snow bike

[Fenlason]

Nokian makes a 700 x45 studded tire..

[mikeschn]

Found it.

http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main ... ts_id=2643

Thanks,

Mike...

[Fenlason]

All the 700c tires I see are 35 wide. Is that wide enough?


http://www.benscycle.net/index.php?main ... rrency=USD


I have 40mm wide on my Crosstrail right now... Seems that I should be at least that wide...

I'd be riding on an unplowed trail... do I need studs on the side?

Mike...

or do I need this after all...

hmm I missed the rest of this post..

from what I have read.. that add on does not work.. the Pugs works better...

[Fenlason]

Glenn,

Since I am not on a plowed road... do I need studs on the side? See below...

The trails don't really have ruts in them, so I guess the answer is no.

Mike...



Nokian 700c Hakkapeliitta W106 35mm Studded Rd Tire
$49.99

Nokian Hakkapeliitta W106

700c x 35mm with 106 carbide studs
4 mm tread depth

The 35mm should fit any touring, hybrid, or cyclocross bike. Awesome tire for potholes, snow and ice on all roads. This is the mother of all winter commuting tires!

Even though the 700c Hakkapeliitta W106 has only 106 studs, they are positioned just where you need them for riding on a road that gets plowed. Plowed roads don't develop deep icy ruts, so you don't need studs towards the sides of the tire to get you out of a rut.

The 700c Hakkapeliitta has all of the studs in towards the center of the tire. It's the perfect tire for snow and/or black ice on good roads.

if you are trying to climb out of icy ruts.. I would think you would want something similar to my homemade tire..

[Sabby]

Fenlason,
That is the most incredible thing I have seen on a bike! Studded tyres! I cant fathom how people can ride in conditions like that! But, at the same time I am in awe of the resourcefulness of a bike! Thats amazing!
Now, when you ride, does snow block your chain, or derailleur wheels? Or does it melt with the friction? Please bare in mind that I have not had the pleasure of ever riding in snow...as well as the fact that here in Johannesburg it has only ever snowed 3 times in the last 27 years! And even then it was only like -1 (centigrade) but still too cold for me to ride!

Mikeschn...is that a Morewood bike with the snowmobile'esque rear drive train? Is that an actual piece of equipment? Or a fancifull invention? Its amazing, but more amazing is the fact that Morewood are South African! Never thought they were widely available!

Please pardon my ignorance....not only have I zero knowledge of the snowy conditions in which you ride, but I am also a road rider! So my MTB knowledge is limited!!

[mikeschn]

Sabby,

Greg M posted this on page 1 of this thread... http://www.ktrakcycle.com/

I don't ride in snow, yet.

My limited experience is riding around in the cold... for which I bought some better gear,

and when I went around the corner on ice, I went down, really really hard, landing on my tailbone.

I did try to ride in the snow once or twice, but it was very difficult. But I'd like to get the studded snows and try again!

Mike...

[Sabby]

Thanks Mike!
That KTrak thing is incredible! I'm amazed! And at the same time slightly amused that they have a Morewood as the demo bike on the homepage!!

Well, on the other extreme I have cycled in =40degree's! (Centigrade)

Closest I have come to riding on snow or ice...my dad ran a supermarket when I was in my junior years, and every night after he had closed up shop I would race around the shop on my road bike! It was great training for criteriums and stuff, until I hit a display one night!
Tailbones hurt, regardless of the terrain upon which you fall!!

Sabby

[Fenlason]

Fenlason,
That is the most incredible thing I have seen on a bike! Studded tyres! I cant fathom how people can ride in conditions like that! But, at the same time I am in awe of the resourcefulness of a bike! Thats amazing!
Now, when you ride, does snow block your chain, or derailleur wheels? Or does it melt with the friction? Please bare in mind that I have not had the pleasure of ever riding in snow...as well as the fact that here in Johannesburg it has only ever snowed 3 times in the last 27 years! And even then it was only like -1 (centigrade) but still too cold for me to ride!

Mikeschn...is that a Morewood bike with the snowmobile'esque rear drive train? Is that an actual piece of equipment? Or a fancifull invention? Its amazing, but more amazing is the fact that Morewood are South African! Never thought they were widely available!

Please pardon my ignorance....not only have I zero knowledge of the snowy conditions in which you ride, but I am also a road rider! So my MTB knowledge is limited!!

Snow conditions can vary greatly.. depending on moisture and temps.. new or old.. windblown or not.

