Safety & Comfort
All-Weather Cycling
All-Season Mobility
Button Up: year round cycling is possible and easy with a few considerations (Photo: MaximeF on flickr)
Many people cycle less frequently in the windy fall and rainy spring, stopping altogether when winter snow blows in. However, with the right choices in clothing, bicycle, equipment and accessories, cycling comfortably year 'round in most weather conditions is very much possible.
Wet- & Cold-Weather Clothing
With any properly-equipped bicycle or human-powered vehicle and the right choice of clothing, there is no reason why you can't cycle all year round to work and back -even in the rain and snow.
Head Poncho: drizzle and rain don't pose problems when cycling wearing a poncho (Photo: fietsberaad on flickr)
In colder weather, especially in winter months and at higher altitudes, it is important to keep your hands, face and ears protected from the elements like wind, snow and rain. Fully-enclosed cycling gloves will keep your hands warm when the temperature drops while providing good handlebar grip. For windy and/or snowy conditions, the ears should be covered using a head band or a balaclava designed for cycling made from fleece that will fit under a helmet.
Warm Up: hand and head protection are essential for cycling in cold weather (Photo: hr.icio on flickr)
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Fenders & Mud Flaps
Spray Away: fenders on bicycles -large or small- significantly reduce splash (Graphics: ZEG)
Bicycle fenders (or mudguards as they are called in British English) are very practical and an essential component of city bikes. Traditionally made of lightweight aluminum and more recently of plastic, fenders are of great assistance to reduce splash from water and dirt and avoid arriving at your destination with a long wet strip of dirt on your back.
Moreover, mud flaps attached to the bottom of the front or front and rear fenders provides additional protection against spray and kicked up stones and are commonly installed on Dutch bikes and randonneurs.
Fenders and mud flaps are perhaps the most important accessories in enabling a comfortable urban cycling experience. Wearing street cloths (be they casual-, business- or formal attire) while riding a bicycle equipped with fenders suddenly becomes the easy -even in inclement weather or the chance thereof.
You can make your own DIY fenders and mud flaps by cutting recycled PET bottles in half and attaching them to the frame using cable ties.
Clothes Protectors
A traditional type of city bike commonly referred to as a Dutch Bike frequently comes equipped with protective panels on each side of the rear fender to further prevent spots appearing on cloths as well as preventing a women's skirt from getting caught in the spokes of the spinning wheel. In fact, these panels can be fitted to most any bike with fenders.
Dress guards or clothes protectors are seen on both women's and men's bicycles, mounted to the rear fender. Consisting of two plastic or carboard with metal framed pieces (older versions were fashioned simply from wires), these help keep, for example, business attire clean while commuting to work by bicycle. They are also useful to keep a child's feet away from the rear wheel if a child seat is attached to the rear rack.
Classic Clean: dress guards attached to the rear fender keep dirt and spray away (Photo: richardmasoner on flickr)
The construction varies in quality and can be entirely of plastic or laminated carboard with an aluminum frame or a cloth net mesh, the first two providing better protection against dirt. If cloth or wire netting is used, metal connecting pieces must be used on each side of the rear axel. You can also make your own lightweight clothes protectors for the rear fender from coroplast (used in real estate and election signs).
If the bicycle has a built-in lock and/or dynamo on the chainstays, then one or more holes are required on each protector to accomodate this.
Canopies & Fairings
Unfortunately, its common to see many cyclists in bike-friendly cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen cycle in the rain with an umbrella in one hand while steering, braking or changing gears using the other hand (possible on many city bike configurations). This is dangerous not only for the rider but others on the road or cycle path. A sudden gust of wind can cause a cyclist holding an umbrella to loose control of the bike causing injury.
Cover Up: a bicycle canopy keeps the head and surprisingly most of the clothing dry (Photo: velocoque.free.fr)
A better solution against the rain is a bicycle canopy. Although it looks diminutive, a canopy keeps most of the body dry. Only the upper pant legs get damp or wet in stronger rainfall.
Bicycle canopies are also susceptible to crosswinds but better designs let side protective screens be rolled up and provide for quick unmounting / disassembly.
Semi-Enclosed Shells
Outer Space: a mid-1980s semi-enclosed shell that understandably didn't take off (Photo: nachrichten.at)
The 'Allwetterfahrrad' [all-weather bicycle] was developed and marketed by Wilfried Aichorn in Germany from 1985 onwards. Its fibre-glass shell could be attached to most 27-28" upright bicycles. A little too attention-grabbing for most utility cyclists (as many European riders simply hold up an umbrella in one hand to keep the head dry while cycling in the rain), surviving examples occasionally do appear for auction in that country.
Currently, there are no similar such models in production but the shell concept itself continues to evolve in the form of semi-recumbent cabin cycles where the shell is an integral part of the frame construction.
Fully-Enclosed Shells
Vroom with a View: the Borealis velomobile shell for the ICE QNT recumbent trike (Photo: velomobiles.ca)
For the highest level of protection against the elements when cycling, consider an fully-enclosed shell. Increasingly, recumbent trikes are available with after-market velomobile shells.
Tire Studs
With ever milder winters in many cities around the world, cycling in winter months becomes a viable option for commuting to work or getting around town. Despite global warming, it thankfully still snows in winter and that's what a cyclist has to deal with during that season: cold temperatures, strong winds, and snowy or icey road surfaces.
To the Point: tire studs (short screws) provide grip on ice but little in deep snow (Photo: cleverchimp on flickr)
In addition to the right clothing, the cold winter months also demand changes to the bicycle. Do what the car drivers do: add studs to the tires in the form of short flathead screws (affordable DIY solution) or buy studded tires (more expensive but better).
Either approach will help you to adopt or maintain a car-free lifestyle whatever the season may be.
Keywords
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