Thursday morning I was greeted with the fact that my car wasn't starting, probably ice in the fuel lines or similar. I dashed back into the house, and changed my clothing entirely to wool, pulled out the Felt and rode into work, braving the ice and snow again.
This really got me interested in studded bicycle tires, particularly since some of the commute had me going down streets that consisted of nothing but compacted sheet ice, two inches thick. Scary.
I checked my LBSs prices on studded tires, then checked Amazon's. There was a not discountable difference, I could get them for half the price from Niagra Cycles. (before shipping). But my LBS is 200 yards from my workplace, and I could get the tires and have them put on the bike over lunch. That was just too convenient.
Local Bike Shop for the win. I rode up, and of course being the middle of winter, they had no shop backlog, had the tires, and were able to put them on in about 20 minutes - the time it took for me to eat lunch at the McDonalds across the street. (yech)
The 45North Polara tires immediately turned even the worst offending sheet ice into entirely manageable surfaces, and improved purchase in snow and mush additionally. When I would skid or break one of the wheels loose, the rate of slipping was consistent and easy to counter. It made a hilarious difference. So much so that rather than carpool on Friday, I biked to work again. The rolling resistance is maybe 15-20% higher, but heck that's just exercise.
All of this also has me extremely enamored of my Felt Cafe 3 again. Light, simple and versatile. What a great catch-all bike.
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