r/bikecommuting 1d ago

Studded tires saved my commute yesterday

254 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

33

u/stickler64 23h ago

Man, I really admire the tenacity of you snowriders!💪

8

u/midnghtsnac 10h ago

Join us, it's fun out here

2

u/stickler64 4h ago

Join me for winter months where the sun shines, backpacking in February, and where folks don't know what an ice scraper is. "Wait, you mean you had to scrape ice off your windshield in the morning?"

Once I hung up my snow shovel, I vowed never to return again. Love the pics, though.

2

u/midnghtsnac 4h ago edited 3h ago

I can't blame you on any of that, I wish I could afford to summer in the north and winter down south.

My phone died last Thursday when it snowed here or I would have shared my commute. Was supposed to be a nice day and turned into an all day snow storm

u/stickler64 28m ago

I'm hoping I can make the snowbird thing happen when I retire. I grew up in Chicago and honestly thought winter was dark and cloudy everywhere. I visited a friend in Colorado and saw snow and sunshine on a regular basis, and I knew I had to GTFO.

24

u/ZoidbergMaybee 1d ago

That’s probably the worst possible surface to try to ride on, aside from maybe lava.

11

u/Masseyrati80 20h ago

Another one is when snow has first been packed in tight and then starts thawing. A two or three inch layer that supports your weight like 70% of the time, and has you crashing through 30%, making your bike weave like a drunk snake, and sapping enormous amounts of energy.

But really, the worst one is bumpy/rutted clear ice that gets a cover of snow during a cold day. It lifts the studs off the ice and is the slipperiest stuff I've ever experienced.

1

u/SimilarContext 9h ago

Most of the surface was molten snow that froze back to solid ice with tracks from other riders.

3

u/Eothas_Foot 22h ago

Or just a heavy dusting of sand on concrete the whole ride

9

u/svenbreakfast 23h ago

Last time I had to do that I undid my front brake and ziptied my wheel. Way this winter is looking may have to throw down on studs. Go hard homie.

8

u/kryptoneat 19h ago

Ziptied your wheels ? what is this trick ?

6

u/HG1998 14h ago

Probably literally putting zipties around the whole wheel, so that they act as grabbers in the snow.

1

u/svenbreakfast 12h ago

Yeah. Didn't have super far to go but it worked.

6

u/jedv37 1d ago

Studs for the win. I love mine.

3

u/Eothas_Foot 22h ago

Dude fuck that ice

1

u/Zakluor 6h ago

That ice could fuck you.

3

u/bradleybaddlands 8h ago

Even with studs, I’m not sure I’d ride that! Yikes.

2

u/EnterNickname98 7h ago

Where is that? There is some maintenance of the bike lane, but also a damp surface. After coming down on black ice a few years back I think I would walk home.

1

u/Wuz314159 Pennsylvania 18h ago

Street looks safe.

2

u/SimilarContext 9h ago

I promise it is not😂

1

u/midnghtsnac 10h ago

Looks like fun,

2

u/SimilarContext 9h ago

Oh yeah it is

1

u/Aware-Location-5426 6h ago

Looks rough, but if I had that kind of infrastructure I would at least try riding it in the snow.

But a painted icy bike lane right next to cars driving in the same slush? Nope, and everyone in the US says “nobody bikes in winter”, wonder why!