The Bicycling Thread

[Boosted131]

So far the worst part of winter riding has been the bridges/overpasses... No one seems to clear them off at all just like last winter

[997TT]

Rode the south side of river from edworthy. Glad the pathway after the train tracks was cleared. So just had to get past the few kms along the side of the hill which was doable on my 700x35 studs. Had to go slow and foot went down about half a dozen times when tire hit a rut and went sideways but was rideable. Wish I had slightly fatter tires.

[taemo]

finally caving in and going to buy winter tires for my bike as I want to ride as much as I can this season.

28x1.5" is same as 700x38c right?

[sneek]

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finally caving in and going to buy winter tires for my bike as I want to ride as much as I can this season.

28x1.5" is same as 700x38c right?

If it is the Schwabe Winter Spike - I don't think so. I recall looking into this before and the interwebs said it wouldn't fit my application. It is wildly confusing but the

[taemo]

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If it is the Schwabe Winter Spike - I don't think so. I recall looking into this before and the interwebs said it wouldn't fit my application. It is wildly confusing but the

bummer, i guess 635 tires are too large to fit on regular 622?

[Strider]

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So far the worst part of winter riding has been the bridges

City has done a shit job of clearing the sidewalk/pathway on the Centre St bridge. 1/2 of it just wasn't cleared at all so it's frozen hard packed rutted ice and the other 1/2 had a 1 ft wide path cleared down the middle leaving snow on the sides to melt down into it and form skating rink quality ice.

[sneek]

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bummer, i guess 635 tires are too large to fit on regular 622?

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/c.../rp-prod118113

If you check out the Q&A section, quite a few people have asked and some have even purchased to find they don't fit

These were my original top choice as well.

[Boosted131]

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City has done a shit job of clearing the sidewalk/pathway on the Centre St bridge. 1/2 of it just wasn't cleared at all so it's frozen hard packed rutted ice and the other 1/2 had a 1 ft wide path cleared down the middle leaving snow on the sides to melt down into it and form skating rink quality ice.

I should have specified and said the overpasses are the worst.

Anyone do the reservoir loop in winter? It's cool how they clear the entire thing, except that no one is responsible for the 2-3km stretch on the far west end... Became impassible even on a fatbike at a couple points last year.

[calgarygts]

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Rode the south side of river from edworthy. Glad the pathway after the train tracks was cleared. So just had to get past the few kms along the side of the hill which was doable on my 700x35 studs. Had to go slow and foot went down about half a dozen times when tire hit a rut and went sideways but was rideable. Wish I had slightly fatter tires.

It was not passable on Tuesday when the snow hit - I ended up walking the whole thing on the same tires. Got passed by a fatbike, and decided right then and there that I'm buying one. I've had enough of sliding all over the place during winter riding on those skinny tires. The extra five minutes of biking will be well worth the stress free feeling of just ploughing over everything.

[Boosted131]

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It was not passable on Tuesday when the snow hit - I ended up walking the whole thing on the same tires. Got passed by a fatbike, and decided right then and there that I'm buying one. I've had enough of sliding all over the place during winter riding on those skinny tires. The extra five minutes of biking will be well worth the stress free feeling of just ploughing over everything.

Just toss a bbshd on it, and it'll be 5 mins quicker than the skinny bike haha. I passed lots of skinny tires with my fatty on studded dillingers pretty much every time I rode it.
Tires are also very important as you can get a 4.8" tire that is garbage, vs the dillinger which is the best rated floating tire. Where normal tires sink in, these ones float right over.

[997TT]

I’m starting to feel the same way. Morning rides last 2 days haven’t been bad as the ground is frozen. But riding home in the slush yesterday I got passed by fat bikes that seemed to float over it while my studs just dug into the ground.

I was looking at fat bikes and seems $1500 is entry level. I hate entry leve shit but don’t want to break the bank either. Took a quick look on pink bike too. If anybody sees a “good deal” let me know. I’m ok spending $. Just want to perceive I’m getting some value. Haha

[taemo]

btw what happened to the beet juice on the bike lanes now that we are getting actual snow?

[CLiVE]

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I’m starting to feel the same way. Morning rides last 2 days haven’t been bad as the ground is frozen. But riding home in the slush yesterday I got passed by fat bikes that seemed to float over it while my studs just dug into the ground.

