Essential winter commuting clothing/gear

[alpinerabbit]

I need suspenders for my PI amfib tights , as they droop in the back exposing my kidneys.

I did not buy bib tights as I am looking forward to running in them too.

[SalsaMTB]

I have not commuted in winter, but I have done some off road rides in winter. I would highly recommend getting some foot warmers to put in your shoes. Even with the covers and wool socks, my feet were still cold. The warmers did wonders!

For my legs, last year I just wore my bike shorts, long john, and cheap tights you can get at any sporting good store. It worked out well. If you need to go cheap, it works, if you have some extra money, splurge for the nicer, cycling cold weather tights.

For days with ice and snow, I personally wouldn't commute. I can't even imagine riding on roads that are hard to drive on. Way too dangerous!! If you have the bike lanes that are not next to the road, that might work. I'll mountain bike off road in snow and ice, no way would I even go on roads with my mountain bike in those conditions. If I had sidewalks the entire distance of the commute, I could see doing that, but remember they wouldn't be plowed!

Lastly, depending on the hours you work, you'll probably need a nice light if you do not already have one. The days are getting shorter, so you'll probably be riding in the dark. I would highly recommend splurging on the the head light!! Oh, and don't forget a tail light also!

Oh, one more thing. I don't know how they handle snow and ice in your area, but here, they use a lot of salt. I would imagine this is pretty rough on a bike. DH and I plan on doing a decent amount of road riding this winter and will not be using our nice bikes, instead we'll use our older mountain bikes. If they use a lot of salt in your area, be sure to clean the bike after each ride or build up a retired frame with retired components you have laying around and use that Other girls might have more experience on this though, so feel free to comment. Like I said, I have only been off-road during the winter, not much road riding, but salt just seems like a bad thing for a bike.

[Geonz]

Studded tires :-)

I haven't done it yet, but I'm thinking of it.

Generally, though, we have those nice plows that take care of things. I am thinking if I had the studded tires, I could go in to work and not worry about things turning for hte worse.

I would, however, not get onto a road where cars were sliding around. Period. I work at a big ol' college and somebody would give me a ride, or I'd finally figure out the bus route home...

[Selkie]

Aside from the days when there was snow/ice, I rode all through last winter. I used a polar buff under my helmet to keep my head/ears toasty, and on the days it was really cold, made it into a balacava to cover my face/neck. Usually three layers for my core: Craft thermal shirt, then jersey, then jacket. To keep my hands warm, chemical hand warmers and Amfib lobster-style gloves. Tights w/chamois and on particularly cold days, I'd layer leg warmers under them. Wool socks, chemical foot warmer, toe covers and good quality booties/shoe covers for my feet. The worst part of winter riding is cold hands/feet.
I would never ever ride if the roads/trails had enough ice/snow that it was hard to get around the slippery patches safely. It's not worth risking injury and possibly months off the bike.

[run it, ride it]

Am I the only one who commuted last winter and totally winged it? That was rhetorical. I'm young and crazy like that.

As a student in a small univeristy city, I got fed up with unreliable public transit and most often opted to take my 70s road bicycle to campus. Man, was I glad when I got fenders on that thing.

I usually ended up in running shoes, tights, jeans, glittens (gloves with the flip-up mitten part) a few zip-up sweatshirts and an autumn jacket (couldn't afford a winter jacket for myself--horse got a brand new winter blanket instead).

The weather of course ranged from -5 to -35 celcius (23F to -21F), and that was before the chill of the unrelenting, numbing wind that tore through every fibre of one's being. The snow was thick and wet and deep, but through the magic of snow removal equipment and salt, bare pavement existed below a few inches of slush in the bicycle lane (this was entirely new to me--at home they just plow and sand; you just learn to drive on a layer of snow. And yes, I learned to bike on it, too. Just never, EVER hit the brakes.).

You'd see the odd bicycle around campus from the other odd commuter. Or maybe from someone who just abandoned their bike there; with the general quality of university student mounts, you never can tell. But they were all thick-tired, heavy, capable mountain bikes.

Not me! I came chugging up on that road bicycle entirely out of its element, skidding every which-way, gears slipping from rust and salt encrustation.

Mind you, the commute was only 5km and most of that was uphill. And young skin bounces back quick from frost bite.

[Geonz]

You totally rock

You are so right that you can get away with a lot in 5 km. especially with the exercise factor. I'm always telling people that I'm **way** warmer on my bicycle than they are standing at the bus stop!!

My skin gets pretty flaky, pretty fast, though, with the exposure. Need that essence of whale blubber or something...

I almost always did t-shirt, sweatshirt, and two jackets... and was fine. No special gear... no wicking... just LAYERS.

[Selkie]

one last thing--actually I'm echoing someone else's advice--invest in a good, high quality headlight, a tail light, and some extra little lights. You cannot be lit up enough.

[postiechic]

Wow! I didn't expect anyone to look up the weather for Perth..

Right, first of all it's not cold here.

ah, yeah, it is
I was there in june....hoping/expecting nice-ish weather
averaged about 15C for a whole week. Finally got to take my jumper off on the last day! dammit!
then it was back to tropical melbourne....not

[farrellcollie]

If you wear glasses - that stuff that makes them not fog up is essential in my opinion - I go through a lot of it in winter because of wearing face mask fogs glasses up pretty quickly