Winter Bike Experiment
I thought I’d give riding in really bad weather a shot, so I mounted 700×35 Schwalbe Marathon spike tires and Bar Mitts on my Trek 7.5fx. I’m trying very hard to find a purpose for this bike since I don’t really have the garage space for a bike I don’t ride.
So far it’s not working. There’s around 8″-12″ of snow on the road and I don’t have the skills to keep it upright. It doesn’t slip, but trying to plow thru the snow makes it impossible to steer or hold any kind of line (and stay upright).
This bike is just too tall, a mountain bike would probably do better, maybe with some really wide tires. I think the whole winter bike experiment is a bust, except for the Bar Mitts, they work great. Pity this is the only bike I have with flat bars.
Update 24-Dec: Tried riding on 4-8″ of hard pack snow/ice. I did much better. 5F (-15C) is awful darn cold to ride far, but at least I can tool around the neighborhood to stave off cabin fever.
Merry Christmas to all!
Update 27-Dec: I give up trying to ride on anything but solid ice or well packed snow. I can’t manuever when it get’s “crunchy”. Anyone want to trade this bike for an old steel mountain bike?
