I agree with Ian from Alberta. I've used a variety of old 80s-90s non-suspension MTBs for commuting the past few years. There aren't many better bikes for commuting as long as they have mudguard and rack mounts. Components will suffer in the winter, so stick with basic stuff. Steel chainrings might be good idea. I currently have a specialized stumpjumper converted to 650B with 42mm tyres.
If you do decide to use a Rivendell, get the best mudguards you can. I bought some Gilles Berthoud stainless guards a couple of years ago and it is remarkable how much difference they make keeping the frame clean in horrible conditions. Another consideration is what your bike storage at work is like. I found that my employer has a secure underground bike storage that is little used, so I'd be ok with storing a nice bike there. Previously I locked up my bike at a crowded bike rack in a train station, and then at a public bike rack used by students. I wouldn't want to do that with my nice bikes. Cheers, Johnny On Monday, 14 March 2022 at 09:04:02 UTC+1 Ian A wrote: > I'm in Alberta and in the past ten years I have lived here, I have winter > commuted on an 80's Rocky Mountain MTB with 26"x2" Schwalbe Ice Spikers. > The bike has held up well, but all components have to be considered > sacrificial as the winter is hard on the bike. I ran it as a 2x6 for the > first ~six years, then converted it to a single speed (50x20) and it does > well. Hauls groceries and commutes in the winter and hauls groceries, > commutes and gets locked up around town in the summer! > > My nice bikes don't do the winter stuff. The grit, salt, spring thaw > puddles etc are just too wear inducing. I rebuild the Rocky periodically > and has never let me down. I would say the Appaloosa would handle the > winter conditions well, but keeping it nice for Spring/Summer/Fall touring, > commuting, errands etc and a slightly more sacrificial winter bike that you > can still be fond of is the way to go. > > IanA Alberta Canada > On Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 10:42:34 AM UTC-6 trevor....@gmail.com wrote: > >> First time posting here. Not yet an owner, but working on it! >> >> A few years back, I sold my year round commuter (a Surly Steamroller with >> custom Canti mounts) in favour of a bike with disc brakes, thinking that >> would be the way to go for all-season riding. For reference, I live in the >> middle of Canada where we have snow up to 6 months of the year, with >> temperatures hovering well below -20C for a lot of that. >> >> I've recently been eyeing up the Joe Appaloosa as a contender for my next >> bike. The idea is that it would be commuter as well as tourer/light >> trail/etc. There would be some overlap with other bikes, but I am going to >> be honest and say that I am smitten with that bike. >> >> Does anyone have any experience riding their Riv in awful wintery >> conditions? I've survived on 33c CX tires before, so that aspect of the >> bike is less of a concern. I am mostly thinking about the rim brake >> concerns and any other things to watch out for. Or maybe I am just trying >> to coax myself into moving distinctly into N+1 territory. >> >> I would be happy to hear any thoughts about riding Rivs in awful winter >> conditions. >> > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/af205df1-96b1-41fa-a6f2-2ef0975b6681n%40googlegroups.com.
