Show us your winter bikes!!
Comments
-
Just built, not really a winter bike just an all year Scottish weather bike. T2 with 105, handbuilt wheels and proper mudguards (am I the only one that finds Crud Roadracers extremely ugly?).
For snow, frost and ice duties my old Rockhopper with Marathon Winter studded tyres:
What's with the "winter" bikes without mudguards?0 -
2013 Specialized Langster. Bloody great bike! Fast and surprisingly comfortable for the daily commute... Made it a bit cooler (ha!) and took the rear brake off, so just running the front with a lever. I pop a mud guard on if it's raining.
0 -
Just very generally, because there have been several road bikes with compromised brakes on here recently. Why would anyone put themselves, other road users and pedestrians at risk like that? It seems like a huge risk for very little gain...0
-
If you're referring to my bike I don't think that I, in any way put myself, other road users or pedestrians at risk. I ride the fixedwheel bike with one brake, I also ride a geared road bike with two brakes. But how often will a competent cyclist (honestly) use their rear brake? Braking is quite counter-intuitive. A casual rider would believe that avoiding the front brake is best as you might go straight over the handlebars. Cycling Plus eluded to proper braking technique in an article on descending at speed recently... It included things like (this is a rehash and not taken directly but includes what I'm on about):
During braking (either with the front or rear brake), bike deceleration causes a transfer of weight to the front wheel. This means that the front wheel has a greater normal force pressing it against the ground, and the back wheel nearly none. Therefore, the front wheel can generate more frictional braking force than the back wheel before locking up and skidding. It is nearly impossible to lock the front wheel while braking. In any conditions and especially in wet conditions or going downhill, the rear brake can exert relatively little braking force before the wheel locks and starts skidding.
However, if you just head out on the road with inferior brakes or brakes that are just not done up then it's your own fault entirely.0 -
Wouldn't a competent rider equipped with two fully operational brakes be ideal?0
-
Yes, but a rear brake only contributes to 20% of the overall stopping power; the front 80% (obviously). It all comes down to a rider's ability, road sense and foresight.0
-
Bordersroadie wrote:Just built, not really a winter bike just an all year Scottish weather bike.
I have been told that skootland only has 2 seasons, July and winter 8)0 -
Was a week in May this year... Summer came early. Wahoo?0
-
Iamnot Wiggins wrote:Rolf F wrote:Iamnot Wiggins wrote:Your front brake is undone.
Lol - half well spotted! I hadn't noticed. So much for making sure the crank was lined up etc etc! However, you are not quite correct. It is my rear brake that is undone
Ah, you're one of "those" people are you!
Oh yes Faster than a tent.......0 -
Irony or contradiction?pole_2_pole wrote:Yes, but a rear brake only contributes to 20% of the overall stopping power; the front 80% (obviously). It all comes down to a rider's ability, road sense and foresight.0 -
Ooo the little matter of my rogue 'yes', it's more conversational than anything else. If you want to be all HSE about it then two brakes 'should' be more safe, but the science of braking is the same with or without it0
-
Guess again. (80+/-X) > (80+20+/-X) ?!?0
-
pole_2_pole wrote:. . .and the back wheel nearly none.
Blimey, how much do you weigh, 10kg? "Nearly none" is a nonsense statement.
If you were really convinced that the rear was redundant you'd have taken the rear brake off your road bike.
You've already said that you have one brake because (you think) it looks cool, so why bother trying to justify that it's as safe as two brakes? It's purely a fashion thing, you've already said so.0 -
Bordersroadie wrote:If you were really convinced that the rear was redundant you'd have taken the rear brake off your road bike.
You've already said that you have one brake because (you think) it looks cool, so why bother trying to justify that it's as safe as two brakes? It's purely a fashion thing, you've already said so.
To be fair, if the bike is permanently fixed, it might not be much less safe than a normal bike on a freewheel. Given my experiments in trying to stop on a steep descent, in the wet, using the rear only, if I did have a failure of the front brake I'm not sure that I'd be any happier on a freewheel with a rear brake than a fixed without.Faster than a tent.......0 -
JohnnyV111 wrote:Just very generally, because there have been several road bikes with compromised brakes on here recently. Why would anyone put themselves, other road users and pedestrians at risk like that? It seems like a huge risk for very little gain...
Have there? - was one was a picture of a the Gran Fondo with it's brake released? (presumably to remove the wheel) I'm no expert on Campag systems but presume if you did overlook resetting the brake as soon as you put you hands on the hoods you would realise this? I've occasionally forgotten to reset my (Shimano) brakes after a puncture and apart from getting more lever travel, the brakes work just as well.
