42 Tips To Help You Ride Your Bike All Winter

We distilled it down to seven points in Seven Tips For Winter Cycling, including protecting the skinny bits, and taking care of your bike, keeping it dry and lubricated. We suggested lots of different bike lights"
Goodbye Batteries Bike Lights
New Vibration and Solar-Powered Bike Light from CatEye
Reelight: Electrodynamic Bike Lights
How To Be Seen On Your Bike at Night
Hydrogen Powered Fuel Cell Bicycle Light By Angstrom of Vancouver

Instructables

Some people like studded tires for winter; learn how to make your own at Instructibles via Planet Green: DIY Ice Tires for your Bicycle

Planet Green contributor Andy Posner is a very serious year round cyclist, and not of the Copenhagen school; he is into his equipment and his gear. He also suggests getting a jacket designed specifically for winter cycling, with lots of zippers to open up when you get hot and to close when you get cold. Cycling Tip of the Week: Use Your Jacket Zipper to Regulate Temperature in the Winter

Yvonne Bambrick of Toronto, another very serious cyclist, takes the Copenhagen approach and wears what anyone might wear for winter: "tall, long black coat, chic red hat dotted with a delicate bicycle pin, dark sunglasses. She could be shopping in Paris. Her bike is a grey Dutch seven-speed, the front basket adorned with bulrushes, white plastic flowers cascading off the back." How To Cycle In Winter: Carry Lots of Kleenex tissues

In response to the comments on the post, Yvonne Bambrick made some other suggestions that did not make it into the original article, which I will repeat here:

"If you haven't ridden on snow before, I would suggest trying a side street to really get a feel for it, practice in a safe place first - main streets are pretty clear though not long after a snowfall from the cars traveling on them, and all the salt. Side streets are often more challenging, but a good, and usually quiet place to try it out.

I highly recommend the following:

• good warm waterproof boots, I'm a Sorel fan myself


• warm mitts or gloves (good tip is to wear thin wool gloves under warm mitts - keep your fingers warm when you take off your mitts to deal with you lock)


• earmuffs/ear covering


• clear / yellow / pink glasses or goggles to keep the snow out of your eyes


• good scarf or neck warmer that can cover your mouth and still allow you to breathe, a long scarf allows you to wrap your neck/face, but also has long tails that you can cover your chest and belly with under you coat


• warm hat, or if you are wearing a helmet, one of those thin wool, or nylon skull caps that fits under it, along with a headband for your ears


• long underwear if it's really cold, or just leg warmers that cover your knees either under or over your pants, both if it's really really cold, or snowpants that are not too tight.


• for longer / sweatier rides, it is a good idea to make your underlayer that is closest to your skin one made of wool or a synthetic - cotton tends to stay wet longer and may end up cooling you down, whereas wool tends to hold moisture (and smell less).


• Good coat. Now, I wear a rather non traditional winter coat for cycling, long black wool tailored women's coat. I love it and it works for me on my upright dutch bike that has skirt guards on the rear wheels - not for everyone though. Windproof is good, and even a nice bright windproof shell over good layers should do the trick. Because my coat is black, I also wear one of those super sexy reflective safety vests ;)


• Lights! extra ones if you want to be even more visible.


• Mud guards on your bike


• Brakes that are in good working order, and a bike in a good state of repair.

I have to say, the roads are even more obviously in a state of disrepair when there is a layer of snowy slush on top of everything...

Given the road conditions, including many unfortunate patch jobs on the E-W connectors in the W end due to hydro/gas/water repairs, I don't necessarily recommend this as year for inexperienced cyclists to start riding through the winter - not during precipitous conditions anyway - only when the streets are dry, which is more often than not here in Toronto. Almost anyone can manage the cold with the right clothes.

Couple important tips re: cycling - remember to keep your nerves in check, and focus on keeping your body centered and balanced even when conditions are slippery. It's a fine balance between watching the road much more closely than usual when there is snow / slush / ice covering, and scanning for car doors and approaching vehicles / pedestrians. Be sure to ride to conditions and slow down in general. Use extreme caution when crossing streetcar tracks! Be even more aware of reduced visibility due to obstructed car windows - from snow, ice and humidity that has not been cleared. Ride predictably, as always, and do what you can to increase your visibility to others. "

Perhaps an enclosed recumbent bike is perfect for winter. The Perfect Winter Bike

And perhaps, someday, we will have Chris Hardwicke's bicycle highway in the sky, when cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.