The Chainlink

You got a dedicated winter bike? Why? I've got a fairly nice steel road bike - wondering about buying an cheap fixie or some such. Only thing is my commute is so long and I just got my current ride the way I want it.

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Nice!

I ride a traditional English touring bike in non-snow/ice conditions.  It is set up for front and rear panniers and carries a lot of groceries around town, as well as being nice for a recreational ride in the country.  But for the snowy winter around town, I use a Dutch Opafiets (Gazelle).  It has rod-actuated drum brakes (not great ever, but no worse when wet), fenders, skirt guards, and can carry huge rear panniers.  It's a little beaten up, but gets me where I need to go, and spares the nice touring bike a lot of needless exposure to rust-inducing salty water.

I just change the tires to Nokian studs on two of mine and roll on through the winter.  

nice pic

Breezer Beltway 8 - All Year Commuter.  Schwalbe 700c x 35 Winter Studded Snow Tires in winter.  

Belt drive, dynamo, 45N gloves, internal gears, ultimate winter ride Joe!

Beauty eh

Old canti only Surly 1x1 for me. I take off the 2.5 Hookworms, add Nokan studs, and run it with a bolt on fixed cog. Dynamite.

I have 3 nice steel-frame bikes, and I am nowhere near as good at keeping them clean as they deserve. To avoid wrecking the frames and components with salt build up, I ride a cheap aluminum fixed with Nokian A10 studs in the winter.  If it gets warm out again, like today, I just break back out one of the nice bikes.  

Thanks for ruining my entire plan with this aluminum vs steel observation! And when I say "ruining" of course I mean, making me reconsider the merits of my plan. :)

To make you feel better, I hate the ride of the aluminum bike (the cheapness of the frame plays a role here I think), and have actually developed weird wrist pain since riding it the past few days (granted, that's largely a fit issue I need to dial in, but I think the increased vibration isn't helping).  

If I had it to do over, I probably would grab the Nashbar steel single-speed cyclo-cross bike JM mentions below, and just not care as much if the salt eventually destroyed it.  If the plan is to go cheap, I think a cheap 4130 frame (not hi-ten) rides better than a cheap aluminum frame.        

I think if I had four bikes my wife would shoot me :)

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