Most of our snow riding has been on fairly packed and frozen snowmobile trails.. so you really don't get snow on the bike.. so one has no problems.

In the deeper snow.. with the fat bikes.. it might be another matter. Yesterday I had snow building up in different places of the bike... but it was not a problem.

In changing conditions.. from wet snow.. to dropping temps.. things can freeze up. derailleurs can freeze up. You can still pedal, in the gear you are in.. you just can't shift to another gear.

One can get moisture.. inside ones freewheel mechanism [or freehub] and the pawls don't catch.. so that it freewheels in both directions... which means you are walking.

If you have water anywhere with dropping temps.. you can get ice forming on your rims. That used to be a big problem up here. Usually in late Autumn. With rim brakes.. and icy rims... you have NO brakes. You still have full pressure at the levers.. but Nothing for brakes. They can be there one second... and gone the next. That made for interesting riding... Now with disc brakes it has not been a problem.

We just got another 5 or so inches last night.. so I am real anxious to get out today to try the new bike...

[Fenlason]

I have done a lot of riding for a lot of years. The absolute best.. I have ever done.. when the conditions are good.. has been on frozen snowmobile trails.

When the trails are frozen properly.. they are fast.. not quite as fast as a road bike on pavement.. but fast. You don't have mud.. bugs.. your bike comes back as clean or cleaner than it went out.

We also have many more trails open to us and rideable compared to summer. The lakes are frozen.. farmers fences are down.. signs are up.

The trails are still rolly.. and twisty.. it is like riding a roller coaster through the woods.

[Sabby]

Fen...
Thats awesome! I just cannot get my mind around riding in snow! Or that your derailleurs can freeze up! It must be great fun...
But surely you have to be carefull of sweating too much in such cold conditions?

Now, we have a Safari Park near to where I stay. Its called the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, and it has a perfect tarred road that runs about 35miles in a loop. You ride on roads amongst the animals, there are very few cars, and the climbs are amazing, almost Alpine. Its the best training ride you can have out here!
Few years back we had a stage from a Masters Tour go through there, and a group of Eland (Its a large type of Gazelle) ran through the bunch injuring one rider! Its raw Africa, seen from the saddle of your road bike! There are also MTB trails there, but I have not been on them.

I may not have snow, but I suppose thats as "Polar" opposite as you can get to this thread?!

[Fenlason]

Fen...
Thats awesome! I just cannot get my mind around riding in snow! Or that your derailleurs can freeze up! It must be great fun...
But surely you have to be carefull of sweating too much in such cold conditions?

Now, we have a Safari Park near to where I stay. Its called the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, and it has a perfect tarred road that runs about 35miles in a loop. You ride on roads amongst the animals, there are very few cars, and the climbs are amazing, almost Alpine. Its the best training ride you can have out here!
Few years back we had a stage from a Masters Tour go through there, and a group of Eland (Its a large type of Gazelle) ran through the bunch injuring one rider! Its raw Africa, seen from the saddle of your road bike! There are also MTB trails there, but I have not been on them.

I may not have snow, but I suppose thats as "Polar" opposite as you can get to this thread?!

getting overheaded and then chilled.. can be a problem at most any temp.. but can be a real problem at below zero degrees [f] .

No We have no Eland or Gazelle of any type...

We are not in a Nature reserve or anything.. just regular nature.. I don't know about anything exotic.. but we do run into animals.

I got attacked by a vicious wood chuck once..

and actually that was just a few moments after having a racoon try and attack me.

The racoon was in a brook washing [food I assume] and it did not hear me coming.. I plopped into the brook right behind it.. It stood up on it's hand legs.. and turned around growling at me.. like a miniture bear.. it at first startled me.. but then I laughed my a$$ off.

Then a few moments up the trail.. I startled a wood chuck.. when startled they run for their burrow.. period.. apparently I was between it and it's burrow.. and it ran into me... nose first into my rear wheel. ouch.. I went back to see if it was ok.. and I guess it just bounced off and kept running.

We have had a few encounters with deer... and I have been attacked by a Goss Hawk a couple of times. Apparently we were near it's nest.. the last time it actually grabbed my shirt.. [it only seems to do this with it's young on the nest]

[Sabby]

Are Raccoons vicious? I thought they were able to be kept as pets?!

Wood Chuck? Whats that?!

Years ago, I had a friend come and visit me from Switzerland. We had raced together in Europe, and he came to utilise the sunny South African December for his off season training.
The day he arrived, we collected him from the airport and immediatly he was on the look out for wild life...and rather shocked when he saw that SA is in fact a pretty modern place.

