Flat tire and winter cycling¶

Tags: cycling

Cycling on a recumbent in a winter can be more challenging than on a regular cycle. In that sense, that several two-wheeled recumbent cyclists opt for their old city bike in the winter. The reasons mostly being “the salt ruins my chain” and “I fall over easier”. (Note that the “velomobile” three-wheeled fully-enclosed riders mostly race along happily).

I think it differs a lot per model that you have. My front-wheel driven flevobike bike? Not a chance. Last year I used an old m5 28/20: I fell two or three times. It definitively didn’t feel terribly safe.

This year, I planned on getting my two-wheeled flevobike bike backend in shape again to turn it into a flevobike trike. A three-wheeled bike is inherently more stable :-) But I didn’t get around in time to do it and the winter came early this year. So I had to make do with my regular alligt kruiser.

The kruiser is doing surprisingly well. Actually, I have the impression that it isn’t necessary to re-constitude the trike. I do have to take care and adjust my speed, but generally I manage just fine. I only took the tram twice, but that was because I needed to take stuff with me that didn’t fit on the bike, not because of the weather.

I don’t really know the reason. The bike is lower than any I had before, so I can put out a foot for extra stabilisation easily. It is lower, so I gain a bit of extra stability. I don’t know. It just feels better than the other recumbents!

The small 20” wheels are irritant when I encounter frozen blocks of ice or snow: you’re easily catapulted to the side. That’s the biggest danger.

Regarding tires:

• I’ve got a vredestein “perfect moirree”, 47-406 on my front wheel. Wide tire with great grip, also on snow.

• On the rear wheel, a 37-406 dutch perfect “no-flat” that I had lying around. I put it on when switching the derailler hub to a gear hub: the 37-406 marathon plus is still on the old hub. That dutch perfect tire has a pretty good grip, actually. It is monstrously heavy and non-supple, though. But at least for the winter, I’m not complaining.

I could have used that bomb-proof rear tire on my front wheel. The perfect moirree is pretty puncture-resistant, but a 1cm piece of flat sharp stone embedded in it was sure to put a small hole in my inner tube. Ah well, I always have my tire repair kit with me and a rain/snow proof viaduct was near at hand: