If you cycle a lot then inevitably you're gonna find yourself riding in bad
weather at some point and perhaps you've been training for a big event and that
event falls on a bad weather day. Well fear not, there are things that you can
do to your bike in order to make it better suited to riding in bad weather.
As cyclists we're always looking for any excuse to put the n+1 rule into
practice and in the UK it's common for cyclists to own more than one bike and a
winter bike will typically be less good in terms of the quality of the
components and frame than your best day bike and is usually steel or aluminium.
However, not everyone wants to own more than one bike and there are some great
options such as this Whyte Wessex which are awesome all rounders. So you've got
really wide tyre clearance which means you can put big fat tyres on for added
grip and puncture resistance and more comfort but still have space for mud
guards and you've got really wide gear ratio and disc brakes which are
obviously really good for bad weather and stopping. And then the bottom bracket
is also a threaded bottom bracket instead of a press fit and if you speak
to any bike mechanic they'll tell you how press fit bottom brackets do not
like dirt, rain and grime. So that is a really good design feature.
If you're in the market for a new bike or a bike that's dedicated to riding in
bad weather or winter and that's great but many of you won't be and will just
have a bike already that you want to adapt. So how do you best adapt your bike
for bad weather? Well the first thing to look at is tyres. Now, for riding in bad
weather we'd suggest tyres that are wider because this will give you a
greater contact patch and more grip when the road is more slippery and also you
can get a certain amount more puncture protection as well. In wet weather and
bad conditions punctures are more common so we'd recommend going for a tyre with
greater puncture protection such as a Continental Gatorskin. But it's
important to be aware that tyres like the Gatorskin have less grip because
the rubber compound is harder. If you want more grip you can spend more money and
get a slightly more expensive tyre like a Continental GP 4 Season which has
the same level of puncture protection but with a more expensive rubber
compound that offers more grip. However there is another option and that is
tubeless tyres such as found on this Giant Contend.
So tubeless tyres offer a number of advantages. Firstly the chances of
getting punctures is much, much less. We've actually made videos on this so
you can check those out, we'll post links below. And not only is your puncture risk
massively reduced but also you can run lower pressures because the chance of
getting a pinch flat is eradicated because you don't have an inner tube and
lower pressures means more grip and more comfort and there's another advantage
which is that you typically get lower rolling resistance with a tubeless setup
as well meaning you can go faster. So you win all around.
The next thing we're going to talk about is lube. So dry lube offers lower
friction than a wet lube and will typically save you around 2 to 5 watts
in your drivetrain, however if there's any moisture on the road or if it's
raining slightly then dry lubes can wash off really quickly and all of a sudden
your drivetrain sounds like World War 2 tank tracks. So the best thing to do is
to use a wet lube such as this Muc-off Ceramic Wet Lube. As soon as all you lube
washes off your drivetrain becomes a lot less efficient and you're wasting
precious watts and potentially wearing out your chain and cassette faster as
well. So a wet lube will stay stuck to your chain much more effectively in wet
conditions and be more efficient. The next thing we're going to talk about is
mudguards or fenders if you speak American.
Now, many bikes feature specific mounting points for mudguards but if your bike
doesn't then don't worry because there's loads of products out there on the
market that simply clip on to any frame such as these Widget Guards. Now, these
also have a really cool feature in that they've got some really nice reflective
coatings on bits of them as well. However few issues light up the
Cycling Weekly comment section more than mudguards. Some people don't like them,
some people do like them. Personally I think they're a great way to make
friends on group rides and certainly make riding in wet and bad conditions
more enjoyable however I think if you're racing then it's acceptable not to put
mudguards on and it's generally accepted etiquette because there is an
aerodynamic penalty to putting mudguards on your bike.
The last thing I'm going to talk about is riding with lights in bad weather.
Now, most cyclists associate riding with lights with riding at night but also
consider that in bad weather there's much less visibility as well so riding
with lights is really sensible. Now, there's loads of great ones on the
market and I'm a big fan of this one, which is a Moon Nebula because I've been
using this for a couple of years now and it's really robust, it stood up to
loads of abuse and it's really bright and it's just well made. But it's got a
good bracket on it so I'll fit onto awkward seat post shapes and stuff as
well. So having a light like that will massively make you more visible to other
road users and make you much safer especially when it starts really
chucking it down and getting dark and grey and miserable overhead. So they were
our main tips for optimizing your bike for riding in bad weather but it's not
an exhaustive list, so if you've got some suggestions of things that you do to
your bike and please share them in the comment section below because other
people will no doubt find it useful. So if you like this video then please give
it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe to the Cycling Weekly channel
for more videos.