red sled

I understand that saltwater is corrosive but I love the beach and my legs/hips won't let me walk very far. However, I can ride my bike for miles without pain.

I found a decent second-hand 18-speed bike for $50 and ride it daily in our 55+ community. If I ride it at the beach on the packed damp sand do I need to wash it off thoroughly after each time and will that be enough to prevent damage to the bike ?

Thanks in advance for any insight and recommendations.

CargoDane

Nah, just the drive train (to remove the sand). You living next to the beach will in itself make everything corrode faster. But the sand will quickly wear down the cogs and chain. However, if the bike is solely used on the beach, it will get sand on the drivetrain the very next time you're there, so maybe it doesn't matter.

I will recommend, however, that when you get it, you clean the drive train completely and then use dry lube. That way, the drivetrain won't attract the sand. Dry lube isn't as good as wet lube, but in this case it is. You just need to apply it more often.

Litespud

it’s a $50 bike, and riding on the beach sounds like a lot of fun. Hose it off at the end of the day and squirt some lube on the drivetrain occasionally. It’s going to corrode a bit, but not so it’ll stop working.

Maelochs

A $50 bike? Just keep it clean and if possible, store it indoors or under a cloth cover. Salt air will corrode the thing, but it is old, and it won't corrode so much you won't be able to ride it for several seasons.

What other say regarding the drivetrain is right as far as I know.

have a ton of fun.

Flip Flop Rider

keep riding it with no worries. Bikes are tough

red sled

Thanks to all who replied. Yeah, I bought the used bike so I wasn't out a ton of cash if it stopped working. I'll enjoy the beach and clean it afterwards, and use dry lube on the moving parts. Cheers !

autonomy

Perfect advice, not much more to add except maybe that the worst thing short-term (months) would be your chain rusts and seizes. Eventually, all other metal parts, even rust-resistant bolts will start corroding.

Pop N Wood

When I lived in LA I rode my Bianchi along the beach path to work almost daily. The salt air put quite a bit of surface rust on exposed parts of the frame, but the bike is now almost 40 years old and still going strong. Think I've replaced most every component on the bike throughout the years, some multiple times.

Chains are cheap. Keep it clean and lubed and enjoy the ride.

ARider2

I have been riding an old Schwinn on the beach for years. One time I did have to replace a wheel but I think that may have been due to a rash of bad spokes that effected many bikes around 10 years ago, or it could have been from riding on the beach. Now I make sure to keep the bike cleaner as it does attract white residue from the dust of the sand and the salt air.

skidder

I'd rinse the whole bicycle down with water after a beach ride to remove any sand that had been thrown up on bicycle by the wheels. A better option: Do you have any streets or off-street bicycle paths you could ride on instead of the beach sand?

jay4usc

I live in SoCal and ride up and down the coast 4 x week. All I do is wipe my bike down with a wet rag once a week. On a few occasions there’s an under pass on PCH that’s gets flooded during high tide and if my bike gets wet I wipe it down including the wheels soon as I get home. You don’t want salt water on your bike.

Bassmanbob

Sure! Then rest it against a tree when you’re done.

Pop N Wood

Dude, did you miss the part about 55+ community?

rydabent

The only way I would ride on an ocean front beach would be with a $25 beater bike I bought at a garage sale.

CargoDane

It's a $50 bike. It's a 55+ community. And he likes to ride on the beach. What you and I would do with more expensive bikes doesn't matter.

Maelochs

Ummmm ... . why is it that you seem to believe that a fatbike is more corrosion-resistant then a bike with thinner tires? Are there magic tires?

Milton Keynes

Just keep the bike clean after riding and keep an eye out for corrosion. Use a dry chain lube and apply after washing the sand out of your chain. If the bike does rust away then just run down to Walmart and buy a BSO and ride it until it rusts.

cycletheworld78

It can't be easy biking in those conditions

Maelochs

Acute paranoia?

I didn't notice what country you hail from until you mentioned it.

As a matter of fact, @cubewheels, I was the one counseling you not to get all worked up about responses, in another thread, the thread about chain lube.

Further. wet or dry sand is more or less corrosive? Not factual as far as I can figure. Wet sand will fly about less, while dry sand will fly more .... which means it will stick to the drive train and be More corrosive. I used to ride an MTB trail with deep sandy sections ... the fine dust kicked up ij the dry sections gets Everywhere, into every moving part, even the headset. Firm, damp sand usually gets just on the BB and chain stays and brushes off when it dries. .

Further, there two greatest corrosives at a beach are salt water and salt air. So, if the OP doesn't ride in the water or doesn't leave salt water on the bike, he will have no particular problem.

Salt air, anywhere near a beach, will damage everything, but mostly with a layer of surface rust---it will pit chrome and leave ugly spots but the low concentration of salt generally means that the rust is only superficial.

So, if the OP rinses his bike and throws a cloth over it when he parks it, or parks it indoors in an air-conditioned environment, his bike should not get corroded At All. Riding on wet sand will not cause corrosion particularly, because as with air, the concentrations is low .... the water will dry quickly, there isn't much salt in it anyway. Dry sand is, in my experience at least, more destructive to drive trains.

Just a word to the wise .... Lay off the accusations of racism. If you always think everyone who disagrees with you is racist, You are the one starting fights over race.

No one here knows anything about anyone else. I could be Chinese, a black man from Jamaica, a half black-half French woman from Vietnam, a hermaphrodite for Surinam,, a giant lizard from Guyana, a Russian expatriate living in the U.S. .... I could be Hispanic from half the countries in South America or Europe ... I could be Aleutian or Maori.

I could be three different people sharing a computer and sharing an account.

Maybe---just Maybe---people respond to What You Actually Type.

Consider that.

7up

IMO a Pacific Schwinn should be a perfect candidate for this mission.lol

Pratt

This thread was right next to one on Rust Prevention when I opened up the website this am.

Thomas15

Everyone knows that salt water is corrosive, promotes oxidation.

Anyone that uses a bicycle as his/her basic mode of exercise and lives in a retirement community next to the beach can afford to replace a yard sale bike on a yearly basis. So ride like the wind my friend!