First Proper Snow Commute

meanredspider

daviesee wrote:

Not a wus, just a scaredy cat. :oops:

Even worse!

daviesee

meanredspider wrote:

daviesee wrote:

Not a wus, just a scaredy cat. :oops:

Even worse!

Freelance = no sick pay = not worth it.
I have a turbo to pay for, don't you know.

meanredspider

daviesee wrote:

Freelance = no sick pay = not worth it.
I have a turbo to pay for, don't you know.

Very wise.

No snow or significant ice so far this week just very cold - average speed on the Spikered MTB has hit a whopping 14.1mph :oops:

DrLex

Q for MRS & any other studded tyre users: do you find that your bike runs a little off-vertical when cycling straight?

Now that I've done a few trips on Marathon Winters, it feels like the tyres don't run on the centre line, but "settle" to the left or right - I'd liken it to needing to keep an edge on a snowboard when running on a flat surface. The wheel doesn't feel loose on the axle or exhibit obvious play- might just have to get the cone spanners out at the weekend.

meanredspider

Hmm - they are quite "squirmy" but, the Spiker Pros at least, run true and vertical.

Bordersroadie

DrLex wrote:

Q for MRS & any other studded tyre users: do you find that your bike runs a little off-vertical when cycling straight?

I've done a fair few miles on Marathon Winter 26" tyres. Most of it has been on frosty tarmac/black ice on which surface I don't feel there is any lack of running on the middle, even when briefly riding no-handed (obviously not on the really icy bits!).

On sheet ice and on hard compacted refrozen snow (like in old smooth tyre tracks on ungritted roads) I have felt a bit of squirming from only the rear tyre, even when riding in a straight line. I'm then reminded that they grip just fine at the next icy corner. The front never feels off-centre. I usually run the rear at 60 to 70psi and the front at 50-60 depending on type of ice/snow.

DrLex

Thanks, chaps - your comments indicate that something in my set-up is amiss; I'll remove and refit the front tyre, and check for axle play more thoroughly.

Initialised

Salt is playing havoc with my rear bearings, soon be on my third rear wheel in a year.

Can someone recommend some good grease to use for the low temps?

meanredspider

Ooh -8C this morning - coldest so far this winter - need to wrap-up

daviesee

meanredspider wrote:

No snow or significant ice so far this week just very cold - average speed on the Spikered MTB has hit a whopping 14.1mph :oops:

No snow here either but every night has been sub zero and it was -5 this morning.
Monday's commute over cracking ice on side streets is what convinced me to think again.
That and mates sliding off at the weekend convinced me that 4 Seasons may be expensive tyres but there is a real chance that they have paid for themselves already. :P
Now I have ordered my turbo the weather is forecast to warm up.
It'll be all good from here on in.

bobbygloss

I'm wussing out and working from home today.
Getting home yesterday was not fun, lots of pushing and scaring myself silly.
2 hours of digging last night gave this result:


and then 20cm more new snow overnight.

I don't think I've ever seen so much snow apart from in ski resorts.

UndercoverElephant

Bobbygloss, my garden looked like that a couple of years back during the real cold bit - not much fun cycling through it (but I still did, naturally).

Very slight snow-fall here, and a cheeky -3 degrees.

graeme_s-2

Yesterday was my last day of the year commuting by bike, so no snow biking for me this year.

I'm on the bus/getting lifts today and tomorrow due to Christmas parties and then I'm on annual leave all next week before my employer shuts down for Christmas and New Year.

I emailed Schwalbe about my missing studs, and they've sent me a load of replacements gratis, much to my wife's confusion "I think someone's posted you a packet of seeds or something".

What's the best technique for replacing the studs? Deflate the tyres and jam them in with some needle nosed pliers?

bails87

Grame_S: Yep, it's a bit fiddly though. Ideally you'd have a second pair of hands, with forceps or something, to pull the hole open so that you can wedge the spikes in a bit more easily.

DrLex wrote:

Q for MRS & any other studded tyre users: do you find that your bike runs a little off-vertical when cycling straight?

Oddly enough, I noticed this too. My bike definitely leans over to the right when cycling with no hands on the bars, on tarmac. It rolls alright, and everything fits together like it did when I had the slicks on, so I think it must be the tyres.

bompington

I might point out that I've now done a couple of hundred miles or so on the A10s - heavy rider, bumpy roads, high speed descents :shock: - and have so far lost precisely zero studs.

Nearly had proper snow today - a couple of flurries strong enough to leave me looking white, dusting on the ground.
Not as cold here as it was up north (-11 or so in places) but I was impressed that it was -5 or so when heading home at 6pm.

This winter commuting lark: cold, dark, pain, fear, bloomin' hard work.

I love it.

graeme_s-2

On the subject of the bike leaning with marathon winters I think I've noticed this slightly as well. It's also interesting that the run of 8 studs I'm missing are all from one side of the tyre, like I maybe locked up the back wheel, the tyre rolled slightly to one side and stripped the studs out on that side.

