Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Cold and White


Riding in the snow is a new experience for me, in fact I have only a little [distance] experience with the snow in general. But it is an experience that I must embrace if I am to continue my life here in Berlin [granted the public transport is great but I prefer to ride].

We had our first real snow fall last week and it did force me in to a train in the morning as 1.5" slicks do not make good snow tyres. That is until I learnt about the zip-tie snow modifications. After that I was rolling and sliding my way around the city, I kept catching myself laughing out-loud between cautious moments where are all my concentration was focused on not falling under a passing truck. Great fun!

While it does look ridiculous, it does also work surprisingly well. Now that the roads are ploughed and salted grip levels are generally only a little less than a rainy day I have taken them off as they make turning a little treacherous when not in the snow. Also the cold makes the ties very brittle so I had already lost many of them, but next time the snow falls I will be putting them on again!

Obviously don't try it if you have rim brakes! This is the better option if you have the money to spend:


via Fahrtwind, Dutch Bike Co and Poloholica also thanks to Styleserver for the ties and the warm place to install them.

2 comments:

User.One said...

Good fab skills there fella. So du bisst ein Berliner now then?

Dan said...

I wouldn't insult your fab skills by regarding this as fab, this is merely jerry-rigging!
Nein, noch nicht. Aber ich versuche