With regard to the fixie with no rear brake, again I've no recent experience but understand a lot of riders feel they can brake (and ride) with a great amount of feel being directly connected to the back wheel. I'm sure applying significant braking to the rear wheel through the pedals is easy?0 -
As for braking (I might be picking the discussions up wrong due to TLDR), the laws of physics say that if the amount of grip is exactly proportional to the vertical force on the tyre, then you could brake with just the front until the rear wheel just lost contact with the ground - at which point the grip would be the same as the combined grip of two tyres with half the weight on each.
But (and my knowledge is admittedly sketchy here) the grip is not exactly proportional to the vertical force, which is why car suspension is designed to balance the load as far as possible.
Anyway, as far as I'm concerned getting some grip in the first place is the issue. My regular bike, the Rusty Raleigh, serves summer and winter: for the past couple of years I've had GP4000S tyres which grip fine on anything except snow and ice. But new Mavic wheels came with Axion tyres attached so I thought I might as well go with them: and last week, for the first time in a long time, I simply slid sideways on a wet roundabout - which could have plenty of other causes than the tyres' native grip, but has given me suspicions.
Anyway, studs are what you need for proper winter round here, so really bad days I commute on the MTB with Schwalbe snow studs:
I should perhaps point out that two days before this pic was taken it had been 23°C. :shock:0 -
Old winter hack, Scott S50 Speedster, 9 speed sora, gatorskins.
New winter bike will be my 2007 Litespeed Siena, will post image soon, got to get wheels and fit crudcatchers.I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast, but I'm intercontinental when I eat French toast...0 -
Taken this morning (with my mobile so not a great pic)...
0 -
Not sure that I would be out in that kind of weather...dmclite-3.0 wrote:
Old winter hack, Scott S50 Speedster, 9 speed sora, gatorskins.
New winter bike will be my 2007 Litespeed Siena, will post image soon, got to get wheels and fit crudcatchers.0 -
nathancom wrote:
Not sure that I would be out in that kind of weather...dmclite-3.0 wrote:
Old winter hack, Scott S50 Speedster, 9 speed sora, gatorskins.
New winter bike will be my 2007 Litespeed Siena, will post image soon, got to get wheels and fit crudcatchers.
That was the worst spot. I came up the road from Bicknor (which is obscured by the Ringlestone signage) and it was clear so I just turned round. This was at the top of the downs in Kent, no way was I going down Hollingbourne hill in the snow.
I like this picture as it represents Rule 5 of The Rules.I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast, but I'm intercontinental when I eat French toast...0 -
My Merlin Malt RS...
Since posting some photos a few weeks ago I've replaced the saddle with a Charge Spoon (I didn't get on well with the Madison Prime), replaced the tyres (after one of my Michelin's had a catastrophic failure), fitted a set of Crud's and got myself an XML-T6 lamp for my early morning unlit commute.
0 -
-
Kinesis Racelight TKII. Used to be my only road bike now its my wet weather bike. My "summer" bike still comes out in winter on dry days. Seems daft not to ride your best bike as much as possible.
Shimano 105 group and Fulcrum Racing 7 wheels.
I'm surprised to see so many winter bikes on here without full guards0 -
i run crud racer 2's....not on the bike yet but if you look close in that picture the mounts are still there, i never take those off
soon as the weather gets really wet then they will be back on 0 -
I bought this last week for the winter and have added mudguards etc and hope to ride every day rain or shine
0 -
Winter / bad weather bike and summer bike together.
I have had this old Cross bike for 10 years now and it has seen some bad weather in that time.
Cannondales
SuperSix Hi Mod Sram Red
Super X Ultegra
Tourine XT / XTR
CX 1000 Disk Ultegra (Winter Hack)
And an Empella SL Bonfire0 -
3 Year old Defy that had a F&F replaced in August under warranty after a crack appeared in the weld on the seat tube
All other parts are a 105/tiagra and ultegra mix that runs smoothly and being a bit more upright than my race bike makes it a good winter cruiser and commuting bike with a back pack on. Spent an hour yesterday putting helicopter tape around parts of the frame and the forks to help protect it a bit more
0 -
Heres my cx bike in winter mode. Although there are mudguard bosses on the forks and rear stays due to the height the guards need to fit near the underside of the forks ive opted for clips on for now until I sort some brackets.
Apart from a few changes ie stem etc ive build up some open pros on 105 hubs.
0 -
tommo7567 wrote:Heres my new baby, just arrived this weekend and first outing on her today, which was handy seeing as lots of roads were covered in muddy run off water from the fields!
I selected the bike using the Ribble special edition route and was rewarded with 10 spd Tiagra instead of 9 spd at no extra cost
Needless to say I'm a very happy bunny!
Regards
Tommo
I've been toying with the idea of ordering this same set up from Ribble myself for the winter. What's the honest verdict on it ?0
