Riding during off season.

[PY ⠀]

Which wheel would ride better in the snow:

1- 16x2” tire (v8)

2- 10x3” tire (mTen3)

[greentung]

30 minutes ago, PY ⠀ said:

Which wheel would ride better in the snow:

1- 16x2” tire (v8)

2- 10x3” tire (mTen3)

I tried riding the mten3 in the snow and failed. I doubt 2" wide tire would fare better. The only wheel that was somewhat successful on snow was the Z10 with the 4" wide tire. It requires some work to stay on as the tire slips and grips. Packed snow may be ok to ride on with most wheels. Maybe. If you can't ride a bicycle in snow then a EUC would not fare any better. 

[PY ⠀]

@greentungThanks for your input about the mTen3 in the snow. Since a “A Tour de France rider will average 220 to 320 watts”, I think a 800-2000 watts machine may fare better at overcoming snow rolling resistance than the average biker. Pretty sure a ks16x will be better than any regular bike.

[greentung]

32 minutes ago, PY ⠀ said:

@greentungThanks for your input about the mTen3 in the snow. Since a “A Tour de France rider will average 220 to 320 watts”, I think a 800-2000 watts machine may fare better at overcoming snow rolling resistance than the average biker. Pretty sure a ks16x will be better than any regular bike.

Hi @PY ⠀. I was referring to the problem of traction on the snow. The mten3 could not plow through 5" of fresh snow. The snow started pushing up on the front shell. You would need a large diameter wheel to overcome the snow height. The biggest problem was maintaining balance with only one contact patch. A bike you at least have two points. The wheel I used, Z10 would move left and right as it tries to find traction on fresh snow. The wheel goes where it finds traction. It was steering me. I was just a passenger along for the wild ride. I was able to ride somewhat straight on packed snow track created by cars. 

Edited November 12, 2019 by greentung

[PY ⠀]

Thanks for the additional details, it all makes sense. @greentung

[mrelwood]

On 11/12/2019 at 10:15 PM, PY ⠀ said:

@greentungThanks for your input about the mTen3 in the snow. Since a “A Tour de France rider will average 220 to 320 watts”, I think a 800-2000 watts machine may fare better at overcoming snow rolling resistance than the average biker. Pretty sure a ks16x will be better than any regular bike.

Well... Bicycle and unicycle are very different vehicles with a drastically different tire diameter. Their power requirements are not comparable at all. A bicycle front tire is in front of the rider, and can easily be pushed over much larger obstacles, which still won’t disturb the rider’s balance.

EUC’s ”front” tire is slightly behind the rider, and even with a bicycle’s tire diameter it would require much more power for the same speed, on any surface or obstacle. EUCs need a lot of safety buffer, since you can’t ride anywhere close to full power. If you would, the slightest bump or even wind would make you crash.

Soft snow is fun to ride through, as it will just compress under the tire. Hard, flat snow is fun as well, it’s not all that different from a dirt road. Toughest is packed snow that’s melting. At some spots you ride on top of wet ice with zero grip, while some spots forces you to push through slush and semi-hard snow. Or soft snow partially packed by pedestrians. You need huge amounts of power, grip, focus and stamina to ride through those.

On an EUC I’d go for a large diameter before width for riding in the snow.

[Cory Brown]

Thanks for all the great info and inspiration everyone!

I finally got my first wheel (MCM5) last week, and it snowed about a foot the next day. I had ridden a few of my friends' wheels, but I'm definitely still in the beginner stages. Instead of waiting for the snow to thaw to enjoy my new ride, I have taken it out every day for a snow cruise. It has been amazing! I have definitely fallen quite a bit, but I've also gotten a lot better at riding because of it.

Can't wait for it to be gone though so I can really see what this wheel can do!

[winterwheel]

On 11/12/2019 at 1:47 PM, greentung said:

Hi @PY ⠀. I was referring to the problem of traction on the snow. The mten3 could not plow through 5" of fresh snow. The snow started pushing up on the front shell. You would need a large diameter wheel to overcome the snow height. The biggest problem was maintaining balance with only one contact patch. A bike you at least have two points. The wheel I used, Z10 would move left and right as it tries to find traction on fresh snow. The wheel goes where it finds traction. It was steering me. I was just a passenger along for the wild ride. I was able to ride somewhat straight on packed snow track created by cars. 

5" of fresh snow is a lot  for sure. I've done close to that with the ACM2 and summer tire, the bouncing around would happen because under the snow there are hardened grooves  made by people who have come before. This year, having upgraded to an off-road tire, I find this is hardly an issue at all, it feels like the tire is grabbing the snow in front and pulling me along. I feel like the XL with a proper winter-friendly tire would be phenomenal, but I want to keep it as pristine as I can for next summer, so all snow days I take the ACM2 out.

