It started snowing yesterday and snowed overnight and this morning. When I left on my bicycle this morning the snow was still coming down pretty hard. I realized after it was too late that I left without one piece of my usual winter biking attire: ski googles. Nevertheless I trekked on to the bicycle shop where I recently purchased my commuter slush bike. My main purpose was to replace the current pedals with some cheap pedals with more bite to them. The current flat plastic pedals can be comfortably peddled without any shoes. I found it easy for my foot to slip off during my offroad ventures and anticipated it would be more of an issue in the snow. I also got a rear view mirror installed in the end of my left handlebar.

My final purchase was an extra tire for the bike in case I had a blow out. The sales person mentioned the idea of buying a second tire so that I could make a pair of stud tires. I declined the suggestion at that time (limited room for transporting tires plus not entirely sold) but am mulling it over. The recipe for do-it-yourself bicycle tire studding he suggested involves driving screws through the inside of the tire into an awaiting nut that you use to fasten it from the outside. You can drive anywhere from 40 to 80 such studs into your tire according to whatever studding pattern you think is a good one. The studs add a notible weight to your tire. After you have studded the tire, then you can cut the sidewalls off any old tires you have lying around. You place these cutup sidewalls inside the tire against the studs to protect the tire tube from the inner tire stud ends.

Wonder if there is a stapling tool of some sort that would allow you to drive a "stud" into your tire more easily or effectively?

I had a few slips and slides today which is why I am giving this idea some credence. The tires on my new commuter bike are wider than a racing bike tire but slimmer than a mountain bike tire. The are not knobby, built more for easy gliding through suburbia. My mountain bike has cheap knobby Kendra tires which got me though last winter in one piece. So my next winterinzing project will be to change the front tire on my mountain bike from a flat street tire to a knobby Kendra tire. This should give me more traction and will probably be the bike I use if I encounter similiar conditions in the future. Other than the tire issue, my new commuter bike performed great in terms of plowing through snow, ability to recover from slides, braking system is excellent, and the internally-geared 3 speed hub performed nicely offering just the right mix of gears and no freeze ups.

Modding your ride is one of life's little pleasures.