That’s what the ‘mudflaps’ are – stops the spray etc. I found that out after getting my first bike in 1963. Wet knees are expected but one puddle later and your calf region if soaked too without them. I used to find water spraying up, under the rain cape, without flaps. I remember making some once upon a time, was it for the first bike? I am not sure. We haven’t been out in standing water on the Trandem yet – we have been warned that it is the stoker that gets the spray from the front wheel without ‘guards/fenders. It is a good job that the maker talked us into having his new design incorporated. He fitted some stays and mounted front fenders on ‘Newton. These have found a use in making a place for the computer sensor to be mounted! Now – how do I fit headlamps to them? – They must be small and very light but can be powered from the big battery I have on the frame.
Lots of water? I almost envy you, Yehuda. Rain? – clean water (at least before it gets on the ground).
Here where I live, it’s salted slush most of the time these days.
Don’t get me wrong, I love riding in the snow, outside the town. And the snow cleans the bike from whatever it went through in the town. The only problem is how to get back home afterwards… again through the salted streets.
Rain is only “clean” if it isn’t acid rain. Anyone that lives near a coal-burning power plant should be wary of acid rain (although the scrubbers have improved dramatically over the years).
Read just before I’m getting one of my bikes out and try to get a morning ride in. The weather promises to close in any minute now, and the rest of the day is going to be soaking. (Sorry for the second post, I suddenly found myself being listed as ‘guest’.)
Fenders help keep the rider dry, but they don’t keep the bike from getting wet, nor do they make wet roads less slippery; so I’ll continue avoiding riding in the rain.
As for bikes, even steel ones, do fine in the rain and the muck. A coat of frame saver inside and a quick wipe down to dry it off with a towel or rag is more than sufficient. Is your bike made out of sugar?
No, it’s made of steel. But it’s also over 30 years old, with numeous chips, scratches, and scrapes in the paint, and there are more than a few rust spots (a few as big as my thumbnail) on the frame already. Even the spokes are stained and discolored with age. I also don’t like water and/or mud getting into the gears and the chain. Any time it gets wet I thoroughly dry the entire bike, including each nut, bolt, and individual spoke, which can take considerable time. So it’s easier to keep it dry in the first place. Besides, I store my bike in my living room, and don’t enjoy rolling it across the carpet with wet or muddy wheels, especially wih oily water dripping off the chain.
I’m aware of what Jobst Brandt says about bike tires, and agree that tread patterns have no effect on their traction. But I know from personal experience that my tires can slide on wet pavement when I try to stop or change direction suddenly, especially when moving quickly on hills. There’s one very steep hill near me where I’ve spun the rear wheel on dry pavement when standing on the pedals while climbing, so I’d hate to think what it would do on wet pavement.
The type of tread will effect how the bike handles in subtle ways. Longitudinal stripes will help steering. Blocks effect stop/starting. Varieties of both will cause different handling. It is the edge of a block or stripe that grips as friction makes it dig in when applied at right angles to the motion. (Phew!) In short – lots of parallel lines at right angles to the motion give most traction. In water, you need to combine this with deep treads to let the water be squeezed-out through the clever pattern. Some motor tyres have holes in the tread to help with this. Release of the compression when the tyre lifts up at the back edge of contact can help syphon/lift water away from the contact patch of the next tread block to help grip. Once we go past a certain point though, nothing can help and we skid/slide whatever. Jobst may be a ‘Bible’ as far as wheels are concerned but regarding tyres? I suspect that his experience is in the racing field where tread has little effect as everything is pushed to the max. Note that in F1 racing this is taken to the extreme so they don’t use blocks at all, just parallel stripes! A tyre rep’ once advised me that having the (car) tyres looking a bit like chevrons is the best tread for wet driving. I noticed that all manufacturers gradually included this idea into their bread-and-butter tyres
A couple days ago it was a snowy ride back and forth to work, but yesterday it warmed up and I commuted home down the multi-use trail in the rain. A guy on a light-as-air fenderless road bike whisked on by with a scornful glance at my fendeered/racked/Yehuda bagged/lit-like-a-Christmas-tree and obviously weighty soggy weather transpo. “Nice fenders,” he commented, somewhat disdainfully I thought, as he passed. I noticed a considerable amount of road grime and water traveling up his backside and decorating his jacket. Several smart comments raced from brain to lips, but I settled on a simple “thanks.” Some folks just like discomfort, I guess … or maybe he was practicing being miserable for cyclocross racing.