I took a V8 out last January to the mountains, it also was fine on the hardpacked stuff, but as soon as I hit anything deep it would just sink in and start spinning; the summer tire was worthless on that occasion. I'm curious to do it again, this time with the ACM2 equipped properly.

I will say that on those days when I do take the xl (such as today, when it is cold but there no new snow) it handles the occasional slippery conditions (normally snow packed down to a solid, bumpy, slippery surface) just fine, even with the summer tire. Three of us actually went out a week ago on big wheels -- two XLs, one MSX, and we all navigated some ice sections we encountered without drama. For the MSX it was first time riding over ice, so that it was nice to see that nothing bad happened. But that's more about ice than snow, so not all that relevent I suppose.

 

[mrelwood]

After 3 years of riding this is the first winter I’m riding in the snow, since I only now have a suitable tire. The CST C-186 on my MSX is a trials-styled tire, and dropped to around 2.2 bars it seems to grab on snow and even on rough ice just fine, even at speed. I also have a set of 100 screw-in studs on the way to hopefully make the winter a non-issue alltogether.

For myself I realized that the 1-piece ice fishing suit I have is perfect for the cold riding! Just today I bought D3O-inserts to be sewn in to the suit for protection.

Riding so far has been great fun! As if EUC riding didn’t remind me of skiing enough already in the summer, I was immediately thrown back to my active skiing years of the past. At one time I suddenly found myself riding on flat and smooth ice, as the cycleway had flooded before freezing. That was scary at 30km/h, but slowly slowing down while riding dead straight did the trick and I survived without drama. Once I get the studs installed, my MSX will be a proper winter beast!

[Mike Sacristan]

Yeah we are getting some snow and ice here but the maintained bike paths are very nicely maintained. I was out on some trails yesterday and hit some bad ice patches. Still ice + dirt is usually doable as long as I ride slow and straight with no excessive body movement.

I have been hesitant to do turns at speed on the 16X because it requires a bit more lean than the MSX and as the turn progresses it requires more and more lean. The CX tyre makes the 16X behave as if it has springs on the sides so as you turn the springs compress and if you want to turn more then you lean more and get just a liiiiittle more turn. However looking at footage the wheel is hardly leaning/tilting to the side... and I do it more with the pedals than I do it by hanging my body off the side of the wheel.

I have been thinking about getting another tyre and some studs for some crazy winter riding but if I look at my winter riding in the beginning of this year I was on good asphalt probably 90% of the time. Time will tell! A pure snow beast would be fun!

[winterwheel]

13 hours ago, mrelwood said:

After 3 years of riding this is the first winter I’m riding in the snow, since I only now have a suitable tire. The CST C-186 on my MSX is a trials-styled tire, and dropped to around 2.2 bars it seems to grab on snow and even on rough ice just fine, even at speed. I also have a set of 100 screw-in studs on the way to hopefully make the winter a non-issue alltogether.

For myself I realized that the 1-piece ice fishing suit I have is perfect for the cold riding! Just today I bought D3O-inserts to be sewn in to the suit for protection.

Riding so far has been great fun! As if EUC riding didn’t remind me of skiing enough already in the summer, I was immediately thrown back to my active skiing years of the past. At one time I suddenly found myself riding on flat and smooth ice, as the cycleway had flooded before freezing. That was scary at 30km/h, but slowly slowing down while riding dead straight did the trick and I survived without drama. Once I get the studs installed, my MSX will be a proper winter beast!

Awesome! Winter riding is 90% mental, and I mean that in the good sense. 

[Cory Brown]

What do you think the best wheel/tire combo would be for off-season riding? May try to have a dedicated winter wheel next year.

[winterwheel]

For me the best is ACM2 + Kenda K50 tire for snow/ice days. But that isn't that helpful to anyone because ACM2 is discontinued. 

[Ben Kim]

What off-season?  I love cold weather riding.  Can't wait to attempt riding the Monster through some fresh snow.  

[mrelwood]

On 12/4/2019 at 6:06 PM, Cory Brown said:

What do you think the best wheel/tire combo would be for off-season riding? May try to have a dedicated winter wheel next year.

I’d go for a large tire size. The CST C-186 seems to work great on the MSX. I should get studs for it in a few days!

[Blicky Te⚡️la]

Went on my first few winter/snow rides her in The Northeast US and....black ice is so scary that it made riding feel less enjoyable 

[BecauseFun]

1 hour ago, General Principle said:

Went on my first few winter/snow rides her in The Northeast US and....black ice is so scary that it made riding feel less enjoyable 

I have a low end wheel that I'd like to winterize soon.(knobby tire for light or packed snow and some studs for ice) I live in Connecticut and there's plenty of ice around here already.

I know everybody's not a fan of going the route of installing studs, but I can't see having much peace of mind this winter if I don't.

