Black ice + bike =

secretsam

Ouch. Man down.

pblakeney

= bike remains at home.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Nevermind the rider, is the Pinnacle Dolomite ok?

secretsam

NitrousOxide wrote:

Nevermind the rider, is the Pinnacle Dolomite ok?

I was on my old Steelie. Bike fine. Rider battered...

secretsam

PBlakeney wrote:

= bike remains at home.

Genius. Next time I ride I will keep my eyes open. I mean, black ice is easy to spot, isn't it? :evil:

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Hopefully some magic Sudacrem will heal any minor open wounds!

I came across icy patches while walking yesterday morning, despite the air temp feeling warmer, making me unsure about doing a quick test ride using my new Sony Smartwatch 3 in standalone mode in the afternoon. Ended up doing a very short circuit with no ice dramas, but discovered the watches GPS missed the first ~1.5 miles (I set off with the GPS bars still moving, must try waiting for a static bar reading today).

pblakeney

SecretSam wrote:

PBlakeney wrote:

= bike remains at home.

Genius. Next time I ride I will keep my eyes open. I mean, black ice is easy to spot, isn't it? :evil:

I have a shed roof which frosts over when it is icy. It may err on the cautious side but I never encounter ice. :P
Better safe than sorry as my peers, and yourself, have found out.

ugo.santalucia

Every January threads like this mushroom out. I don't know whether people are thick... actually I do think people are thick, as they don't seem to get it

N0bodyOfTheGoat

It's perhaps down to the urge to want to get outdoors on a bike, being aware that the weather is borderline, but not appearing to be over the dangerous line when looking out of the window. But every so often, conditions on the ride are worse than what we saw from indoors.

Normally I would not entertain going for a ride in borderline weather, but I have to admit the urge to go for a ride (even if just a short ~20 minute one) is very strong recently, making me think increasingly of buying a set of studded tyres that might perish from UV deterioration long before they wear out.

gbsahne001

studded tyres this morning, meant uneventful ride, which couldn't be said for 3 car drivers; 2 in ditches, 1 in the hedge having hit a tree and looking worse for it

Man Of Lard

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Every January threads like this mushroom out. I don't know whether people are thick... actually I do think people are thick, as they don't seem to get it

Cold weather in Winter is a shock every year

Like Christmas & New Year is to my council, who publish a bin/recycling collection calendar every year - and every year it ignores Christmas & New Year (as if the garboes are coming on Christmas Day and New Year's Day) - every year it has a note on telling you that it doesn't take account of them not working 25/26 Dec and 1/2 Jan...

rower63

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Every January threads like this mushroom out. I don't know whether people are thick... actually I do think people are thick, as they don't seem to get it

yes but equally you could complain that every morning and evening we predictably get comments mushrooming out on the SCR thread - don't be such a spoilsport

ugo.santalucia

Man Of Lard wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Every January threads like this mushroom out. I don't know whether people are thick... actually I do think people are thick, as they don't seem to get it

Cold weather in Winter is a shock every year

By late January the shock should have been absorbed... we had the first frost back in November, if you recall

jgsi

Some people just have to get to work.... sadly thats me , still .. touch wood, roads have not caused issues for me... including an off camber downhill , from Keele Mountain (it is to me) , roundabout coming back into town.

ugo.santalucia

JGSI wrote:

Some people just have to get to work....

Me too... I got a pair of Schwalbe marathon winter with spikes... it's not rocket science :roll:

Hopefully now we won't start the poor man who can't afford thing...

benws1

Was out on the Misceo in the cold last night. Noticed some shaded parts of the roads had glistening frost on. Took it steady though and managed to stay upright. I think having my fat hybrid tyres on helps a lot.

keef66

NitrousOxide wrote:

It's perhaps down to the urge to want to get outdoors on a bike, being aware that the weather is borderline, but not appearing to be over the dangerous line when looking out of the window. But every so often, conditions on the ride are worse than what we saw from indoors.

Exactly what I did on Sunday. Beautiful bright day, road outside was bone dry, couldn't resist. Thought if I waited till midday I'd be OK. However my route was on a lot of ungritted lanes, some in deep shade, and I encountered a lot of frost, ice and melt-water. Spent a lot of time in the middle or on the wrong side of the road for safer riding, and proceeding with great caution. Had I tried that at night I'd almost certainly have ended up on my @rse. Not going out again till Friday night when it's forecast to be warmer...

benws1

ugo.santalucia wrote:

JGSI wrote:

Some people just have to get to work....

Me too... I got a pair of Schwalbe marathon winter with spikes... it's not rocket science :roll:

Hopefully now we won't start the poor man who can't afford thing...

How do the spikes in the tyres last? Do they wear out gradually?

timothyw

The Schwalbe Winter in 700x30 will go on a large number of road bikes - certainly if they have clearance for mudguards, you can probably take off the mudguards and put them on.

https://www.athleteshop.co.uk/schwalbe- ... AtZM8P8HAQ

Buy these, put them on your bike, don't fall off. Simple. I'm with Ugo on this one.

PS: i've never bought from that shop but that seems to be the best price - I bought my set for £47 from somewhere in Germany via ebay back in November.

jgsi

Not on spiky things... normal road tyres. The councils have been very god this year in gritting - I dont use lanes.

fat daddy

I swap bikes on the weather, today was a toss up between the racing ralphs and spikey marathons.

