show me your winter bike!

[tulip]

This is from when I lived in Washington, DC. This bike is a Dahon Matrix, a folding mountain bike. I had studded tires on it, which were essential in the ice. In DC, the snow melts and then refreezes to ice very quickly. There's also lots of black ice on the streets in the mornings, and studded tires (and careful riding) took care of the black ice.

This bike had disk brakes, which I would recommend for snow/ice conditions. I found fenders to be more trouble than they were worth because they constantly became loose. I was not concerned about getting dirty because my workplace had a commuter shower so I could clean up. I never rode in my work clothes because l lived 14 miles away from my office.

I had lights for the dark mornings.

The folding bike was useful for me because in the evenings, when it was dark, I took the bike home on the Metro. This particular bike didn't fold up very small, but it was fine for the Metro because it fit their definition of a folding bike, which are allowed on the Metro at all times. Regular bikes are not allowed on the trains during rush hours.

Cycling in winter--with snow and ice--took longer than cycling in clear conditions. But in DC, cycling in bad conditions was faster than driving (which really ended up being just sitting in traffic) and faster than the Metro. In really cold and bad weather, the Metro has all sorts of problems. I'd much rather be on my bike able to move forward than stuck in traffic or on a train.