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From: mink@cfa.UUCP (Doug Mink)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: Snow Traction
Message-ID: <120@cfa.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-Jan-85 12:21:08 EST
Article-I.D.: cfa.120
Posted: Wed Jan  9 12:21:08 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jan-85 06:38:21 EST
References: <16200081@uiucdcsb.UUCP>
Organization: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Lines: 27

> Speaking of cold weather riding, does anyone have a solution to the snow
> traction problem ?

This subject has been the subject of numerous discussions in these parts
with no firm conclusion.  For the past 5 winters I've had a three-mile
commute which I've ridden every day all winter on a Raleigh Grand Prix
with 27x1-1/4 Specialized Touring tires, and there have been very few
times when I've had real traction problems.  I do remember one day
last winter when there were six inches of rapidly-packed wet snow
which made me long for wider tires, but usually thin tires will cut
their own tracks.  2.125-inch mountain bike tires tend to ride up on
slush and slide around when the treads clog, but I've heard good things
about 1.75 tires on mountain bikes in snow.  It's not that hard, with
a bit of practice, to ride on rough ice, if you keep up your forward
momentum.  In traffic, though, I stay in the clearest part of the road,
usually moving as fast as traffic.  Teflon-lined cables fill their
housings well enough that snow-clogging of brakes shouldn't be a problem.
I test mine continually while riding through snow to keep them
available; the amount of momentum a bike and rider have in traffic is
more than can be stopped easily with just feet.  As to wires, I expect
that they would act as little sled runners when you hit ice, skidding
the bicycle diagonally, besides causing loss of rear braking which is
the safest way to slow down on a slippery surface.

			-Doug Mink
			 Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astropysics
			 {harvard|genrad|allegra|ihnp4}!wjh12!cfa!mink