It's winter already! Get out the astronaut suit

Well, let me say that under Jens factor HC, a spacesuit is required apparel.

Honestly herb, i have seen a lot of people with slush on their face, slush up their back and looking slightly hypothermic under their designer wool petty-coat. Sometimes there really is a scenario where a bit of the correct gear(you don't have to buy all of it but do get the button) will do you good and this article seems to point people towards what will help them to feel comfortable - even if it isn't your personal fashion choice - the gear works. Dress how you want, if you want to make a little chart about which wool-petty coat and scarf you need to wear go ahead, i won't laugh - be sure to take extra tissues because something will have to stop the wind from howling in after you ditch the wind-proof.

Style over speed, but now style over substance or did those things go together!

Most trips in Toronto are for less than 2 km, so the space suit is really not necessary. For long, long trips, yes the "reverse strip-tease" is necessary if it is crappy outside. But the same clothing is necessary for ANY long time outside outside. For example, spending two hours outside with my children for the Santa Claus Parade required even warmer clothing than the same amount of time cycling because I wasn't moving and generating heat.

Most of the other things are needed 365 days of the year. Even in August lights are a must if riding after dark. And anyone foolish enough to ride without fenders when the roads are wet after a rain in June is going to get covered with filth. Good quality bikes should come from the factory with things like lights, fenders and a chaincase as standard equipment.

Kevin Love

Hilarious.

But not as funny as seeing the fashionista hipster parade in the laundromat the next day trying to figure out what the best way to remove salt stains from their $300 jeans is.

Hilarious.

But not as funny as watching the fashionista hipster parade trying to figure out how to remove salt stains from their $300 jeans.

Clothing that is suitable for cycling in winter can also be used to sit around in the cold watching the Santa Parade.

Just adapt to actual conditions. Instead of riding in such a manner that you are certain to need breathable, thin clothing that does not insulate well, ride to conditions that include your preferences off the bike. Not just the demands of a futile attempt to ride the same cadence/manner that you do in other seasons.

Slow down, plan your trips, ride a city bike, use fenders & chain guards. With appropriate gear, whatever you would wear walking is what you can wear riding.

Look to the Dutch, and stop dreaming of being Lance on every ride. 40kph in the winter in the city is fine, if you live in Florida. Here, we don't have good snow clearance, it is often wet, and there is salt.

Look to the dutch, they don't look like that stoopid graphic with the alien that heads this post.

Yeah, sure... look to the dutch for information on how to handle cycling in snow and winter. Good idea!

I'll get you a pair of wooden clogs also Kevin, after all they're better than neoprene booties or winter boots because they iz frum da nederlandz and what is from the netherlands is cycling gopsel to you.

From the Dutch city of Leiden, cycling after the recent blizzard at:

http://cyclingwithoutahelmet.blogspot.com/

dances with self there is no reason to get personal or to make disparaging remarks about people of certain nationalities.

The fact is that for those 2km trips you do not need all of that gear if you have the right bike, gear like that is a few days a year, for trips longer than 2km. Normal clothes are completely functional with an enclosed chain and full fenders, real fenders not thin fashion fenders.

For a 15km commute normal clothes with a thin oversuit of technical materials would do just fine. Or just gaiters, and only if it is wet. If it is cold like say -10 slush isn't a problem. A good dutch bike would have you covering that distance in the city in just over an hour, peacefully and without getting out of breath.

Many people think that maybe they aren't "real" if they don't approach riding with some weird combat mentality. That is ridiculous. It is also something that keeps cycling from taking hold. North Americans have been convinced that biking is ;

A. a battle
B. a race
C. a test
D. risky

but we know that it is not statistically risky, that we are not fighting or racing, or at least not being raced (except by some fool cyclist maybe) and that anyone can bike commute, so it is not a test.

Then why do we cyclists and bike stores constantly push "performance" equipment? Road bikes, MTB, hybrids with barely relaxed geometries taken from road and mtb? 30 gears and full suspension?

Some think it is because this gear breaks so easily, is usually built to be replaced rather than repaired and that it often does not suit the stated need of the buyer (just want to ride around a bit, not Lance) that bike sellers know they can charge more for performance gear, and expect more repeat business.

That is probably partly true.

But it is mostly misconceptions on the bike consumers part. They have been told, usually by bike people, that it is a battle, and a race, it is risky, and a test. Because bike people like to romanticize. Is there nothing else you could romanticize? Because you could get more (regular) asses on the seats if you pushed proper city bikes to people in the city.

Just saying, the Lance/Rambo/Gearhead mentality holds back cycling as a mere transportation in the city, despite the fact that workable cycling as mere transportation represents the largest prospective market & thereby the largest number of asses in seats.

Asses n seats, the one thing that makes us all safer.

Ed I just noted your reply, your complaint that you cannot adapt?

You cannot bend space it is true but you can bend time. We demand that motorists take winter conditions into consideration by adding time to their commute, are you so special that you cannot do the same as a cyclist?

Yes, you think so, and you need to remember that it is not up to me to make sure you can get past me safely, it is up to you. If you cannot you must not. That's the law, but I'm sure that doesn't apply to you either all safely tucked into your car. I mean, all safely tucked into your car commuter mode of thinking.

Let me try again, since somehow the last posting was deleted.

I am not Rambo or a gearhead, you want to exchange "insults" that is fine. Sometimes a bit of kit is going to do you a lot of good. One day you're going to smirk at the guy in a space-suit and get covered head to toe in salty slush from a bus going through a giant pot-hole.

I'm not making fun of the dutch, but you people want to copy everything. You desperately are going to make the damn clog fit. To me, it is quite the tragic comedy when people in Canada naively go around trying to emulate a dutch cyclist because dutch cyclists obviously know better. I'm sure the smug people who think a dutch bicycle is the best ride have to eat humble pie in the winter a lot. It is possible they don't know other options exist or that they're too ignorant or proud to try something new. This probably explains why the "dutch is better" or "style over speed" crowd are a bunch of haters(even though they try to be polite about it). They've basically set themselves up and I have to laugh when people make postings and snide remarks about how another, individual, cyclist dresses because I know why they're doing it.

"making fun of the dutch"

"you people"

"they're too ignorant"

"a bunch of haters"

All the applicable phrases from the above post, condensed for your convenience.

Come on, you've got to me kidding me.

Why don't you try speaking like an adult Miss. Eugenics instead of trying to make me out as the great satan - LOL.

Ok, i found it.. watch these certain "European" cyclists!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqo4hwnJt6Y

Kinda makes you wonder if they're really invincible and have winter cycling all neatly sorted.

Maybe some lightly studded tires and a helmet, hmmm.

how many km is that and how long does it take you? I ride my loop frame bike from Coxwell and Danforth to King and Bay every day and it takes me 30-40 min. Have been commuting for two years now. I ride in my work clothes but take the weather and seasons into account. Before I splurged on my new bike I purchased an Electra cruiser. I say to each his own. It was all those lady bloggers on vintage bikes that got me thinking I should start riding to work because the subway is such a slog and I had finally moved close enough to my job downtown that biking was actually a better option. I love it and my loop frame bike and don't feel the need to prove anything to anyone.

Larry, apparently those who don't bother with a cheapy pair of studded tires($120 at mec) city can't or won't put salt everywhere you know and it's bad for the lake!

Great ideas minus the pink button. We're not ALL pinko kooks.

Dianna, on a bicycle? You are a pinko kook... that is the joke of wearing the button... nobody i know who has one is actually a pinko(ok maybe that one guy)... don't be so literal!

Good for you eugenics for being far too literal. You really got down to what Don Cherry was saying! I wonder just who these pinkos are anyways.