I recently landed in a small town that gets a decent amount of snow in the winter, and commute on my bike with thin road tires. I’m thinking I want a fat bike with some nice thick tires to deal with the snow days, but local used options are limited and new bikes are fairly pricey. I have a bit more options in the used departed if I can go with more standard mountain bike. Are regular mountain bikes a viable option for commuting in snow? We had a very weak winter this last year with 7 inches all season but from some locals I’ve spoken too they said it can get up to 6 or 7 inches a month and only main thoroughfars are plowed, if amount of snow makes a difference in what sort of bike would be most suitable.
Appreciate any advice from those of you who ride in the snow regularly.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this up. I lived at the beach most of my life so the only weather I’ve experienced on a bike is some mild rain, and you’ve really given me a ton to think about. I never considered the benefits of being directly attached to the movement of the rear wheel in winter but what you say makes a lot of sense.