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The last time I lived somewhere that got consistent snow was New York City in the early 2000s and that ain’t exactly the kind of snow you want to go playing around in on your bike. It should come as no surprise that moving to Santa Fe has taken some adjustment over the past year – pandemic aside – having four real seasons once again meant I had to evaluate my cold-weather gear and look into getting a fatbike under me for the proper powder days.
In 1996, Christian Bagg suffered a spinal cord injury and he thought he’d never ride again. For years, he worked on developing an adaptive mountain bike. On Dec 3rd 2020, Christian Bagg and his buddy Chris Brown head out on 2 Bowhead Reach Adaptive Mountain Bike to do a S240 trip, something never before possible for a rider with a spinal cord injury!
First, what a name. Who doesn’t love watching Christmas Vacation? Second, black ice is sketchy, so if you’re commuting or riding icy roads in the winter, studded tires make all the difference. These 700×38 tires have 120 studs and will allow for up to 240 to be installed to keep your rubber side down. They’re $95 a piece, so head to your local dealer for ordering and over to Terrene for more information.
Riding in inclement weather takes a special kind of motivation and one thing that can really up the ante in terms of confidence is good, warm, and dry apparel. For their latest drop, PEdALED has raised the stakes with a series of kit pieces that can bolster your existing riding kit. From waterproof pants and jacket to insulated pants and jacket, there’s something for just about any winter ride. Head to PEdALED to see the full kit breakdown.
Author’s Note: This article was originally written almost 4 years ago, but was shelved after thinking I had lost a majority of the photos to a failed drive. After I managed to find many of the lost photos on an old SD card, I figured it was still worth sharing the last trip that inspired me to quit my job and travel the world by bike…
2018 Philly Bike Expo: Winter Bicycles S&S 27.5 Dirt Tourer
Photos and words by Jarrod Bunk
Versatility, that would be a word that would sum up this bike fairly well. It’s a Cerakote-coated S&S dirt rando touring machine from Winter Bicycles out of Nittany Pennsylvania. RuthWorks teamed up on the bags to complete a package that is totally integrated so that the Ultralight Randonneur bag is free of a decaleur. Along with beautiful handmade racks to distribute an even load this bike even has bolt-in frame bag compatibility along with three pack bosses on the fork legs to let this dirt rando bike switch between traditional bags as well as a more of a bikepacking setup. With 27.5 x 2.6″ clearance, this bike can tackle the road less traveled. Full internal dynamo wiring with quick disconnects, as well a Sinewave Cycles beacon make for a very clean setup that allows for plenty of off-grid touring.
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Follow Jarrod on Instagram, and Winter Bicycles on Instagram
If You Were Wondering, Frostbike’s Still the Best
Photos and words by Kyle Kelley
Especially for newcomers! It was really rad seeing Sean and Danny from Team Dream and the Cub House experience this unique event for the first time. It really got me thinking about a few of my first Frostbikes, and how a lot of my really good friends have actually spawned from this event. I’ve even seen other friendships flourish from introductions at Frostbike. Going to Minneapolis in the middle of winter as a cyclist probably seems like a bad idea, but when you actually think about it, it’s genius.
After being in Death Valley yesterday, this makes me feel so cold but yes, it looks like a lot of fun.
Riding in some places during the winter months takes dedication.
Photos by Galvin Rear
Donuts, cookies, pizza and beer. All these food items – yes, beer is considered a food – are the vices of many people, yet as cyclists we can somehow justify them before, during or after a ride. These tasty treats, the donuts in particular, were the inspiration for Austin’s new Winter Bicycles disc road. With a clean coat of beautiful paint by Lucas from Stoemper, a SRAM road group and Zipp Wheels, Austin will have all the motivation to feast on treats for years to come. See more specs at Winter and some more photo selects below.
Timeless design and modern technology pair up nicely with the latest from Winter Bicycles. The Ambassador is a fillet brazed frame, with a disc-specific lugged fork and made-to-measure “French Point” stem. For gearing, the Ambassador relies on an internal Alfine Di2 hub. The lighting is integrated to the frame with a SON hub powering Edelux lamp and the Velocity wheels roll on Compass tires. Braking relies on XT hydraulic discs and White Industries tops out the build. As for the paint, it was laid down by Todd Eroh.
