Last winter I missed a lot of riding time because my bike was not up to the job, I know to you Finnish people it was a pathetic winter in Helsinki but for me I struggled to even walk to the bus stop because of the ice for the whole of January.
I want to build up a good winter bike that will take on any conditions but need some advice…
Fixed, single speed or internal geared hub? And WHY?
How big spiked tyres?
I used to have an ESB but I sold it (worst decision ever), it seems to me that it would be the perfect frame for the long winter here, Ted will hook it up with canti bosses for me. Do you think this is a good idea or is there some other frame that I could be looking at that’s just as badass?
I need to commute from Vuosaari to Töölö and back every day, I know the city centre is easy to get around but out east it was pretty wild, for me at least because I’m really not used to these conditions.
^^What he said. Fixed is not only fun as shit in winter but you also have so good connection to the road that you know the second you start losing grip.
What I was about to say was almost completely different compared to Nprtj’s contribution.
So maybe the winter here halfway north is easier because it is colder and therefore drier.
How would you store your bike? Can you get it inside daily? Even derailers work nice if stored in dry and even in some plus degrees.
Yep, gotta agree with jasmin on this one, the man has got a point.
Fixie is bulletproof, everything else might freeze, including the rims, so the cantis are a nogo.
Go for knobbies, the bigger the better, spikes are expensive, heavy and generally useless, and riding fixed, youl’ll start losing studs in no time.
I would go for karate monkey or inbred, but a soup’d up ESB would also do the trick, and prolly end up being sexier ride.
The main problem with fixed is that I have an unbreakable rule, and that is no brakes on a fixed gear. But riding brakeless in the middle of an icy winter is just stupid, surely.
During my 30 years of being a I have suffered a frozen freewheel once. It froze open. Freewheeled both ways. Annoying fuckerance. Other than that I’ve heard of one frozen freewheel.
Most winterbikers bike with their plain normal cheapo bikes with no problems.
There are no perfect winter bikes for Helsinki. Just get on the bike and learn. That’s what we have been doing since we were kids, with plain normal bikes.
Would it be better if people just posted here their winter(bikes that they ride in Helsinki during winter time) bikes like I did and let Ty decide what he wants for himself?
