Bicycle snow plow

Bicycle Blog

Saturday, January 26, 2008

By Yokota Fritz

It's been at least a year since somebody has mentioned David Peterson's bicycle snow plow.

Peterson rides his bike seven miles to his job at Fermilab in ~~Chicago~~ Chicagoland. When he built this snow plow for his bicycle several years ago, the bike paths he took to work weren't plowed, so he started walking to work with a shovel and shoveling the path along the way. He soon moved up to a push plow, a contraption he pushes like a baby stroller with angled blades to push the snow to the side.

In 2002, he built his tow-behind snow plow.

david peterson and his bicycle snow plow

david peterson and his bicycle snow plow

David Peterson posts the history and detailed construction plans for the bicycle snow plow at his website. I have no idea if he still uses this (the website was last updated in 2005), but I've sent Peterson an email and we'll see what he says.

Here's another bicycle snow plow photo I found randomly on the web.

Labels: chicago

Comments:

Fermilab is actually in Batavia, about 30-40 miles west (depending on who you ask).
[/nitpicking]

That's awesome. I wonder which bike path he uses? There are dozens in that area, and more of them are being built all the time. Nice to see someone utilizing one for a daily commute.

# posted by

Jennifer : 1/26/2008 11:28:00 PM

Yes, awesome. Having lived through 30 plus winters in the windy city, it is cold. Cycling in winter is tough enough but also plowing the snow, now that's a story.
Jack

# posted by

Anonymous : 1/27/2008 08:22:00 AM

Excellent. Now that's dedication.

It must suck when it snows again after a good plowing!

# posted by

Will : 1/27/2008 12:18:00 PM

...props to david peterson...it's obvious he does this for altruistic reasons & therefore, he's encouraging others to winter ride...
...the man's also gotta be getting pretty strong doing that...sheesh !!!...

...it's also nice to hear jennifer saying there are already dozens of cycle paths w/ more being built in the area...
...the chicago area seems to be quite progressive regarding bicycles...

# posted by

bikesgonewild : 1/27/2008 11:17:00 PM

I just heard back from Peterson. He indeed continues to plow the paths, and in fact now they have a "pony express" of plowers -- other cyclists catch up to Peterson and they trade bikes to split the labor. He plans to update his website with new information, also.

# posted by

Fritz : 1/28/2008 11:32:00 AM