I was looking at fat bikes and seems $1500 is entry level. I hate entry leve shit but don’t want to break the bank either. Took a quick look on pink bike too. If anybody sees a “good deal” let me know. I’m ok spending $. Just want to perceive I’m getting some value. Haha

I grabbed an entry level Norco Bigfoot 6.3 with mech disc a few seasons ago for just under $1200?. If it is mainly for commuting, nothing wrong with the entry level models. Easy to work on, and you can always upgrade components later. Budget extra for studded tires though, dillinger or similar.

[997TT]

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I grabbed an entry level Norco Bigfoot 6.3 with mech disc a few seasons ago for just under $1200?. If it is mainly for commuting, nothing wrong with the entry level models. Easy to work on, and you can always upgrade components later. Budget extra for studded tires though, dillinger or similar.

Ya just talked to a guy at work who said he won’t ride his fat bike to work bc the components are too good and the salt just kills it.

CalgaryGTS pointed out moose bikes as decent cheap fat bikes. Anybody have experience other than a google review which I’ve read.

Moose fat bike 2 on sale for $1299
https://moosebicycle.com/collections...at-bike-2-2018

Compared with Norco Bigfoot 2
https://www.bowcycle.com/bicycle/bigfoot-2-black/

The Bigfoot 1 is even cheaper if mechanical brakes is good enough
https://moosebicycle.com/collections...at-bike-1-2018

On a side note rode this morning using north edworthy river detour. Wasn’t too bad on my 35 marathon winters

[CLiVE]

My front derailleur refuses to shift now after 3 seasons. I never use it anyways and plan to convert to 1X eventually.

For that price difference I would go mech disc, and grab a set of cheap studded tires. Google the Arisun Sharktooth for budget studded fat bike tires. They work fine for commuting, and should only set you back about $80/ea. So you're easily under $1k for a fat bike commuter.

Plus committing to riding a fat bike all winter is an easy way to build your FTP. lol

[taemo]

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My front derailleur refuses to shift now after 3 seasons. I never use it anyways and plan to convert to 1X eventually.

For that price difference I would go mech disc, and grab a set of cheap studded tires. Google the Arisun Sharktooth for budget studded fat bike tires. They work fine for commuting, and should only set you back about $80/ea. So you're easily under $1k for a fat bike commuter.

Plus committing to riding a fat bike all winter is an easy way to build your FTP. lol

How far is your commute with the fat bike?
As much as I want to ride all year, driving on Deerfoot to get to Telus Spark and then ride to downtown seems to be more inconvenient than just hopping on the c-train in Saddletown.
Wondering what if I get 700x38 studded tires and ride from McKnight to downtown instead.

[CLiVE]

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How far is your commute with the fat bike?
As much as I want to ride all year, driving on Deerfoot to get to Telus Spark and then ride to downtown seems to be more inconvenient than just hopping on the c-train in Saddletown.
Wondering what if I get 700x38 studded tires and ride from McKnight to downtown instead.

My entire commute from home the NW is 21km. I have done the whole thing on the fat bike, but my training schedule really dictates how far I commute (as well as road conditions/meeting schedule, etc.), I'll park wherever is convenient to get in the mileage/time my coach has prescribed, and often extend or do multiple loops if required. (Nose Hill (14km), Shouldice (8km), Brentwood (~8km), Edworthy (7km), etc.) I either bike or run from any of those locations. I just don't like people....transit isn't an option. lol. Downside - I sometimes I forget where I left my truck.

[taemo]

went all in and ordered a pair of Schwalbe WInter Tire 700 from the MEC, unfortunately it won't be here until Thursday so really I wont bother putting it on until the next snow dump in a couple of weeks lol.
I'll try and ride as much as I can from McKnight or 64th, if weather is really bad then I'll just take the C-Train

[Boosted131]

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Ya just talked to a guy at work who said he won’t ride his fat bike to work bc the components are too good and the salt just kills it.

I run fairly high end components all winter and never noticed anything bad happen. (Chris king hubs, cane creek shocks, etc). over 4000 km last winter and the whole driveline survived
I've had the cassette/chain freeze up many times where you can only shift through a few gears, or only 1 gear when it gets bad. Let it thaw out and it's good to go again though.

Even my cheaper fatbike only had 1 freewheel failure over the winter (bbshd powered, leg power wouldn't have done this). Only put 900 km on that one though.

[CLiVE]

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I've had the cassette/chain freeze up many times where you can only shift through a few gears, or only 1 gear when it gets bad. Let it thaw out and it's good to go again though.

That's really key - take the bike inside on cold days. If I leave it in my truck overnight after riding - good luck getting things to move the next day.