Ultimate Ice Commuter

SimonAH

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Only freezing problem I've experienced was the Shimano freewheel on the Day One, the pawls just stopped engaging one morning, and it was only -14 at the time!

Cue a 6 mile trudge in 18" of snow to the nearest bike shop where I bought a fixed cog, fitted it there and then and managed to complete my journey.

Isn't a frozen freewheel a fixed cog?

Oh wait, idiot, you meant that they didn't bite rather than didn't disengage......did you try the old stream of yellow warmingness defrost technique?

meanredspider

Bordersroadie wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

had cables (and it does tend to be the cables rather than the mechs) freeze lots at below -5C

This, apart from road traction, seems to be the main problem to overcome for subzero commuting. Maybe I was lucky but I used my (V-brake equipped) ice bike last year down to minus 10 without freezing issues.

My ice bike is a hardtail MTB with rigid (Carbon Cycles) fork, SKS guards (because it's often icy roads in the morning and wet roads in the evening) and Marathon Winters. Just 10.5kg with skinny slicks, so pretty light, but those Marathon Winters add nearly a kilo and a half!

Having the 'guards probably helps keep water out of the cable casings and storing it in a cold garage means there isn't a major condensation issue inside the cable housings which would occur if I stored the bike in a warm house straight out of the freezing cold.

Are there cable systems that have a full-length fully enclosed (and effectively sealed) cable for each brake and would this solve the frozen cable problem?

Yup - I need to look into ways of preventing cable issues. The first year I commuted I had V-brakes and they froze solid - scared the b'jeezus out of me. Wind chill seems to be a contributing factor where I get problems at the bottom of the long hill. I don't know if the Gore Ride-On cables (or whoever is making them now) are better. Guards must help.

UndercoverElephant

SimonAH wrote:

did you try the old stream of yellow warmingness defrost technique?

You know, I never even thought of it. Got into work and mentioned what had happened and one of the mountain bikers asked why I didn't.

That, there, is the difference between roadies and mountain bikers in a nutshell.

That said, at -14, wearing bib longs? I wouldn't really fancy it.

JamesB5446

You could fashion a makeshift catheter out of a camelback tube...

meanredspider

UndercoverElephant wrote:

That said, at -14, wearing bib longs? I wouldn't really fancy it.

At that temperature I think you only risk making matters worse and then having to explain why the rear hub is covered in yellow ice....