Winter riding: Spikes? Alloy wheel?

Slushy winter weather is here again! (Germany) It is quite yucky when the temperature is at or sligtly above zero. I don’t suppose anyone knows of any 16" tires with spikes? :smiley:

On another note, I am finding that the new alloy freewheel in combination with the repositioned snubber on the LX means that I am no longer getting ice build up on the freewheel like I used to. Great news!

HOWEVER, I do get ice building up on the chainwheel. This causes the belt to start popping. I then have to get off the bike and scrape out the ice from between the teeth. Stop, scrape, ride, repeat.

So, another question: Is the alloy chainwheel any less susceptible to ice buildup? Probably only a few people have experience with this!

(Imagine how great a heated chainwheel would be … not very environmentally friendly, though. :wink:)

thanks,
StridaD

I live in the subtropical zone that I’ve never experienced with snowy winter here in Hong Kong. However, I believe that an alloy front pulley will be better than a plastic one in icy conditions. :unamused:

I am looking for 16" or 18" inch spike tires, too. No luck so far. Schwalbe Snow starts at 20". :frowning:

I have an metal front pulley, but I didn’t do so much winter riding. I will try to check.

I would love to replace my 35-355 Marathon Plus with Marathon Winter (schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1217-marathon-winter.html) due the current icy conditions in Malmö/Copenhagen if they only were available in the right size.

I rode my wife’s Brompton in the snow today. I have to admit that it handles a lot better than the Strida in these particular conditions … due to the longer wheelbase and lower centre of gravity no doubt.

This is what it looks like when I get home this time of year…

:open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth:

[size=150]RESPECT![/size]

Thanks for the pic and … Good luck!

Respect!

Some days ago the snow just stopped me. Literally. Wheel turned but bike didn’t move. :slight_smile:

At the moment I am checking MTB tires for children bikes.

Hi Totte,

Amuro linked to your post at Hongkong Strida Club, here some comments of the members:

“真酷” means “Really cool” said babelfish http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

B. r.

Thank you Blackstridaaustria :smiley:

… and tonight we got some 200 mm more of the white stuff…

How 'bout you guys in Austria?

Hello Totte,

what guys in Austria?

by now I heard about just one person who rides a Strida more or less frequently in Austria/Vienna (except Mrs. BSA and myself). It’s the son of the owner of the bicycle-store where the black Strida has been bought.

Mrs. BSA collected her first experience on a brushed silver Strida at the end of last summer, maybe 20 km in total.
Before, she had not ridden any bike since …(I was told to leave out the date…).

To tell you the truth, driving any meters under such weather conditions is incomprehensible to me.
I started last spring to use my Strida for the daily commute to work, instead of doing the distance of below 2 kms on foot. Having had really much fun till late spring, I stopped biking immediately when the temperature fell below ~+12 °C (that’s because I’m usually driving very fast, you know - the wind chill effect… :wink: )
Snow is absolutely wonderful, best in a wooden house in the alps, but here in Vienna it’s brown mud within a short time.

Just for curiosity, I want to ask you a question on behalf of Mrs. BSA, who was a bit confused by one of your recent postings:

B. r.

Ha ha! This riddle pushed me to Wikipeida to find the answer few weeks ago. :wink:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oresund_Region

I ordered two different Schwalbe tires now.

Mad Mike
Black Jack

The Mad Mike is a bmx tire. The Black Jack is a little more interesting. It is an all terrain mtb tire.

Continental offers the Explorer in 16", but it seems out of stock everywhere (in Germany).

Will keep you updated.

Tom

@BSA; @Amuro Lee solved the mystery :smiley:

(I live in Malmö Sweden and commute by bus + Strida to Copenhagen (København) Denmark.)

Hi Totte, hello Tom_, hi to all snow-riders.

might this be worth a try?

http://www.dutchbikeco.com

Details are here: http://www.dutchbikeco.com/_blog/Dutch_Bike_Co_Weblog/post/Seattle_Snowpocalypse/

W. r.

LOL, thanks for the info BSA. That is so crazy that it just might work! :stuck_out_tongue:

@Tom__: How are the Schwalbes working out for you?

Still waiting for them :frowning:

for the Mountainbike, the solution to keep going on slippery surface was to take an old bicycle chain and make it fit round the tire, than inflate the tire to stretch things up. Do the same on the other wheel and you have loads of grip, Not very good/elegant on the road, but super in deep snow…

Must work on srtida wheels too i guess

Greetz from holland

RoBert

I’ve got an update on the tires. The Schwalbe Black Jack arrived today. I fitted the front tire and took some photos:




Still have to replace the freewheel. After that I am prepared for the next snow. :slight_smile: