Studded tires and pogies work. My dad commuted regularly to work by bike more than 5km in the winter in Alaska at those temps.
Edit: He lives in Fairbanks, where the fat bike originated. He doesn't ride one since he doesn't like the bounce, but people ride them all winter for fun. I think, like many places, the key is having trails to ride on to improve safety.
Fat (pedal) bikes with big enough tires can ride on most winter terrain. And the warm clothing is not much an issue when you're pedaling hard and not moving very fast, since snow can be tough to plow through. Most of the time you need to focus on keeping your hands warm, preventing sweating, and staying dry from slush.
I bought a 29+ bike for winter riding, with my 3" tubeless tires inflated to 5-10 PSI, I have a ton of grip. I've pedaled up hills with ease, passing cars are spinning their tires. Granted, I have much better bike control than most people (if I do say so myself), but with a fat bike, riding in the winter is actually doable.
They also make bikes with wide tires now that perform admirably in snow. With the right gear, it's not too bad unless you are trying to ride through a foot of snow.
I have metal-studded tires for winter. They make a huge difference on ice, but they make less of a difference on fresh snow. For snow a fat bike is better. If you're doing a lot of winter biking, I'd suggest one or the other. You can get studded fat tires, but they're expensive and I don't usually see anyone with them.
I was impressed with traction on the Citibike-style bicycles here in Minneapolis the last time I tried one in the snow. The tires aren’t so huge that they always stay on top, but they get pretty decent traction.
I use a fat bike, with studded tyres, with low inflation for extra grip. Haven't had a problem with any kind of terrain really, but I don't live in a place that gets super icy.
I ride a mountain bike, though my tires are only normal width. I did put studs in my tires to help with icy conditions.[1] So far I've had a good winter of riding.
I don't think anyone would ever ride a road bike in the winter, it would not be possible with the snow the way it is (deep, often drifting, rarely cleared)
Tons of people up here ride "fat tire" winter bikes with up to 4.5 inch tires. They ride the downhill trails right through winter.
Deeply freezing temperatures, ice, snow, all of those are completely ridable on bicycles, but you have to ride with very fat tires, often called "fatbikes"[0]. You can ride those bicycles in just about anything; I've ridden them across frozen lakes and up chunks of frozen glacier in the dead of the Alaskan winter, so cold roads don't sound particularly scary. If you want to have a single bike that you can ride in any weather very easily, an electric "fatbike"[1] makes for a super versatile single-person car replacement.
I don't bike in winter, but 'Fat Biking' has gone way beyond fad here in Northern Michigan.. You see people commuting around town in them all winter long... a foot of new snow is not a problem for these folks. But it is a smaller city.
Fixed gear, skinny tires. I'd probably be better off with cyclocross tires, but if you're optimizing for what you're going to be riding on 90% of the time, for winter commuting 90% of the time it's dry/wet pavement or hardpack snow. If the fatbikes give people confidence to ride in winter, more power to them, but personally I think it's overkill.
For the cold you've got to keep your extremities protected. I've got big dumb loose fitting mitts that slide on and off easily, and really warm socks. For my core, though, sweat is more an issue than freezing your ass off. If you dress to be cozy for the first 5 or 10 minutes of the ride, you'll be sweating once your blood gets flowing.
I've been commuting for 40 years, 25 year round. When snow is on the ground I still ride my bike, because snow is on the ground for most of the winter. I don't even own a car. Fat bikes, designed to handle snow cost as much as 18 months worth of transit passes in my city, which is cheap. Not that I've ever needed a fat bike to get around.
Minneapolis is one of the top US cities for cycling mode share. You can bike in snow+ice with proper studded tires. With a fat bike, you'll do better than any car or truck in deep snow.
so i heard from friends, that the snow might actually a problem if you're outside a city; in some instances you'd be hard pressed to make it with a fat bike.
apart from that i guess you just have to ride carefully, but you the same applies to driving a car on icy roads.
The size of the bicycle tires are also important, and the air pressure. I changed to a fatbike without metal studs this year and now I can bike with very low pressure. Normally around 0.5 bar when bumpy and slippery, it works like a charm as long as it's not smooth ice covered with snow. The tires shape themselves around all the cracks and bumps and gives tracktion almost everywhere. The old bike with thinner wheels didn't have as good comfort in winter even with new studded tires because I could not ride it at that low pressure without getting damages to the rubber.
I live in an area of Sweden that has ice and snow at least 4 months per year. Still thinking of buying studded tires for the fatbike but want to see how I'm doing with these, the rubber is nice and soft even at -20 degrees so I think I might be good enough with this solution.
reply