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Comment by wombatpm | Hacker News Reader

You obviously do not live in Chicago or Minneapolis. Winters make this a nonstarter

I have an Urban Arrow since the beginning of last February and live in Minneapolis. I’ve used it about 5 days a week for getting my pre-k kid and newborn to the places we need to be, since we bought it. Each day it’s between 6 and 26 miles. That upper end comes from busy days, probably once or twice a month I get above 20 miles in a single day. Definitely not doing that on the coldest days. Studded tires really help.

One unexpected benefit is that the muddy/wet boots don’t muss up the bike like they would if I was loading them into a car. Just drips out the bottom grate.

Lots of other small benefits but not so related to winter.

You think that people don't ride bikes in the winter in Finland or Sweden? Riding in the snow with "snow tyres" for your bike is normal. There are whole YouTube videos about the phenom.

Minneapolis average January temps: about 9°F / –13°C (low) to 24°F / –4°C (high).

Stockholm January average: 25°F / –4°C (low) to 32°F / 0°C (high) — closer to Chicago than Minneapolis.

Having been splashed by busses in winter you have to be a special kind of crazy to ride a bike or motorcycle in Minneapolis or Chicago.

There is usually a week in January in Minneapolis where the high temperature for the day does not break -10F. Air temperature, not wind chill.

Minneapolis at least has a skyway for pedestrians in winter. Chicago loop, not so much.

https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycling/comments/apugiz/1000_out_...

Interesting choice since Minneapolis comes up pretty often as a pretty good biking city, by US standards at least. https://cityratings.peopleforbikes.org/cities/minneapolis-mn

It is quite good in comparison to many US cities. There is a fairly good distribution of segregated bike pathways through the city, and despite the skepticism in this thread - those pathways do get plowed quickly in the winter. There are fewer people on the paths in winter of course, but winter commuting comfort mostly comes down to wearing appropriate clothing.

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