When is everyone getting their summer bikes out?

[hidingfromheadwinds]

Do you have a designated "summer" and "winter" bike or do you use your road bike all year whatever the weather?

The weather is starting to ease its way back in to the double figures so could it soon be time to get the summer bike back out...right?

Will the grime and grit have been washed away by the weeks worth of rain or still lingering to eat rust out of expensive cassettes

Interested in what you are all thinking!

[landsurfer]

Never put it away ....

[richardfm]

I only have one bike....

[TrevA]

For me, it's about how wet the roads are and how much muck there is on them. Yesterday, I would have been happy to ride my summer bike, as the roads were dry. Not so today, as the roads were awash. I'll get my summer bike out when the roads are consistently dry and largely free from salt and grime. This will probably be sometime in March.

[Cyril Haearn]

1. January

[eileithyia]

Probably mid to late March depending on weather...

[gbnz]

Never had specific bikes as such, but lack of suitable space has resulted in my two better bikes being disassembled/stored away over the winter, cycling being purely on the "hack" bike over the last few months.

Reassembled one of the summer bike perhaps ten days ago . And then we had the first real snow of the winter, 3-4" depth, with banks of road grit piling up everywhere, so perhaps a bit too eary at present

That said, noticed the first minor "swarms" of flies when walking back from the station yesterday and migratory birds/songbirds of some sort hopping/flapping over the hedges, so can't be long now (Nb. And snow drops are out, matter of days until the first hedgerow plants break into leaf?)

[foxyrider]

Easter is generally a good guide, the snow has usually given up, it's that bit warmer and I don't need 4 layers!

[Oldjohnw]

My summer bike is when I cycle with the roof down. Oh! hang on - that's always.

[flat tyre]

When it's warm enough for me to wear shorts and the roads are dry, probably a Wednesday afternoon in July.

[Vorpal]

When I don't need studded tyres.

[robing]

My summer bike is when I cycle with the roof down. Oh! hang on - that's always.

I used to have an open topped car. Cycling has definitely replaced that niche!

For me it's when I can ditch the mudguards. So a while yet.

[mjr]

When I don't need studded tyres.

Yeah. I've one bike with studded tyres which is getting used when it's below 4c and this time of year, I'll quite often ride the Dutch bike with longer wheelbase, hub brakes and wider tyres, rather than the road bike - while the road bike is fine with its full mudguards, I'd rather be a bit higher up and on a more "planted" bike. No set date for the road bike to get another outing - it all depends on the weather.

[The utility cyclist]

If it's either piddling it down, lots of standing water from rain just stopped, significant winds and unpredictable weather or a combination of two or more I'd rather not take the summer bike out (that has 50mm rims on it) and use the ones that have shallow rims has full length guards (not for racing bikes for mine) and easy to carry a sizeable bag so I can pack a jacket or layer/take a jacket or layer off.

Even despite shallow rims there are times when the gusts of winds across open fields on rolling terrain make riding a bit hairy and one has to ease off or brake significantly on even short descents. Recent conditions have made riding a little bit more challenging and with motorists still driving as if they're on a bone dry day on wide dead straight roads (when it's not) I'd rather be on the bike that I built for such conditions.

If it's just damp and I consider there's not much standing water or just simply really cold then the summer bike will get used, so it's not a case of when but whatever the prevailing conditions are on any given day, some summer days can be damn awful, some winter days can be lovely.

[softlips]

When there’s no longer salt on the roads.