Anyway I see you're in Boston, do they still do Bicycle Sundays along the Charles? If so are eucs tolerated well enough? In general do you think the Boston /Cabridge area is euc-friendly? My plan is to take a ~$20 bus ride from New Haven to South Station and ride my ninebot one e+/p  the rest of the way to the Harvard Square area to visit my aunt before the end of the year.

[Blicky Te⚡️la]

24 minutes ago, BecauseFun said:

I have a low end wheel that I'd like to winterize soon.(knobby tire for light or packed snow and some studs for ice) I live in Connecticut and there's plenty of ice around here already.

I know everybody's not a fan of going the route of installing studs, but I can't see having much peace of mind this winter if I don't.

Anyway I see you're in Boston, do they still do Bicycle Sundays along the Charles? If so are eucs tolerated well enough? In general do you think the Boston /Cabridge area is euc-friendly? My plan is to take a ~$20 bus ride from New Haven to South Station and ride my ninebot one e+/p  the rest of the way to the Harvard Square area to visit my aunt before the end of the year.

Hey,

my wife is from Vernon!

While New York is known for fast drivers, Boston is known for bad/reckless drivers. That said there is a decent amount of bike friendly markings around the city. Our neighbors in Cambridge are much more progressive and have a more established and respected structure for alternate transpo.

Bike Sunday’s have been on my radar only for warm weather months, never thought about late fall...hmm.

Either way riding along the Charles is fun regardless.

[mrelwood]

 

3 hours ago, BecauseFun said:

I know everybody's not a fan of going the route of installing studs, but I can't see having much peace of mind this winter if I don't.

This is exactly how I feel as well! The first proper snow/ice ride made me continuously tense my whole body, and my back was aching afterwards. Getting to try a studded EUC I was able to relax immediately.

[BecauseFun]

14 hours ago, General Principle said:

Hey,

my wife is from Vernon!

While New York is known for fast drivers, Boston is known for bad/reckless drivers. That said there is a decent amount of bike friendly markings around the city. Our neighbors in Cambridge are much more progressive and have a more established and respected structure for alternate transpo.

Bike Sunday’s have been on my radar only for warm weather months, never thought about late fall...hmm.

Either way riding along the Charles is fun regardless.

Is she a Red Sox or Yankees fan?  I've heard the very unofficial CT MLB fandom geographical line is somewhere around Wallingford.  Anyway I usually find it easier to keep my Yankees cap at home when I visit Cambridge...fans getting fanatical, big surprise. 

Speaking of fandom, I've really liked the "talking back to media" genre ever since I saw the last season of MST3K broadcast in 1999. Holy crap is been 20 years...? Damn, anyway what Mike/Joel and the Robots did to movies, Jomboy does for live sports and he did a nice take on a really unusual Yankee/Red Sox encounter that hadn't showed up in my youtube feed until yesterday:

Haha, anyway thanks for the heads up on greater Boston being pretty euc-friendly...yeah when I was big into running, routes up and down the Charles were among my favorites, I'm really looking forward to experiencing them on my wheel.

Edited December 6, 2019 by BecauseFun
minor typo

[BecauseFun]

11 hours ago, mrelwood said:

 

This is exactly how I feel as well! The first proper snow/ice ride made me continuously tense my whole body, and my back was aching afterwards. Getting to try a studded EUC I was able to relax immediately.

I don't mind the effort to stud the wheel so much as I think I might miss the relative silence for the next few months...still, I think I'll be very happy to trade an ice-obsessed paranoia in looking out for slippery spots for a little bit of background clacking. "That's the sound of safety" is how I anticipate the selftalk-back dialogue going...

[D3m0nzz]

17 hours ago, BecauseFun said:

I have a low end wheel that I'd like to winterize soon.(knobby tire for light or packed snow and some studs for ice) I live in Connecticut and there's plenty of ice around here already.

I know everybody's not a fan of going the route of installing studs, but I can't see having much peace of mind this winter if I don't.

Anyway I see you're in Boston, do they still do Bicycle Sundays along the Charles? If so are eucs tolerated well enough? In general do you think the Boston /Cabridge area is euc-friendly? My plan is to take a ~$20 bus ride from New Haven to South Station and ride my ninebot one e+/p  the rest of the way to the Harvard Square area to visit my aunt before the end of the year.

You will be fine! We have a lot of rider in the community here and the esplenade is a favorite riding spot. 

[Blicky Te⚡️la]

4 hours ago, BecauseFun said:

Is she a Red Sox or Yankees fan?  I've heard the very unofficial CT MLB fandom geographical line is somewhere around Wallingford.  Anyway I usually find it easier to keep my Yankees cap at home when I visit Cambridge...fans getting fanatical, big surprise. 

 

I’ll save my jokes about “Newyorkachusetts” and their inability to understand what a region is for later 😉