Anyone do it?  I am thinking about buying a winter-dedicated bike for commuting to work (1 mile one way)

I don't know anything about this world, don't have any friends who do it.  If I buy a fat tire bike, is that enough traction on the stock tires?  Do I have to get spiked tires?


I live in Anchorage, AK.

I live in Palmer and ride mine year round.  Studs aren't necessary but you will be glad you have them when the ice is bad.  Chain reaction is the home of 9zero7 fat bikes in the Huffman business park.  Speedway is the home of Fatback accross from REI if you are wanting to buy a bike from an Alaskan owned company.  9zero7 bikes are built in Taiwan but fatback's  aluminum bike was and might still be manufactured in the US.  Speedway, Chainreaction and the Trek store rent if you want to try before you buy.  

I ride studded dilinger 5's  (5inch tire) in the winter the tires cost more than the tires on my car but I ride out around Eureka and some of the smaller races in the Matsu where more floatation is necessary.  Have a secure location to keep your bike the fatbike specific thefts are rediculous averaging at least one a week in the winter.  There is an Anchorage fatbike group if you do Facebook. A new bike is going to run over a grand for something decent decent being not walmart or costco.  Although if all you are doing is 2 miles a day the mongoose isn't that bad, I had one and upgraded to something more performance driven based on my preferences.

I never considered getting one when I heard co-workers talking about their new $3000 fat tire bikes.  But I saw one at Costco for $350, which is more in line of what I'm willing to spend on a bike, especially since mine always get stolen.
 

I was in on the bleeding edge of Mt biking in the early 80s.  Living at 9,600 ft our season was short.  I had pretty much learned on my own that riding in snow was fun until you hit hard packed icy stuff, which was everywhere in town.  So I put the bike away, till I saw another one with what looked like studs in the tires.  They were not studs, but lots of very short hex head sheet metal screws driven into the knobs.    Off to the hardware store, and a six pack later I had a very capable set of winter studded tires.  They worked great.

For your purposes the costco bike would be fine if that's all you plan on using it for.  Their hub sizes are different for that bike and the gearing is definitely for flat city streets.  The next diamondback up from that in the 6-700 dollar range is a better bike component wise.  If you get a U lock they seem to be the best deterrent.  Storing inside is better.

ETA you could just stud regular bike tires and use a regular bike but knowing how anchorage is about cleaning the roads much less the sidewalks you will want the floatation of the fat tire.  Especially if you want to use the trail system.

I have been mountain biking for 10+ years. I recently sold my other bikes and bought a fatty. I use it all year. It is amazing. If you can go a bit above the Costco special, the Framed ones are a fantastic deal. I own one (not affiliated) and if you get the better models they will throw in a suspension or carbon fork. I paid $1100, sold the suspension fork for $400 on CL and made out like a bandit. The House has great deals on Framed bikes and free shipping.

Thanks everyone for your replies

I live in Flagstaff Az, we get about 100" of snow a year. I ride a Surly Moon Lander in the winters out here. The stock tires on it work good in the snow, if I was on a lot of ice I'd put studs in my tires. Snow riding is a blast, my tires are 5 inches wide and I run them at 2-3 psi.

My coworker sold his after the first ride. He likes to go fast though. I pass every fat tire rider on the trail, except one. He must live on his bike.

The fat tires add resistance to pedaling. Besides that, they look like they are fun and I hear good things about them.

I bike around in the winter on small amounts of snow and ice in Anchorage at least a couple days a week. Small tires suck in snow deeper than a few inches and I would like to try a fat bike to float on top. Ice isn't bad at all with studded tires. I actually prefer biking to walking on ice, riding is pretty stable while you are moving. Just don't turn sharp, I did that once.

Rent one