Check out more details of this lovely project at Winter.
I don’t know what’s more impressive, Winter Bicycles‘ work or the fact that builder Eric Estlund always comes up with unique names for each build. In this case, a modern road model called Certeza, which is Portuguese for certainty, sureness and confidence.
The Winter Certeza is made from a selection of True Temper and Dedacciai tubes, with a confident Columbus MAX fork. The shaped tubes are joined with an elegance found only in smooth fillet-brazing.
For the kit, Eric built the Certeza with Dura Ace 9000, C24 wheels and a PRO kit. The Cane Creek headset is done in matching black and silver. To complete the build, a stem with a “French Point” treatment. The frame and fork are designed to accommodate a range of tire widths for different surfaces and are shown with 25mm Veloflex tires. Keith Anderson provided the Certeza with it’s deep pearl white paint and gold drop shadowed logos.
Check out more detailed photos below and as always, stay on top of Winter via their Instagram.
I don’t know what’s more impressive. Winter’s bicycles, or the names Eric comes up with for them. “Picholine” are olives originally from the south of France. The classic era French city bikes have always interested Eric from Winter Bicycles, so when a client requested a commuter, he looked to them for inspiration, while picking up a few modern details. Fenders, generator lamp, racks and other elegant elements adding to the beauty and functionality of utilitarian bicycles.
Eric from Winter Bicycles describes his latest build, the Peregrinator as a “full rando with Di2/ Hydro robot build.” Yes, rando, not Rambo. Although the latter seems fitting with this build kit. Talk about going full-on commando assault steeze… The Peregrinator comes locked and loaded with Nitto components, A23 rims, Compass Tires, White Industries, Schmidt generator hub, internal wiring with Ultegra Di2, Winter racks, a Winter stem and a Ruthworks SF Luggage bag.
Shine, please, shine, Peregrinator. You’re ready for anything. Check out more detail photos below…
Six months ago, I hung up my modern mountain bike and began riding a fat bike with thumb shifters and cable brakes as my only bike. Accustomed to the niceties of lightweight wheels, four piston brakes, and an 11-speed drivetrain, I’ll admit I didn’t have a lot of faith in this experiment. I had a feeling I would be itching to get back on my other bike long before the snow melted.
You see, not especially long ago, I held some fairly strong opinions about fat bikes. I worked in mountain bike media, had access to all the newest technology, and was convinced that fat bikes were so far outside the realm of acceptable mountain bikes that I chose to write them off. To me, it seemed that fat bikes were being marketed as mountain bikes but were really just inflated touring bikes. That is, until I had the chance to spend six months on the Surly Ice Cream Truck with a RockShox 100-millimeter travel Bluto fork.
Photos by Anthony Bareno
Eric from Winter Bicycles‘ newest bike to roll out from his shop is this gorgeous touring / randonee bike. The Quiscale is an all-rounder, meant for exploration, touring and is perfect for a daily rider. This frameset features thin lugs with accented window cuts and is built from traditional, classic diameter tubing. Accompanied by internally-routed lighting, fenders, custom racks – with removable low-riders – and specially-made RuthWorks bags.
The parts group is nothing short of choice with White Industries, Paul, Cane Creek and Shimano Ultegra, yet one of the cleanest details is the “French point” winter stem with bell mount.
The Quiscale’s class is elevated by Keith Anderson’s impeccable paint. See more at the Winter Flickr.
Yesterday I went down to the LA River Camp Coffee meet-up to drink some coffee and see what this weekly gathering is all about. While I was there, I shot Errin’s Box Dog Pelican rando bike, set up with panniers.
This bike was made by Banjo Bicycles – they’re made by Winter now – in production runs and are sold by Box Dog Bikes in small batches. Errin’s has seen some mileage, which you can follow along on his blog Frontage Roads. I love randonneur bikes that become commuters when they’re not being drug through the shit on a brevet.
See more details in the Gallery and many thanks to Errin for organizing the LA River Camp Coffee meetups, more on that tomorrow!
Live in the Philly area? Need a new road bike? Got a little extra coin saved up for something special? Well, you could be in luck. Erik from Winter Bicycles will be at the show and he’s selling this Sean-Nós road bike, complete!
See more photos at the Winter Flickr.
