Bike in the Winter
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Wonderful bike infra in Oulu, Finland , playfull trolling, fascinating for people like me that lives in no-snow weather, anecdata around the world in the comments.
Chill video?
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Wtf is he using the
instead of 
?
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Back when we had winters here in the Netherlands *), we used to cycle regardless.
Of course, the last couple of decades we haven't seen much winter, so who knows what would happen if it got cold again. ;-)*) if memory serves well, that was until the mid eighties.
Since then we have had occasional frost and snow, but nothing serious.
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@nerd4sale said in Bike in the Winter:
Back when we had winters here in the Netherlands *), we used to cycle regardless.
Same.
*) if memory serves well, that was until the mid eighties.
Late 80s, early 90s or so, but it probably depends on where you are in the country, though. Winters are notably shorter and a lot less snowy near the sea than further inland.
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@cabrito said in Bike in the Winter:
Canadians Can't Bike in the Winter
So they can only bike for one weekend a year?
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@Gurth said in Bike in the Winter:
@nerd4sale said in Bike in the Winter:
Back when we had winters here in the Netherlands *), we used to cycle regardless.
Same.
*) if memory serves well, that was until the mid eighties.
Late 80s, early 90s or so, but it probably depends on where you are in the country, though. Winters are notably shorter and a lot less snowy near the sea than further inland.
I remember winters when I was in high school, but not much during university (starting 1987) and after that. Sure, occasionally a few days of snow and even an "Elfstedentocht" once (1997?), but that was when it had been a bit chilly for just a few days.
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@loopback0
They should just get a fat bike and start pedaling
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@Luhmann said in Bike in the Winter:
@loopback0
They should just get a fat bike and start pedalingFatbikes are for deep snow. If your city looks like that in winter, there will be a bunch of other reasons not cycle there even with a fatbike.
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I've seen studded tyres for bikes. Cycling on snow and ice is pretty sketchy with normal tyres, as I've discovered in the last two days over here in England where it actually managed to be winter for a whole 48h.
I remember winters being generally colder and more snowy on this side of the North Sea, too. But maybe it's largely memory highlighting and we have had some warm and some cold years at all times. We've certainly had some really cold and snowy periods in the last 10 years.
This winter though feels like it should have been colder and snowier - through the end of Dec and start of Jan the wind was consistently north, that should have been daily maxima of -2C or so and snowy, but it was actually +5 and rainy. Possibly related to less good Arctic ice or a messed up jet stream. (No-one's claiming we've had climate change of +7C so it isn't as simple as that.)
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When I was in college in the mid-80s, we used to have an annual Jan 1st ride - regardless of weather. There were a few times I remember when rear derailleurs froze (better pick a good gear!). And hitting soft snow with the front tire and somersaulting the bicycle.
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@bobjanova said in Bike in the Winter:
I've seen studded tyres for bikes.
Many years ago, when I was active in the Usenet cycling group, I knew of a guy who made his own studded tires. He'd take knobby off-road tires and drive sheet-metal screws through the knobs from the inside, points sticking out, and cover the inside with duct tape or something to keep the screw heads from ripping up the tubes. Lived in MN or WI, some place like that, lots of snow and very cold, and he was out there biking every day, regardless of 50" of snow, -50° and 50 MPH winds (or at least so he would have us believe).
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@HardwareGeek said in Bike in the Winter:
@bobjanova said in Bike in the Winter:
I've seen studded tyres for bikes.
Many years ago, when I was active in the Usenet cycling group, I knew of a guy who made his own studded tires. He'd take knobby off-road tires and drive sheet-metal screws through the knobs from the inside, points sticking out, and cover the inside with duct tape or something to keep the screw heads from ripping up the tubes. Lived in MN or WI, some place like that, lots of snow and very cold, and he was out there biking every day, regardless of 50" of snow, -50° and 50 MPH winds (or at least so he would have us believe).
I had friends who did something like that. I never did - if it was too much for knobby tires, I stayed in. Or got on the cross county skis instead...
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@HardwareGeek said in Bike in the Winter:
@dcon said in Bike in the Winter:
I had friends who did something like that.
Not denying that. But bicycling on snowmobile tracks can be fun! (except when you hit that soft spot) Also, if I remember, they did that in the pre-mountain bike / pre-knobby tire days.
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@dcon said in Bike in the Winter:
Not denying that. But bicycling on snowmobile tracks can be fun!
I read that as "a bike with snowmobile tracks". And apparently someone is trying:
ENVO Snowbike Conversion kit will turn your bike into an electric snowmobile, kind of
Who needs a fat bike when you could have an electric assist snowbike? Well, depending on the situation, the fat bike may be faster...
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@JBert Get that battery off my bike! Wimps.
