Freshening up the winter steed

We’re over half way through Octover now, so it’s officially time to start thinking about winter. Today I pulled out the tired-looking Ribble (which had been sulking in the corner with a broken gear cable) and gave it a good freshen up ready to tackle the forthcoming foul weather commuting duties. I’d been putting it off, riding to and from work on my Kinesis Aithein instead as it’s much more fun.

Firstly on went the Continental GP 4 Season tyres. I’ve found these to be a fantastic winter road bike tyre; grippy, heard wearing and with excellent puncture resistance without giving up too much in the way of speed. I really should just use them all year round. Then new gear cables, new rear brake, new chain and cassette.

The winter steed runs a workhorse 10-speed groupset, 50/39/30 up front and 12-27 out the back. The rear wheel is a bombproof (read: heavy and slow) 32-spoke Mavic rim laced to my Powertap SL+ hub. As I won’t be setting many Strava PB’s, training to power keeps me motivated.

No winter bike would be complete without a good set of lights. I run two rear lights (one flashing, one constant) and now that it’s dark enough a seriously bright 1200 lumen Lezyne Super Drive XXL on the bars. I’ll be able to spot those suicidal squirrels a mile off with this beast!

Yes I’m aware there’s no mudguards so it’s not a “true” winter bike, but unfortunately the Ribble doesn’t have eyelets or much clearance. I have a set of SKS Raceblades I throw on when it rains. They’re no match for proper full length guards, but they’re good enough. Now here’s hoping the weather stays fine for a while longer!