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by ofalkaed·6mo ago·view on hn ↗
We can go from 30C to 5C in a couple minutes with a wind change, the weather here keeps your toes. We always get down into the -20sF with another 20 degrees thrown in by the windchill and can spend weeks at that, 2014/15 we spent 3 months in the -20s. Coldest I have biked in is -47 before the windchill. Windchill is tricky on a bike since you make your own wind, it is considerably colder biking than just standing or walking in such conditions.

Gear has mostly been a move away from cartridge bearings, you are lucky if those will last the winter. Old fashioned cup and cone bearings hold enough grease to get you through most winters without having to repack. For the messy and icy weather I try to ride my fixed gear, does not matter if the brakes freeze up, very simple drive train (single piece crank!) I can just ignore all winter other than oil the chain and its 1/8" chain sucks up a lot more oil than the skinny 10+ speed chains and sheds filth much better as well. 3in1 helps a lot as well, it is pretty good about shedding filth. For the brutal cold, when things are dry and for most errands it is generally my touring bike, its granny gear is nice when the grease starts to thicken in the cold and high rpm pedaling does a good job of keeping you warm but keeping the derailers working well even with friction shifters can be a chore.

Only specialty gear I have is studded BMX pedals, they do a great job of keeping your feet on the pedals and are footwear agnostic. Not the best pedal choice for a fixed gear, they can really shred your shins.

1 comments
Amazing.

What sort of distances are you doing?

I work at a couple of locations that are about 9-15km from home.

I’m probably doing 150-300km per week, depending on weather. Even doing 5km in the conditions you describe sounds Herculean.

Distance is fairly variable, minimum is 4 miles, a busy day can be 50 miles. When we get extended bitter cold I tend to start running errands before work since I can break up the distances and stop and warm up instead of the shorter straight shot, that will be about 10 miles a day.

It is not as bad as most people think as long as you get out there everyday and avoid getting in the habit of not doing stuff because it is too cold. That first -10 day is brutal but that -10 is not so bad after a -20 day and feels almost warm after -30. So I convince myself that a beer would taste really good and bike to the bar in -30 just to get out there because the longer you go without riding in that sort of cold the harder it is to get back out there, do it daily and it is easy to remember that it is just a minor discomfort until you get the blood flowing.