Salt from the road is really hard on shock seals. So either plan on having to have them serviced frequently or go rigid.

Most of the tubeless sealants work well in cold now. But orange seal seems to be a bit better for very cold.

2-3" MTB tires are too skinny for all but hard packed snow. If you are going to ride on snow a lot, get a fat bike.

Studs work remarkably well on ice.

Have fun.
Andy

heh, thanks for the suggestions. However, I don't even own a mountain bike yet and riding in snowy conditions is definitely a possibility. I assume I could simply buy a hardtail as I don't really want to spend too much money on it but other than that I have no idea what to look for in a MTB. Any recommendations?

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Paulo Matos

Hit up trailforks.com to see where there are trails in your area. Go to your local bike shop to inquire about organized rides and see if there is a group you can ride with. MTB is (or can be / should be) much more social than TT road riding, and you will improve much more quickly when you ride with folks who can show you where to ride and what to do.

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Less is more.

"2-3" MTB tires are too skinny for all but hard packed snow. If you are going to ride on snow a lot, get a fat bike. "

If you are going to have 1 bike, I would say go for a hard tail skinny and put studded tires on your Xmas list. If it isn't hilly where you ride, you could even go singlespeed.


Where I ride (in New Hampshire) there are maybe 3-5 days a winter where you can ride a fatbike when you couldn't ride a skinny mtb. The trails get a lot of traffic, so they pack out quickly after a storm. (I have snowshoes and XC skis to help with that process) I have a FS skinny MTB, and then a crappy $600 bikesdirect SS that I put studded tires on.


Good luck! You'll likely do a bunch of riding at night so a good light (or two) and at least neoprene shoe covers (winter boots are better) will help.

If you get enough snow, get a fat bike. It is really really fun to ride the fat bike on the snow and a great workout.