Saturday, March 20, 2010

Surprise! It's snowing again!

I was hoping I'd get a chance to test the Urbana's 2.6" wide tires on the snow. While Fritz may have sand, I jumped at the opportunity to goof off in 3" of snow. This stuff had a thin layer of ice on the pavement, with slush in some spots, and a thick, wet snowpack on top of that. It's the stuff that I love riding my mountain bike in.

I was a tad apprehensive about the Urbana's tires, because they're very lightly treaded, an attribute that really helps keep the rolling resistance low.


Let me make myself clear. This is bar none the best handling bike I've ever ridden on snow. You want to stay seated to get moving, but once you're up and running, these tires are very confidence-inspiring.


The fenders did their job, and didn't get terribly clogged, either. There's still a lot of snow all over the place, but it kept the slush off my pants and out of my face.


While trying to slide sideways, the tires grip hard again as soon as you let off the brake. It's hard to actually wipe out in the snow. It's not impossible, though. This blurry mess is a still frame from a video clip where I found myself sliding on my ass in slushy snow after laying it down.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Yokota Fritz said...

Excellent! That's good to know the next time it snows in Santa Cruz :-)

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