiBoy
    TiBoy Posts: 366
    I bought my misses a shiny new road bike in the summer and she insists on riding it when there is slush and grit on the road.......

    It took me ages to confince her that I needed a different bike for different sorts or rain and different distances, I thought she had learnt.

    She has a perfectly good hack for that and it's muggins who will have to fix it when it starts braking. She is coming around to the idea of raceblades though.
    Sunday September Ultegra SL
    Raleigh and BSA single speed
    Specialised Rockhopper comp disc
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  • Skippy2309
    Skippy2309 Posts: 426
    my current best bike is being used at the moment, but I am planning upgrades already such as new chain, larger Chain ring and an omnium crankset, in addition to getting some proper drops as todays ride left my wrists sore using the flat bar.


    I think its all down to whether your planning on upgrading the parts, them wearing a little quicker is a good excuse to get the upgrades :P


    But saying that I am eyeing up a new frame and forks, its going to be a whole new build :twisted: :twisted:
    FCN: 5/6 Fixed Gear (quite rapid) in normal clothes and clips :D

    Cannondale CAAD9 / Mongoose Maurice (heavily modified)
  • linsen
    linsen Posts: 1,959
    Well, I have *cough* 5 bikes BUT BUT BUT they are all for different things.

    I have a BSO, which has just been retired. I shall give it to one of my children as a pub bike when they are older.
    I have a hardtail MTB which I take into the woods.
    I have a singlespeed which is a work in progress, and which I will use as a pub bike.
    I have a road bike which was getting trashed in the winter, so I now have.....

    the aforementioned "winter hack". It is a dream to ride but takes mudguards and panniers and is just a bit less special so I don't mind leaving it locked up outside.

    Just as well I have it, as my car has gone in for repair and I am engine-less.
    Emerging from under a big black cloud. All help welcome
  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    Linsen, I wanna be like you when I learn to ride propa :lol::lol:
  • fossyant
    fossyant Posts: 2,549
    My crap weather bike is worth about £1.2k.....fixed road bike, custom built wheels etc... does the job..I also look after it....... washed and lubed after crap weather...takes 10 mins max if you keep on top of it..... (I have wife and kids....).......

    Hack bikes aren't always crap....just easy to maintain....
  • fenboy369
    fenboy369 Posts: 425
    +1 for N+1. My wife has just about worked the idea out. But I had to ask the question "Why do you need so many pairs of shoes?" Her answer... "You need a different pair of shoes for a different outfit." After a moments silence she said "I've just answered my own question, haven't I?" Well done wifey!
    '11 Cannondale Synapse 105CD - FCN 4
    '11 Schwinn Corvette - FCN 15?
    '09 Pitch Comp - FCN (why bother?) 11
    '07 DewDeluxe (Bent up after being run over) - FCN 8
  • Cafewanda
    Cafewanda Posts: 2,788
    N+1 always, but I can't help thinking Mrs Fenboy369 shot herself in the foot (so to speak). She's supposed to prevent you buying more bikes but allow herself the right to buy as many shoes as she sees fit :lol:

    Maybe I should talk to her? :wink: Wimmin before bikes and all that :)
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    I had 4 bikes. Now only 2 - the Focus Cayo, and an anonymous steel 531c framed mongrel bike for commuting that my dad built. I used to have an MTB but I never used it because in London the proper countryside is just too far away to make it worth bothering with and also the Apollo that got destroyed in the crash in Nov.
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • the_hundredth_idiot
    the_hundredth_idiot Posts: 813
    My wife get's the idea of winter bikes. It's a bit like wearing a pair of wellies to the park in the winter rather than a pair of smart shoes that you might wear in the summer when it's dry.

    But I showed her an article in Cycling Plus recently on winter bikes - and the bikes were about £1,000 each. She gets the concept of a winter bike but she doesn't quite see how that tallies with spending a lot of money on a winter bike. (My wife is still in the real world where £1,000 is a lot of money on a bike :D I need to work on that!)
    Never be tempted to race against a Barclays Cycle Hire bike. If you do, there are only two outcomes. Of these, by far the better is that you now have the scalp of a Boris Bike.
  • Sewinman
    Sewinman Posts: 2,131
    edited February 2010
    My recent experience tells me that a winter hack is a bloody good idea, i have mashed up two cassettes recenently - partly my fault but am sure the winter weather played its part.!
  • NGale
    NGale Posts: 1,866
    It's a man thing, I have just two bikes, a road bike in Dartmouth just for cycle club duties and the flat bar roadie for everything else.

    Jake on the other hand has: two road bikes, 1 cyclo cross bike, 1 hard tail MTB, 1 Full sus MTB and a Brompton. He considers the cyclo cross as the 'winter hack'.

    Personally I just think it's an excuse to own as many bikes as possible :lol:
    Officers don't run, it's undignified and panics the men
  • lark
    lark Posts: 15
    Ok, think I get teh hang of it:

    Winter bikes are good because:

    1 They get mesed up rather than your "proper" bike (though may cost as much.)

    2 They provide an excuse to buy another bike.

    As I can only afford one bike, would I be a cazy lady to buy something like a Bianchi Via Nirone Xenon ...

    I promise* to regularly lube the chain, turtle wax the frame and not ride it in really grotty winter weather (only a handful of true "winter" days a year in London anyway)

    *This translates as "I promise to get my husband to do this messy job....
  • SpaceBadger
    SpaceBadger Posts: 113
    Personally I just think it's an excuse to own as many bikes as possible :lol:

    NGale - I don't think us burds are meant to have figured that out :lol:
    "I think the phrase rhymes with Clucking Bell"

    FCN = 4
  • Aidy
    Aidy Posts: 2,015
    I don't think anyone else has mentioned it - but it's also good to have a "winter" bike for training, in the same way that people have racing wheels and training wheels.

    My other reasons were something that at least looked cheaper (and that I wouldn't be *too* uncomfortable locking outside when I had to), and something capable of taking panniers - putting a rack on some bikes is a crime.

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