And your shiny light ‘summer’ one goes away ?

Increasingly dreich and damp here in west of Scotland and heading out for a spin early afternoon. The carbon bike got a full wash and lube a few days ago after a soggy damp ride and is looking resplendent in the garage. The CDF is sitting there raring to go….. 35c tyres, mudguards……

My normal rule of thumb is as soon as the gritters come out, which is a bit away yet. What about others ?

I didn’t realise people even had winter road bikes?

End of October, same time as british shaving time finishes .

All year round. Tend to use the CAAD a bit more in winter than the KTM but mostly because it has discs

My gravel bike has full length mudguards so I use it when the weather is poo and the road bike when it’s nice. Come end of October the road bike will probably be on my turbo trainer most of the time and only go outside on those sunny, dry & cold winter days we get now & again.

I have my winter bike set up with mudguards ready for use all year around; the summer bike has been packed away ready for a week away in October.

TBF Iain I wouldn’t bother with a summer bike if I lived in the west.
😛

Considering getting the winter bike out this morning as it’s foggy and dank. Normally when the roads stop drying out quickly or after the first road gritting which is usually October / November.

Fasthaggis – we get at least 2 days of summer here 😀

When the salt comes out

Reminds me, I need a new one this year.. time to look on Paul’s fir a cheep cannondale I think.

Not today, glorious sunshine 🙂

Use it all year as it’s a lovely ride and feels very similar to my best road bike. 28mm and full guards, power meter. It gets ridden when it’s wet out and for commuting to work when I don’t want to fight the traffic on the M4.

Today.

I ride my Avro all year round but this year is the first year I didn’t remove the mudguards

I think I’ve ridden my shiny light summer bike 3 times this year.

1 road bike, which I avoid riding most seasons…

When it’s wet, about to pop out for a spin on my ‘best’ bike now.
Thing is the ‘winter’ bike is equally bling but just has PDW guards on it and tubeless tyres.
Life is too short for rubble/planet-X and 105.

TBF Iain I wouldn’t bother with a summer bike if I lived in the west.

He doesn’t live in the west, he lives in a post industrial wasteland that wishes it was in the west. So much so, they even named it after a town in the west.

Edit – wasn’t there someone recently that did the figures and reckoned it was a false economy having a winter road bike?.

Late June. 😈

But more seriously, it’s getting to the point recently where I’m more reluctant to go out on my road bike bought back in May, as I’m still waiting for Cube to make Attain Disc mudguards available again after a call-back earlier in the year.

Having got caught in un-forecast torrential rain, on foul mud-covered roads, twice in the last 3 days on my summer deep-sectioned plastic-fantastic whilst wearing nice kit, I’d say now 🙄

I didn’t realise people even had winter road bikes?

Trolling or new here? Hundreds of threads discussing the relative merits, but in summary- permanently fitted mudguards, wider possibly more puncture resistant tyres, and cheaper consumables are the main reasons to have one.

I don’t have a summer road bike, let alone a winter road bike.

Today. And glad I did

No rain but so much mud on the roads

How do the maths stack up on this?

Personally I have one bike but swap out my bling wheels for the basic ones that came with the bike. Don’t bother with mud guards because nobody else in my club does. And I don’t intentionally cycle in the rain.

When I switch back to summer wheels I give it a deep clean, new chain and brake blocks. The rest of my bike is unchanged for the last 4 years. So annual cost of maintaining one bike is less than £50. Would take a lot of years to break even on the purchase of a dedicated winter bike.

Edit: I do go through a bottom bracket each year. So an extra £30 for replacing bearings.

I did use my ‘best’ bike for everything. A lot of damp salty winter base miles included. One of the seat stays rusted through at the bottom (my fault – blocked drain hole) which I got replaced but decided to get another bike to put in the hard graft in winter from then on.
I don’t know how the maths works as per fanatic’s post, but I increasingly find that doing wet, dark commutes on a bike with Record bits and Corima carbon tubs grates on me. Disk brakes, big tyres and proper mudguards are wonderful now I’m the wrong side of 40.

As I commute a few times a week through the winter. A bike with full guards is a necessity to me.

Have never done the maths but just don’t want to use carbon wheels and etap red etc through the winter

Can’t fit mudguards on my ‘nice’ bike. Full ones don’t fit & tried raceblades but funny shaped rear stays meant they rubbed too easily.
Plus, I’m lucky enough to be in a position not to have to worry about the financial aspect of owning multiple bikes.

Stw only has winter road bikes. It seems every recommendation must have discs(hydro) and mudguards.

Don’t get me wrong. I’d deffo prefer a bike with mudguard fixings and 32mm tyres. Just don’t think cost is a valid reason. Possibility the maths work out if you have Dura Ace Di2 drivetrain and only one set of carbon rims. But my Ultegra kit and Fulcrum 5 wheels have survived 3 winters.

Do carbon frames care about winter riding? I presume it’s inert.

Summer bike for dry or non-salted roads, winter bike for all other conditions.

The winter road bike has been out whenever we’ve had some torrential rain and I’m leaving in it. Th fixed wheel paddy Wagon will regain its mudguards and winter fork soon.

The nice bike still hasn’t been washed since tuesday’s downpour, but the racebike is sparkling and looked great at cyclopark in yesterday’s third cat race (unlike the rider). The nice bike will probably be put away soon. The race bike is just washed after every damp race.

And it’s not really for economic reasons, I like mudguards, but I like light steel fixed wheel road bikes. So I switch. The obvious answer would be a shiny new top end steel fixed wheel, but I bought a disc wheel instead!

I’ve put my Look Keos back on this afternoon because my feet were cold in my MTB shoes last week going to work, and I can fit thicker socks in my road shoes.
That’s about as far as I get.

I’d love a proper blingy summer bike but I don’t need one and I can’t justify it at the minute.

Fanatic, for a start you’ve added a zero cost to your ‘winter’ wheels because they came on the bike. They still have a value and they will wear out.

Cost is just 1 factor. My winter bike has disc brakes, full guards and less racey tyres, so is a better tool for the job. And given I own 9 bikes it seems reasonable that at least 1 of them is vaguely utilitarian 😉

I have a wet bike and a dry bike.

Wet one had its first ride in about six months the other day actually.

I use my race bike in races and on nice days. My winter (other) bike has mudguards a slightly more relaxed position, discs, takes fatter tyres and is cheaper. I use it year round if it looks wet and I’m not too bothered about all out speed. My nice bike will be hibernating after the national HC in October. No races then until spring.

Well I actually took the plastic one out today, though in a saddo moment or 2 I slowed down through the only 2 full road width puddles I encountered, just to keep it dry 😀

White bar tape and saddle for the fail I guess 😆

Disc brakes, bigger tyres and compact gears on the winter bike.

The main benefit seems to be so that when spring rolls around I can feel like a superhero on my nice bike, ut it also means I can keep the nice bike set up on the turbo over the winter.

I don’t really even have the turbo excuse ! I had one but it bored me senseless….

I have a wet bike and a dry bike.

This. If it’s raining or the roads are wet, the “winter” bike comes out.

I commute on the winter bike, and for weekend rides pick a bike depending on the weather. I may get another couple of rides out of the summer bike before it hibernates, although the TT bike is getting put away for the winter next saturday.