However, once we got to our family home, which is out in more of a country setting, he started asking his questions again...
"Where is de Lion? Or ze Giraffe?" (insert French accent)
We assured him there ws nothing of the sort near to us, and that even we dont see those animals outside of a Game Park.
The next day we decided to head off early for our ride, and just 2km (1.24miles) from our house I punctured. We stopped and I quickly set about fixing the wheel while Mr Swiss chattered on.
But, all of a sudden he went dead quiet and when I looked up at him he was frozen in disbelief.
"Zer is an Elephant behind you" he said, almost whispering!
I laughed and just carried on with the wheel, but then he became a lot more insistent,
"ZER IS AN ELEPHANT BEHIND YOU!!!"
I rolled my eyes, told him to stop goofing around, and then turned around myself...and lo and behold, there were two Elephants grazing in the field right behind me!! Along with a small herd of Zebra, a couple Camels and some horses!
I was shocked...but suddenly made sense of it all when I remembered that the Circus use this farm as their home base!
So what he imagined to be wildest Africa was in fact just Bozo the clowns tame Circus pal!!

To this day, he still refuses to believe me that animals dont roam wild here!!

In Switzerland I did see a wild Squirrell, but it just lacked the impact of the Elephant!

[mezmo]

What's with the Hammer and Sickle and the Cyrillic [Assuming Russian]
printing at the top of the video screen on the web site:
http://www.ktrakcycle.com/

Just curious.

Also, I have a book somewhere, that I can't locate at the moment, that
has a picture of a bike with dual wheels front and back for snow traveling.
It looked like they widened both forks to accommodate the dual wheels and
tires. I think it was in a photo spread about snow biking in Canada. I thought
it quite inventive, don't know how hard it would be to pedal though.

Norm/mezmo

[Fenlason]

Are Raccoons vicious? I thought they were able to be kept as pets?!

Wood Chuck? Whats that?!

Years ago, I had a friend come and visit me from Switzerland. We had raced together in Europe, and he came to utilise the sunny South African December for his off season training.
The day he arrived, we collected him from the airport and immediatly he was on the look out for wild life...and rather shocked when he saw that SA is in fact a pretty modern place.

However, once we got to our family home, which is out in more of a country setting, he started asking his questions again...
"Where is de Lion? Or ze Giraffe?" (insert French accent)
We assured him there ws nothing of the sort near to us, and that even we dont see those animals outside of a Game Park.
The next day we decided to head off early for our ride, and just 2km (1.24miles) from our house I punctured. We stopped and I quickly set about fixing the wheel while Mr Swiss chattered on.
But, all of a sudden he went dead quiet and when I looked up at him he was frozen in disbelief.
"Zer is an Elephant behind you" he said, almost whispering!
I laughed and just carried on with the wheel, but then he became a lot more insistent,
"ZER IS AN ELEPHANT BEHIND YOU!!!"
I rolled my eyes, told him to stop goofing around, and then turned around myself...and lo and behold, there were two Elephants grazing in the field right behind me!! Along with a small herd of Zebra, a couple Camels and some horses!
I was shocked...but suddenly made sense of it all when I remembered that the Circus use this farm as their home base!
So what he imagined to be wildest Africa was in fact just Bozo the clowns tame Circus pal!!

To this day, he still refuses to believe me that animals dont roam wild here!!

In Switzerland I did see a wild Squirrell, but it just lacked the impact of the Elephant!

While a raccoon is a wild animal.. and making a pet out of it.. probably isn't not much wiser than making a pet out of a bear a .. they are cute and cuddly looking... and generally ok in the wild.

This one I scared the crap out of.. and it reacted. Wood chucks.. while maybe not as cute.. might seem even less "threatening"




[img]http://foodcourtlunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/raccoon.jpg
[/img]

[Fenlason]

What's with the Hammer and Sickle and the Cyrillic [Assuming Russian]
printing at the top of the video screen on the web site:
http://www.ktrakcycle.com/

Just curious.

Also, I have a book somewhere, that I can't locate at the moment, that
has a picture of a bike with dual wheels front and back for snow traveling.
It looked like they widened both forks to accommodate the dual wheels and
tires. I think it was in a photo spread about snow biking in Canada. I thought
it quite inventive, don't know how hard it would be to pedal though.

Norm/mezmo

hmmm of hand I don't personally recall any dual wheeled bikes..



I know early on.. people were lacing up to rims side by side.. and actually sewing two tires together..