How do I gear up a bike for winter riding?
In the winter you will have to contend with:


Ice and snow on the road
Wet
Freezing bike parts
Cold winds
Overheating


1. Ice and snow on the road

This past winter I used the Schwalbe "Marathon Winter" tires for a 3-mile commute along a rural highway and town streets in central Vermont. Our winters are quite a bit more severe than NYC, but if you have ice on the streets that might be unavoidable, studded tires are a must.


(photo from Flickr)

At $74 a piece from Peter White Cycles, they aren't cheap, but they are decent in light/thin snow and fabulous on ice. Each tire has 240 tungsten-carbide studs, whose sharp (cylindrical) tips haven't dulled at all for me. While knobby plain-rubber tires will grip alright in snow-on-dry-pavement, as soon as a thin layer of ice forms on top of the pavement (either due to a melt-freeze cycle or packing by auto-tires) the rubber tires will very quickly loose any ability to grip and will send you down hard. With these tires I've had no problem riding a hundred yards on a large patch of black-ice on a fast downhill.

2. Wet

As freiheit mentions, your other big concern is being wet since even if it isn't raining, puddle-splash and lighter mist from passing vehicles will moisten you up. As well, your own tires will throw off a lot of water from wet roads (fenders are very helpful for this). 

You have quite a few options to stay dry. Since my commute is only 3 miles, I wear gore-tex rain pants and jacket over my normal work cloths. I also keep a pair of shoes at work and bike in hiking boots during the wet months of October/November and then switch to snow boots January-March.

3. Freezing bike parts

When the air temperature is below freezing and your bike gets covered in moisture you can expect ice to build up. I keep my bike in my warm office at work (on some mats to catch the drips) and in an unheated shed at home. I haven't had repeated problems with freeze-ups, but did have to melt some ice off of the derailleur with a hair drier at home once. If you can get the bike warm at least once a day and keep it stored under a roof you shouldn't have too much build-up. Just remember to test your brakes frequently in case a layer of ice forms on your rims.

4. Cold winds

Due to the speeds of riding, you will almost always have at least 10mph of very cold wind to contend with. Your rain gear will help with that, but you also need to protect:


Your hands
Your head/ears
Your face


There are many options for gloves and mittens available, just make sure that you choose something wind-proof and waterproof. For the coldest parts of the winter I use a pair of gore-tex mittens marketed for skiing/snowboarding. I don't find the mittens to get in the way of shifting or braking on my commuter bike, but others prefer gloves for more dexterity.

There are many helmet-liners and covers available to keep your head warm under a bicycle helmet, but I just use a ski helmet (the Giro 9) since it has built-in ear protectors, changeable amounts of ventilation, and nicely fits goggles.



For most of the coldest months I ride with ski goggles. These keep the wind off of my eyes (which otherwise water a lot in the cold wind) and keep most of my face warm. They are also great for protecting the face when it is snowing or sleeting. On a few bitter cold days I've also added neck warmers to cover the lower part of my face, but usually the combination of goggles and the neck of my coat are enough.

5. Overheating

Counter-intuitively, my biggest challenge with winter commuting is staying cool. My commute profile is a broad 'w' with downhills at the start each way, a few small hills in the middle, and an uphill at the end. For the first large downhill I try to be a little on the cold side so that I can be comfortable for the rest of the ride. Often though, I bundle up a bit too much and overheat later. The best technique I've found (when riding in work clothes rather than changing) is to layer breathable sweaters or fleece so that I am just short of comfortable out of the wind, then add the wind-proof pants and jacket with the pit-zips and other ventilation open. The wind-proof material will keep most of the wind from cutting through while the ventilation openings will allow enough air circulation to stay cool.