What to use for winter?

snoopsmydogg

Not sure if this has been asked before (most likely has but search didnt show anything).

With the winter closing in i'm starting to wonder which bike would be best to use over the coming months to keep my fitness up? I don't commute since I have to drop my son at nursery on a morning and there isnt time to get to work after so my only time is on an evening/weekend. I have a winter road bike and HT mtb but not sure which would be the best to use in the icy conditions.

Oh and a turbo trainer isn't really an option as basically there isnt room in the house or garage.

cookeeemonster

for icy conditions put studded tyres on the mtb? if not icy use the road bike

snoopsmydogg

had thought of studs but with xmas coming the money is going elsewhere and would have thought they were a bit overkill in this country.

was out last night on the mtb but tried to stay off the roads with all the ice around. the local trails have been churned up by horse riders so its a mix of ice and bog which in the dark isn't a lot of fun. I had read that a road bike has a better footprint than nobbly tyres so was better on the icy roads but then got to wondering if it would be worth fitting a set of city jets to the mtb to get a bigger footprint than the road tyres.

cougie

If its not icy - the road bike.

If it is icy - the MTB off road.

If there's much ice around then nothing short of studded tyres will keep you upright so just don't ride on the roads at all.

Monty Dog

Wet rubber has about a zero co-efficient of friction on ice - chances are you'll hit the deck, particularly with skinny road tyres unless you're riding salted/ gritted main roads. Luckily, I can commute most of the way offroad if necessary. These last few winters where we've had a few days of snow has made getting studded tyres a good decision - don't expect to get as far or as fast, but it still good fun. We have some predominantly offroad routes that takes in some unclassified roads that typically wear an inch of sheet ice - it would be unrideable even on an MTB unless using studded tyres.