Glad I went with the marathons ... you know you made the right choice when they no longer make a noise like frying bacon .... the back roads were just a white out and streams of frozen water running across the roads

ugo.santalucia

benws1 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

JGSI wrote:

Some people just have to get to work....

Me too... I got a pair of Schwalbe marathon winter with spikes... it's not rocket science :roll:

Hopefully now we won't start the poor man who can't afford thing...

How do the spikes in the tyres last? Do they wear out gradually?

Haven't noticed any wear, but then again, how often do you use them? This winter I have been out on them maybe a dozen times... that's 300 miles

benws1

ugo.santalucia wrote:

benws1 wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

JGSI wrote:

Some people just have to get to work....

Me too... I got a pair of Schwalbe marathon winter with spikes... it's not rocket science :roll:

Hopefully now we won't start the poor man who can't afford thing...

How do the spikes in the tyres last? Do they wear out gradually?

Haven't noticed any wear, but then again, how often do you use them? This winter I have been out on them maybe a dozen times... that's 300 miles

Thanks. I may look at some for next year then. Been on frosty roads, but have been riding a hybrid with fat tyres. I know the width of tyre probably doesn't help in ice, but I've been ok so far.

ugo.santalucia

benws1 wrote:

Thanks. I may look at some for next year then. Been on frosty roads, but have been riding a hybrid with fat tyres. I know the width of tyre probably doesn't help in ice, but I've been ok so far.

It doesn't...
It's the common attitude"I've been OK so far"... that works until you are not OK anymore. My track record on ice is poor... pretty much every time I have been out and there was ice, I have gone down... hence I bought the Marathon winter last year

They are a shoot ride, but a much safer ride

timothyw

With the studs being made of steel, fairly unsurprisingly wear on them is pretty negligible compared to the rubber of the tyre. Slightly bigger is the risk that the studs get pulled out by locking the brakes, extreme power or just bad luck - you can buy a replacement set of studs (and the tool to fit them) for under a tenner.

Assuming you live in areas that only have ice for a few weeks a year, as I do, there is no reason you can't get many winters out of a set of them.

benws1

ugo.santalucia wrote:

benws1 wrote:

Thanks. I may look at some for next year then. Been on frosty roads, but have been riding a hybrid with fat tyres. I know the width of tyre probably doesn't help in ice, but I've been ok so far.

It doesn't...
It's the common attitude"I've been OK so far"... that works until you are not OK anymore. My track record on ice is poor... pretty much every time I have been out and there was ice, I have gone down... hence I bought the Marathon winter last year

They are a shoot ride, but a much safer ride

Yes, I've been lucky so far. To be honest though, last night was the first time I've actually been out on frosty roads. I saw ice at the side of the roads on Saturday. However, the main parts of the roads were dry.

I do mix my riding with turbo stuff at the moment. I'm only out on the road 3 times a week.

I live in Lincolnshire so it's flat, windy and we seem to suffer more with wet roads than icy roads.

Will look at some asap.

Man Of Lard

ugo.santalucia wrote:

By late January the shock should have been absorbed... we had the first frost back in November, if you recall

Maybe in your world - I woke up to frost on my birthday in early October...

meanredspider

I used to ride Ice Spiker Pros on my MTB - a set lasted at least 3 years of winter commuting (30 mile RT - December to April 3-4 days a week). The studs were still OK but a few had ripped out and the rubber torn. But they are utterly brilliant - I'd happily ride on sheet ice with them. There are deals to be had towards the end of winter typically. I picked up a pair of Ice Spiker Pros at under £30 each.

I too wonder a little at why anybody should be surprised that they'd fallen off. That said, I was in Vermont on the day the first snow of the year fell (and it falls every year) and witnessed 3 crashed cars on the way to the airport - as if people had never seen snow before.

prawny

ugo.santalucia wrote:

JGSI wrote:

Some people just have to get to work....

Me too... I got a pair of Schwalbe marathon winter with spikes... it's not rocket science :roll:

Hopefully now we won't start the poor man who can't afford thing...

Ahem, you called

Just went to order a pair of winters at lunch but wiggle have only got one left.

I never thought I'd need them as all my route into work is main roads and normally gritted, but I'm on the train this week after fridays off and I'm not enjoying myself at all.

I'll have to fit the winters to my MTB which won't be fun either as they won't fit my commuter, 40 miles on studded tyres on an MTB won't be fun at all. Better than the train though.

keef66

prawny wrote:

40 miles on studded tyres on an MTB won't be fun at all. Better than the train though.

Jesus, how bad is the train???

ugo.santalucia

keef66 wrote:

prawny wrote:

40 miles on studded tyres on an MTB won't be fun at all. Better than the train though.

Jesus, how bad is the train???

On the 2nd of January I did 62 miles on studs... it took me 4 hours and a half, which is probably half an hour longer than it would have taken me in January with race tyres.
So yes, they are a drag and slow you down by something around 10-15%. If your commute is flat, they are actually not that bad, but uphill they are heavy and the drag is considerable.

That said, we go on about how hard we like to train, so there you go... add 20-30 Watt resistance to your commute and see how you cope with it...