Life has been a tiny bit easier since I got the Longboard version of the SKS fenders. Bonus points for them making it in “beige” which is nearly an exact color match to my “ivory” Soma
Once had a bike frame repainted C/O the independent bike shop to a bright yellow. Got some fresh cable covers too – “What colour would I like?” I thought bright yellow would suit. “You poseur!” said the the bike shop man.
I chose Yellow as the best colour to catch the eye when we had the Tandem converted to a Trike/Trandem.
Many people have expressed their interest and all have said how they like the machine.
(Along with the many that ask if it has an electric-assist. A big SLA battery on the frame to power the lights and a NuVinci rear hub help the deception to happen!)
My favorite rides have been warm summer rainbursts wearing not much more than sandals and a sundress, drenched to the skin after sweltering, puddles so deep you drag your feet in the clear hot water. Rain so fast and sudden that there is no mud yet, then as suddenly, hot sun again, heating and drying and making the rest of the ride a pure joy.
I really miss summer.
Ah…. The Scottish summer!
…and the London winter!
…. Or… Oregon!
Or Cleveland, this year.
Melbourne, AU, yesterday. (And yes, I wore a cape)
Don’t forget to clean and re-lube that chain, Yehuda! That reminds me – next pay day I have to get a rain cape.
That’s what the ‘mudflaps’ are – stops the spray etc. I found that out after getting my first bike in 1963. Wet knees are expected but one puddle later and your calf region if soaked too without them. I used to find water spraying up, under the rain cape, without flaps. I remember making some once upon a time, was it for the first bike? I am not sure.
We haven’t been out in standing water on the Trandem yet – we have been warned that it is the stoker that gets the spray from the front wheel without ‘guards/fenders. It is a good job that the maker talked us into having his new design incorporated. He fitted some stays and mounted front fenders on ‘Newton. These have found a use in making a place for the computer sensor to be mounted! Now – how do I fit headlamps to them? – They must be small and very light but can be powered from the big battery I have on the frame.
Lots of water? I almost envy you, Yehuda. Rain? – clean water (at least before it gets on the ground).
Here where I live, it’s salted slush most of the time these days.
Don’t get me wrong, I love riding in the snow, outside the town. And the snow cleans the bike from whatever it went through in the town. The only problem is how to get back home afterwards… again through the salted streets.
Rain is only “clean” if it isn’t acid rain. Anyone that lives near a coal-burning power plant should be wary of acid rain (although the scrubbers have improved dramatically over the years).
this was incredibly topical for 2011, the year of standing water.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
From: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Read just before I’m getting one of my bikes out and try to get a morning ride in. The weather promises to close in any minute now, and the rest of the day is going to be soaking. (Sorry for the second post, I suddenly found myself being listed as ‘guest’.)
The only solution I’ve found is warm rain.
Please watch Amazon for my exciting (albeit imaginary) new book Confessions of a Cycling Weather Wimp.
Fenders help keep the rider dry, but they don’t keep the bike from getting wet, nor do they make wet roads less slippery; so I’ll continue avoiding riding in the rain.
Of course, to be fair, bike tires are good in the rain. http://sheldonbrown.com/brandt/slicks.html
As for bikes, even steel ones, do fine in the rain and the muck. A coat of frame saver inside and a quick wipe down to dry it off with a towel or rag is more than sufficient. Is your bike made out of sugar?
No, it’s made of steel. But it’s also over 30 years old, with numeous chips, scratches, and scrapes in the paint, and there are more than a few rust spots (a few as big as my thumbnail) on the frame already. Even the spokes are stained and discolored with age. I also don’t like water and/or mud getting into the gears and the chain. Any time it gets wet I thoroughly dry the entire bike, including each nut, bolt, and individual spoke, which can take considerable time. So it’s easier to keep it dry in the first place. Besides, I store my bike in my living room, and don’t enjoy rolling it across the carpet with wet or muddy wheels, especially wih oily water dripping off the chain.
