Originally Posted by 79pmooney

In my salt winters with no car, I rode steel frames (not that there were options then). I stripped and brush painted the frame with 2-part epoxy (and got results that were surprisingly good because epoxy paint changes viscosity as it sets up and flows wonderfully, hiding all kinds of brush strokes, etc. Just don't touch it at this stage!)

Epoxy forms a really good barrier. It you have epoxy paint, good frame save inside the tubes and grease all the threads with marine boat trailer hub grease, the steel will never see the salt. The aluminum is a different story. Electrolysis with the aluminum parts and other dissimilar metals is a different story. Every winter my spoke nipples used to seize up solid and I would cut the rims off with wire-cutters. (They were sewup rims and quite square from all the bottomless potholes so no real loss. Now I would use the same marine grease when I built the wheels.)

I am a huge fan of: well used steel frames that I have zero attachment to, fix gears and Mafac brakes because they work on salt roads (and the ice, snow and wet that come with them) really well. Keeping chains lubed and working well with derailleurs is quite possible, but unless you want to be wedded to bike maintenance, a real hassle. With a fix gear, one or two frozen links is not a big deal. You just slide the wheel forward to get some slack back. And with good bikes, when you are bored, you can count up the dollars worth of wear and tear and loss from the coming 3 months or you can park it and do less damage to the $400 beater.

And another trick - if you have to bring your wet, salty and filthy bike inside, park it leaning against a wall on a 6' plastic carpet runner. (Like the clear plastic carpet guard you put your office chair on.) They do a really good job of keeping the mess contained and you don't have to wash your bike after riding, (That salt you wash off doesn't do your living quarters any good either.) In the morning, you just pick up your now dried mess, carry it outside, jump on it and ride.

This comes from three winters in Boston and three in Ann Arbor. (I had a car two of those winters but commuted to campus where I could not park.) A lot of salt was used in Boston. In Ann Arbor. the policy was to match each snowflake with a salt crystal. Snow and ice didn't have a chance.

Ben

Originally Posted by 79pmooney

In my salt winters with no car, I rode steel frames (not that there were options then). I stripped and brush painted the frame with 2-part epoxy (and got results that were surprisingly good because epoxy paint changes viscosity as it sets up and flows wonderfully, hiding all kinds of brush strokes, etc. Just don't touch it at this stage!)

Epoxy forms a really good barrier. It you have epoxy paint, good frame save inside the tubes and grease all the threads with marine boat trailer hub grease, the steel will never see the salt. The aluminum is a different story. Electrolysis with the aluminum parts and other dissimilar metals is a different story. Every winter my spoke nipples used to seize up solid and I would cut the rims off with wire-cutters. (They were sewup rims and quite square from all the bottomless potholes so no real loss. Now I would use the same marine grease when I built the wheels.)

I am a huge fan of: well used steel frames that I have zero attachment to, fix gears and Mafac brakes because they work on salt roads (and the ice, snow and wet that come with them) really well. Keeping chains lubed and working well with derailleurs is quite possible, but unless you want to be wedded to bike maintenance, a real hassle. With a fix gear, one or two frozen links is not a big deal. You just slide the wheel forward to get some slack back. And with good bikes, when you are bored, you can count up the dollars worth of wear and tear and loss from the coming 3 months or you can park it and do less damage to the $400 beater.

And another trick - if you have to bring your wet, salty and filthy bike inside, park it leaning against a wall on a 6' plastic carpet runner. (Like the clear plastic carpet guard you put your office chair on.) They do a really good job of keeping the mess contained and you don't have to wash your bike after riding, (That salt you wash off doesn't do your living quarters any good either.) In the morning, you just pick up your now dried mess, carry it outside, jump on it and ride.

This comes from three winters in Boston and three in Ann Arbor. (I had a car two of those winters but commuted to campus where I could not park.) A lot of salt was used in Boston. In Ann Arbor. the policy was to match each snowflake with a salt crystal. Snow and ice didn't have a chance.

Ben