When winter falls on the northern half of the Earth, Rain Bike is there, saving you (sometimes) from multi-hour trainer sessions.
In this continuing post, we’ll cover some questions of frame choice and expand on some of the comfort/safety options we covered last time. Let's look first at frame types and their relative advantages.
Road-style frames end up being the most common choice. One huge advantage of using an old road frame is that you might already own one or, if you don’t, you can usually find someone trying to sell one for cheap. Older road frames also often accept fenders and wide tires more easily than new frames because their forks are made of aluminum or steel. Aluminum and steel forks are usually built with more tire clearance, especially in the upward direction. That means an easier installation with less cutting and bolting of fender pieces and less potential rubbing of fender and tire, even when the tire is on the wide side. Lots of road frames, however, do not have eyelets for mounting fenders, so we end up using a few extra parts anyway.
Among road-style frames, I find the most attractive option is the disc brake-compatible road frame. More companies are making these now (the one I particularly remember, because our rep brought several to show us, is the Orbea Avant), so they're available in a wide range of frame material and component options. Disc brakes are awesome in wet weather because the pads last longer than rim brake pads, they don't wear out your rims, and they grip well even when the brakes are wet. I'm a disc brake fan.
Cyclocross frames make great rain bikes. They fit and handle a lot like road bikes, but they're built to ride around in the rain and sand and really sticky mud. They have loads of tire clearance and they're built to take a beating, which is a plus with any rain bike. There are lots of metal options for cyclocross frames, both aluminum and steel, and some manufacturers are building carbon frames. More companies are offering disc brake options on their cyclocross bikes, too. Of the bikes we sell, the aluminum F65X by Felt and the steel Soma Double Cross (also available as a non-disc brake frame) have been the most popular rain bike conversions.
In this continuing post, we’ll cover some questions of frame choice and expand on some of the comfort/safety options we covered last time. Let's look first at frame types and their relative advantages.
Road-style frames end up being the most common choice. One huge advantage of using an old road frame is that you might already own one or, if you don’t, you can usually find someone trying to sell one for cheap. Older road frames also often accept fenders and wide tires more easily than new frames because their forks are made of aluminum or steel. Aluminum and steel forks are usually built with more tire clearance, especially in the upward direction. That means an easier installation with less cutting and bolting of fender pieces and less potential rubbing of fender and tire, even when the tire is on the wide side. Lots of road frames, however, do not have eyelets for mounting fenders, so we end up using a few extra parts anyway.
Among road-style frames, I find the most attractive option is the disc brake-compatible road frame. More companies are making these now (the one I particularly remember, because our rep brought several to show us, is the Orbea Avant), so they're available in a wide range of frame material and component options. Disc brakes are awesome in wet weather because the pads last longer than rim brake pads, they don't wear out your rims, and they grip well even when the brakes are wet. I'm a disc brake fan.
Cyclocross frames make great rain bikes. They fit and handle a lot like road bikes, but they're built to ride around in the rain and sand and really sticky mud. They have loads of tire clearance and they're built to take a beating, which is a plus with any rain bike. There are lots of metal options for cyclocross frames, both aluminum and steel, and some manufacturers are building carbon frames. More companies are offering disc brake options on their cyclocross bikes, too. Of the bikes we sell, the aluminum F65X by Felt and the steel Soma Double Cross (also available as a non-disc brake frame) have been the most popular rain bike conversions.
Touring bikes are another option. They're built more heavily than road bikes and tri bikes, and they don't handle the same, but they take fenders easily and often have a road-like fit. If you're looking for a rain/commuting combination bike, a touring frame is probably your best bet, with mounts for everything from water bottles to racks and pumps. Another advantage for Seattle commuters: touring frames usually ride more smoothly than comparable road frames.
Since I have the Soma page up, here's the Grand Randonneur as an example of a touring frame. Notice all the eyelets and water bottle bosses. I commute on a Raleigh touring frame myself. It's heavier than I'm comfortable with for long training rides, but I'm never worried about taking it out in the wettest and grimiest conditions.
Lights and such.
On a different topic, there are a lot of different bike lights to choose from. When you're choosing lights, you're weighing the price of lights and their brightness, with price and brightness generally increasing together. I think most people (like me) do their winter riding between dawn and dusk, or ride on somewhat-lit streets at night, so we do just fine with some version of the blinking front and rear lights.
I use the Thunderbolt Headlight and the Seatstay Taillight, both by Serfas. These two lights fall above what I would call "The Threshold of Safety" for a blinky light, which pretty much means that on a dark night, on an unlit street, a driver can see me against oncoming headlights, even through the rain that's gushing down the windshield. It takes a pretty punchy light to meet that threshold, but there are plenty that do. For the dawn-to-dusk and lit-street riding that I do, my lights are plenty. I wouldn't go for a training ride down a dark country road with them, though.
For people who do ride down dark country roads, there are brighter lights. They can cost a lot more, sometimes on the order of a few hundred dollars, but trying to ride at speed with poor front lighting
is....kind of like betting against the house in Vegas. It's a gamble you can't win forever. So I'd splurge on the lights if you're going to be training in the dark.
Okay, we're out of time for the week. Have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
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