I’m aware of what Jobst Brandt says about bike tires, and agree that tread patterns have no effect on their traction. But I know from personal experience that my tires can slide on wet pavement when I try to stop or change direction suddenly, especially when moving quickly on hills. There’s one very steep hill near me where I’ve spun the rear wheel on dry pavement when standing on the pedals while climbing, so I’d hate to think what it would do on wet pavement.
The type of tread will effect how the bike handles in subtle ways.
Longitudinal stripes will help steering. Blocks effect stop/starting. Varieties of both will cause different handling.
It is the edge of a block or stripe that grips as friction makes it dig in when applied at right angles to the motion. (Phew!)
In short – lots of parallel lines at right angles to the motion give most traction. In water, you need to combine this with deep treads to let the water be squeezed-out through the clever pattern. Some motor tyres have holes in the tread to help with this. Release of the compression when the tyre lifts up at the back edge of contact can help syphon/lift water away from the contact patch of the next tread block to help grip.
Once we go past a certain point though, nothing can help and we skid/slide whatever.
Jobst may be a ‘Bible’ as far as wheels are concerned but regarding tyres? I suspect that his experience is in the racing field where tread has little effect as everything is pushed to the max. Note that in F1 racing this is taken to the extreme so they don’t use blocks at all, just parallel stripes!
A tyre rep’ once advised me that having the (car) tyres looking a bit like chevrons is the best tread for wet driving. I noticed that all manufacturers gradually included this idea into their bread-and-butter tyres
Warm rain preferable to ice rain. And there’s an old strip where Yehuda wishes waders had SPDs…
Cut a mud flap from a used milk carton.
Actually I used an empty milk jug. The plastic lasts a bit longer than the paper from a milk carton, and it’s bigger.
A couple days ago it was a snowy ride back and forth to work, but yesterday it warmed up and I commuted home down the multi-use trail in the rain. A guy on a light-as-air fenderless road bike whisked on by with a scornful glance at my fendeered/racked/Yehuda bagged/lit-like-a-Christmas-tree and obviously weighty soggy weather transpo. “Nice fenders,” he commented, somewhat disdainfully I thought, as he passed. I noticed a considerable amount of road grime and water traveling up his backside and decorating his jacket. Several smart comments raced from brain to lips, but I settled on a simple “thanks.” Some folks just like discomfort, I guess … or maybe he was practicing being miserable for cyclocross racing.
Life has been a tiny bit easier since I got the Longboard version of the SKS fenders. Bonus points for them making it in “beige” which is nearly an exact color match to my “ivory” Soma
Once had a bike frame repainted C/O the independent bike shop to a bright yellow. Got some fresh cable covers too – “What colour would I like?” I thought bright yellow would suit. “You poseur!” said the the bike shop man.
But was that any worse than matching mudguards?
I chose Yellow as the best colour to catch the eye when we had the Tandem converted to a Trike/Trandem.
Many people have expressed their interest and all have said how they like the machine.
(Along with the many that ask if it has an electric-assist. A big SLA battery on the frame to power the lights and a NuVinci rear hub help the deception to happen!)
Where do I find a hooded rain cape like Yehuda’s? And why are they not sold in the Kickstand Club shop?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=cycling+cape&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=9509944625&ref=pd_sl_3cduyakaux_b
or
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ETC-Waterproof-Cycling-Reflective-Unisize/dp/B004WJ3GP6
If you live on the other side of the pond, try out those:
http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/ar1.htm
http://www.bicycleclothing.com/Rain-Capes.html
http://www.catoregon.org/?page_id=536
My favorite rides have been warm summer rainbursts wearing not much more than sandals and a sundress, drenched to the skin after sweltering, puddles so deep you drag your feet in the clear hot water. Rain so fast and sudden that there is no mud yet, then as suddenly, hot sun again, heating and drying and making the rest of the ride a pure joy.
I really miss summer.