Get Your Bike Ready For Winter
Prep your bike to survive the conditions with three affordable pieces of gear.
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Prep your bike to survive winter with three affordable pieces of gear.
While a trainer can help preserve your fitness through a tough winter, riding outdoors is the best way to stay in touch with your handling skills (and to save your sanity). For less than the cost of a training DVD series, you can ready your ride for the weather still ahead.
Fenders
Blackburn Dirt Merchant Rear
$25, Blackburndesign.com
Save the back of your jersey—and the faces of your riding buddies—from getting sprayed with road muck. This solid rear fender straps around a seat post in just a few seconds, so it can be easily removed for dry days.
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Lights
XLab Tri Bike Training Strobes
$46, Xlab-usa.com
Stay visible whether the sun is up or down with a compact light. Most rear lights can only clamp to a round seat post, but XLab included a long strap so the Tri Bike Training Strobes can mount to an aero post. Leave it on for every ride.
RELATED: Essential Gear For Cold-Weather Running
All-weather tires
Michelin Pro4 Grip
$70, Bike.michelinman.com
Michelin’s vast experience with tires in foul weather led the company to design the Grip with extra firm rubber and deep trenches to help the rigid tread punch through rain or snow to contact the road. Forget the common suggestion of running low tire pressure—this tire grips best at full pressure.
Let it go
Road debris is going to find its way into every crevice. Rather than replace the cables and housing during the cold months, wait until spring breaks so they stay clean longer. The same goes for bar tape.
RELATED: Fall/Winter Running Shoe Review
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