If you look at the tyre profile it is shaped roughly like this: ^ (an upside down V) although obviously flatter than that. I've been running mine inflated to the maximum pressure, but I suspect if you let a bit of air out they'd run more evenly.

graeme_s-2

Worth mentioning that the bearings in my front wheel are definitely shot, so this could be contributing to my feeling of off centredness!

bobbygloss

I confirmed last night that I'm hopeless at riding in snow. Not too bad if the snow is untouched, but once there are any tracks in it, I couldn't keep straight for more than a few yards before the front wheel would start heading off. Then either a desperate lurch to stay on, or jam on the brakes and jump off.
It was +1C, so quite sticky snow. The bike was effectively single speed with the cassette packed with snow, SPDs blocked and lights and glasses kept being covered in snow. Not much to enjoy.

Scotland usually gets the weather the day after us...

bompington wrote:

This winter commuting lark: cold, dark, pain, fear, bloomin' hard work.

I love it.

Me too, but only up to a point.

DrLex

Graeme_S wrote:

[...]

What's the best technique for replacing the studs? Deflate the tyres and jam them in with some needle nosed pliers?

Worked for me, but grip hard & add a twisting motion like they're threaded. Once you get the knack of getting the first in, the rest are easy; first one took ten minutes (including time spent finding it twice after it pinged out, swapping pliers, tripping over dog etc), the next five in under 3 minutes.

jimmypippa

meanredspider wrote:

Ooh -8C this morning - coldest so far this winter - need to wrap-up

Probably -8 to -10 here.

I put on my eVent jacket instead of my thin windproof and had all the vents open by the time I got to work. I think I was about the only person to get to work warm today.

-12°C at my son's school when he was playing rugby (in shorts) this morning.

Mind you, he wears shorts as much as possible so he didn't care about that.

graeme_s-2

I got the bus in today (xmas party number 2 today). My commute takes 20 minutes. Bus was so cold when I got on I could see my breath (and it was 3C today, so relatively mild). It then took slightly over an hour to get to work. Not due to traffic, but because it's the most circuitous route between my home and place of work that you can imagine. I'm travelling from south east of Coventry city centre to south west of Coventry. The bus route goes via the east, north east, north, north west and west of Coventry city centre. I'm so glad that I only get the bus once or twice a year.

Interestingly it takes me 20 minutes to get home by bike every day. On Wednesday there was a lorry fire on the M6 north of Coventry which closed a section of the motorway all day. Traffic was being diverted in both directions onto the two major A roads south of Coventry. On Wednesday it took me 20 minutes to cycle home. Some of my colleagues who live near me and drove home took over an hour to get home!

UndercoverElephant

Initialised wrote:

Can someone recommend some good grease to use for the low temps?

I use Progold EPX and find it superb at all temps:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/pro ... e-ec034055

It's made from a mixture of snake oil and unicorn spunk, so you know it's good.

bompington

jimmypippa wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

Ooh -8C this morning - coldest so far this winter - need to wrap-up

Probably -8 to -10 here.

I put on my eVent jacket instead of my thin windproof and had all the vents open by the time I got to work. I think I was about the only person to get to work warm today.

-12°C at my son's school when he was playing rugby (in shorts) this morning.

Mind you, he wears shorts as much as possible so he didn't care about that.

Min temperatures for the rest of the area are much the same... think you need your thermometer checking?

jimmypippa

Local thermometer.

It is a in a frost pocket below the peaks, so pretty believable.

Not my thermometer

meanredspider

Playing rugby at -12C sounds dangerous to me - like playing on concrete and a recipe for broken collar bones (shorts or not)

jimmypippa

Well he did get a broken wrist during fencing earlier in the term...

So you probably have a point

Kieran_Burns

Marathon plus tyres on the Felt now. Apparently these things are drawing pin proof - they're very sticky (not to mention heavy) so hopefully will be better in the cold than the 4 Seasons were (which weren't bad it must be said) when it comes to the frosty stretches.

The ice spikers (right one this time) will be here on Tuesday so they'll be fitted to the Tricross that night. Roll on the serious cold please!

jimmypippa

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Marathon plus tyres on the Felt now. Apparently these things are drawing pin proof - they're very sticky (not to mention heavy) so hopefully will be better in the cold than the 4 Seasons were (which weren't bad it must be said) when it comes to the frosty stretches.

The ice spikers (right one this time) will be here on Tuesday so they'll be fitted to the Tricross that night. Roll on the serious cold please!

I run 28mm Marathon Plusses on my tourer they seemed pretty good last week.

I've just joined the dark side with a genesis Croix de Fer and had an off after about 1km - going up a local hill, went round a corner, and the entire road was a sheet of black ice (WTF? it was pretty warm and has been since Friday). Luckily I was going up and not coming down.

The CX tyres are pretty good on mud though.

byke68

Went home via the local waggonways on thursday, still covered in ice but the Continental CycloCross Race tyres on my Genesis didn't slip once.

DrLex

Think I may have solved my cold hands/poss. Reynaud's issue:



(Ought to have lacing & "Everlast" on the cuffs)

-25deg C, so need a return of the Arctic blasts before I order...