Most Worthwhile Upgrade?

On 22 Sep 2003 16:24:50 +0100 (BST), David Damerell
wrote:
Jeff Starr wrote:
Or he lives in a part of the country where year round riding isn't
practical.

Assuming "the country" is the USA, where are those places, given that
people ride year-round in Canada?

People do lots of impractical things everywhere.

Year-round riding isn't practical here in RI, however,
it's possible, and one can certainly ride for a much
larger portion of the year than most do.

Now, this reminds me of a story I really should tell
here. I started snowplowing for the state last year,
and we had a few largish storms. We had one early on
that dumped over a foot in a short time.

I was plowing on Route 1 in Charlestown, RI, in the
right-center lane, flanked by huge state trucks with
their dual wing plows, when I saw a guy on a road
bike, on the unplowed , unlit highway, riding into
the traffc.

Wow. WOW! He was pretty lucky, we were just pulling
out of the lot and hadn't really spread wide; else,
he would have been plowed. There was nowhere for him
to go into the shoulder, unless he jumped off his
bike and could make that jump about 20 feet.

I don't even know how he got that bike moving in the
thick snow. It did NOT have fat tires; it was a road
bike, with slicks or very narrow treaded tires.

Are there studded 700x[35c?] tires?
--
Rick Onanian

David Damerell wrote:

Jeff Starr wrote:

Or he lives in a part of the country where year round riding isn't practical.


Assuming "the country" is the USA, where are those places, given that
people ride year-round in Canada?

Here in the Boston area, I consider cycling a 10-month activity,
onacountta July and August are too damn hot!

Sheldon "Cold? Pedal Harder!" Brown
+--------------------------------------------+
| All the world's a stage and most of us |
| are desperately unrehearsed. |
| --Sean O'Casey |
+--------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

Rick Onanian wrote:
: I don't even know how he got that bike moving in the
: thick snow. It did NOT have fat tires; it was a road
: bike, with slicks or very narrow treaded tires.

for the record road bikes with 23mm tires are just fine in the snow. i used
an old cannondale with just that for years in minneapolis and a lot of the
year rounders went the extra mile and rode fixed gears. geez, not to mention
the tall bike crowd but you can make a good case for them being nuts anyway.

if you hit ice under that snow it doesn't matter what kind of tread you have
and i wouldn't rely on spikes. road bike are certainly more fun in the
snow at any rate.

i have to admit that i usually took january off. it got to be a bit much.
--
david reuteler

In article ,
David Damerell wrote:

Jeff Starr wrote:
Or he lives in a part of the country where year round riding isn't practical.

Assuming "the country" is the USA, where are those places, given that
people ride year-round in Canada?

To each their own. I would point out that Winters in Vancouver are much
milder than Winters in most of the US midwest. I ride year round, but
I'm rare in Vancouver.

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
: To answer the question you clipped, road studs are available:

cool.

looks like they're 38s tho so not for road bikes but maybe i'll try 'em
on my cyclocross bike. this year i'll be wintering (heh) in boise. i've
had it with minnesota for a while. last winter was denver. i'm digging
the mountains, that's for sure. being from a veritable Endor(tm) i
do miss the green of minnesota a lot.

not that it's green 5 month of the year.

hey, ryan, have you ever seen snow?
--
david reuteler

In article ,
David Reuteler wrote:

Ryan Cousineau wrote:
: To answer the question you clipped, road studs are available:

cool.

looks like they're 38s tho so not for road bikes but maybe i'll try 'em
on my cyclocross bike. this year i'll be wintering (heh) in boise. i've
had it with minnesota for a while. last winter was denver. i'm digging
the mountains, that's for sure. being from a veritable Endor(tm) i
do miss the green of minnesota a lot.

aat 38 mm, they struck me as being potential 29er tires. But yeah, I
don't think they'd fit the Pinarello.

not that it's green 5 month of the year.

hey, ryan, have you ever seen snow?

Yes. Vancouver, to put it simply, is bordered by mountains. My alma
mater is located atop thousand-foot Burnaby Mountain (it's a nice hill
exercise) in the middle of the largest suburb of Vancouver. I once rode
my motorcycle up the hill in a snowstorm that got progressively worse as
I ascended; near the top another motorcyclist was coming down the hill
at a walking pace with both feet down. I just rode on up, though it was
a bit touchy with the inch of wet snow on the road.

That said, I don't go to SFU any more. I think some combo of ice or snow
stopped me from riding to work for no more than a week last year, at
most. That's typical.

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Ryan Cousineau wrote in
:


To each their own. I would point out that Winters in Vancouver are
much milder than Winters in most of the US midwest. I ride year
round, but I'm rare in Vancouver.

No you are not, conceited perhaps, but rare, no.

In article ,
David Damerell wrote:

Ted Bennett wrote:
David Damerell wrote:
Or he lives in a part of the country where year round riding isn't
practical.
Assuming "the country" is the USA, where are those places, given that
people ride year-round in Canada?
Come off it, David. Large parts of Canada have a much milder climate
than large parts of the USA.

When I say "Canada", I don't mean "carefully selected bits of Canada".
A lot of the ICEbike types are Canadian...

If it's not an outright majority of the population that lives in those
carefully selected bits, it's close. The first and third-biggest cities
in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) are in that mild belt, with more
moderate winter temperatures than, oh, Fargo.

Montreal, OTOH, is so cold they have a law against Winter evictions,
--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Ryan Cousineau wrote in message ...
In article ,
David Damerell wrote:

Ted Bennett wrote:
David Damerell wrote:
Or he lives in a part of the country where year round riding isn't
practical.
Assuming "the country" is the USA, where are those places, given that
people ride year-round in Canada?
Come off it, David. Large parts of Canada have a much milder climate
than large parts of the USA.

When I say "Canada", I don't mean "carefully selected bits of Canada".
A lot of the ICEbike types are Canadian...

If it's not an outright majority of the population that lives in those
carefully selected bits, it's close. The first and third-biggest cities
in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) are in that mild belt, with more
moderate winter temperatures than, oh, Fargo.

Montreal, OTOH, is so cold they have a law against Winter evictions,

Shucks, we've had that law in Alaska for 20 years. And yes, we do ride
all year here. http://www.icebike.com

David Damerell wrote in message ...

David Damerell wrote:
Or he lives in a part of the country where year round riding isn't
practical.
Assuming "the country" is the USA, where are those places, given that
people ride year-round in Canada?


When I say "Canada", I don't mean "carefully selected bits of Canada".
A lot of the ICEbike types are Canadian...

I don't find riding in snow, with ice on the ground, practical. More
power to those who are willing and able to do it, but I'm not one of
them. Unless we have a very mild, dry winter, here in Wisconsin, I
won't ride at all, between December and early March. I enjoy riding,
but when I'm cold, it is no fun, for me. And I certainly don't want to
expose either of my bikes, to the road salt that they use here.

The only person who can judge whether riding conditions are practical,
is that person. I know what is practical for me. I commented, as did
someone else, because of the OP being taken to task for his mileage
claims.

The other thing is, that it is very obvious that the OPs ride, a 1995
Cannondale R600 with RX100 and Ultegra components, is no icebike.

There are many areas of the US where I don't think year round riding
is practical. The fact that you can find a few who will ride year
round, in those places, doesn't make it practical.
Life is Good!
Jeff