It was 10F in Michigan on my commute this Tuesday. I moved from California and had nothing in preparation for biking in the winter cold and snow. I will go through a few key points that I personally took to make my commute manageable!
Bumpy hard-packed snow 
Deer and Snow 
Freezing rain
First off, I had a hybrid and a road bike from college, both of which I bought used for $80 and $360 respectively.
These were perfect for the California Bay Area weather all year round! However, now that I am in Michigan, biking in the winter takes on a new meaning.
Gloves
My hands were the first thing to really get me in the cold. I bought long finger glove but soon even they weren’t warm enough. So I bought warmer gloves that were half lobster style (the pinky and ring finger joined together). However, within a few weeks, even these were not warm enough for me in 40F weather as I realized my hands get particularly cold easily. So finally, I bought bar mitts for my hybrid. With the bar mitts, I can ride with my thinner gloves and have only had moderate cold and numbness in my hands even down to 10F.
Head and Face
In order of warmth: thin neck gator, skull cap, green wool neck gator, ski goggles. The only one of these I didn’t have and needed to buy was the thicker green wool neck gator. I would wear a combination of these depending on the condition. Whenever it is below freezing, I usually will need the wool neck gator, skull cap, and goggles.
Snow Clearance and Fenders
Riding in the wet and snow quickly overwhelmed my road bike, and I switched to my hybrid for more snow clearance. The rear rack provided decent protection from spraying water on my back, but was not ideal. I recently added full fenders to keep my feet and bike a bit cleaner, and think fenders are an absolute must for commuting!
Lights
Since about half of my roundtrip commute is in the dark now, I added a lot more, and brighter, lights to my bike. The two lights on the left that require an external battery are very bright! The only downside is that they came with very cheap batteries that now run out in about 1 hour, so I barely make my round trip commute on low or blinking settings. The smaller lights are for backup when my main lights run out of battery. I would like to buy/make better battery packs for my two brighter lights in the future, but they were cheap on Amazon and just barely work for my length of commute.
What Bike would you want for biking in the winter?
Just like many cyclists, I often think about a ‘dream’ bike. Recently, it has been a ‘dream’ commuter bike. Disc brakes, larger tires, hardtail or fat bike, an extra wheelset with studded tires, internal gear drive, belt drive, the list goes on. However, if you are on a budget and have options to drive to work, take public transport, or work from home when conditions are particularly nasty, commuting on a bike you already have is totally doable even in very cold conditions!
Recording of Tuesday’s ride to work: https://www.strava.com/activities/2096137718
Recording of Tuesday’s ride back home: https://www.strava.com/activities/2097391084