What do you all do to keep winter from ruining your bike?
 

I'm from NE Ohio we get it all, ice, snow, salt. I'm wanting to keep riding more through the winter. I'm not a total winter novice but this would potentially put a lot more harmful salt and rust producing materials on my bike than I have in the past. I don't want winter ruining my bicycle. Any advice?

I live in Rhode Island, and am strictly a road rider. I ride all through winter…but only when the roads are relatively dry, and ice-free. But, there are times when I may encounter some precipitation, and/or wet, salty, sandy roads (even snow and slush). If that happens, post-ride I rinse down the bike with a bucket warm water tap water (not “hot” as I feel like it has more potential to dissipate bearing lube) to remove the grit that is pretty much allover the bike. Of course some things…mostly the chain…will need to be re-lubricated afterwards. This also results in the frame needing a general cleaning too. But at least the grit is removed. And, as most of my bikes are metal frames, I hang them or lay them in a different way to dry each time so that I have less of a chance to get internal corrosion from standing water.

Dan

I live in central CT and ride older bikes in winter that I'm ok with getting some salt damage. If the roads are really gross, I ride a fender bike.

I spent a few winters in Michigan and Massachusetts in my no-car days. My solution was simple. Ride a beater fix gear. I used Peugeot UO-8 which I stripped and brush painted with two-part epoxy. Fix gear, fenders, brakes. In those days I ran cyclocross tubulars as my winter tires, dropping pressure to whatever was required to not crash and basically saying "to h*** with my rims". Late March, early April, I rebuilt the wheels, packed bearings, etc, and rode it as a new feeling commuter, second bike and training bike for poor weather days.

Good bike got put away. That beater lived indoors on a 6' plastic carpet runner in the hall. Carry the filthy bike in and dump it on its runner. No mess anywhere else. Easy. Bike was so simple there was no need to be rigorous with cleaning. (Apartment life. No outside water. I had to take over the bathroom or kitchen.)

And fix gears - ultimate snow, ice and salt drive trains. With skill, you can save a lot of slides that would put a geared bike down. You acquire the skill just riding fixed. Start now and you will be well on your way when snow hits. The rest is pure reflex. And reliable! No derailleurs so no need to keep the chain clean and lubed. Yes you should but no, you absolutely do not have to. Frozen links from the salt environment? Just slide the wheel forward a 1/4" and get the proper chain slack back. You'll never see that link or two that doesn't straighten out. (I drew the line at three. Time to clean and lube though I never took the chain off and this was the days before the chain cleaners.) And you can do all this with a cheap 1/8" chain that takes very kindly to being loosened up with a chain riveter.

Best bikes to use are old steel bikes with horizontal dropouts. In the '70s and '80s many thousands were made. A lot are still around, looking not very elegant but still excellent candidates as winter bikes. Pack bearings with so much marine grease (any auto parts store and cheap) that some squeezes out when you turn the wheel/crank/handlebar. Coat all threads with the same. Rub it on bare steel. Keep the brakes, get them running good with Koolstop pads. In snow and ice, you need all the tools you can get. You may be trying to stop in conditions where a fancy fix gear skid will lay you down instantly.

Winter riding is a different world. Having the right bike makes it fun. Having a bike where what happens to it doesn't matter really makes it fun. And in March when you roll past that guy on his first ride of the year on his $$$ ride with you winter tires, out of round wheels and rusted chain, well it doesn't get much better!

I live in Iowa and do Winter commuting. Best thing to do is get an older "beater" steel bike that can handle the harsh conditions while requiring less maintenance and upkeeps. If you crash because of snow, ice, road, etc....... you won't be out of a nicer ride. The best kind of bike is belt drive if you're willing to spend some $$$$ since those belts last around 10K miles and no worries about lubing or salt and grimes eating at the chains. I have a Jamis Commuter 1 steel bike for Winter riding with fenders and rack. Not crazy about the 'stache handlebar (looking like Pee Wee Herman ride) or the twist-grip shifter. It's old and heavy but it does the job and the only cleaning I have to do after each ride is the chain to make it last longer.

Live in Southern California.

Or south Texas.

Why not south California?

Thanks. You given me a lot of ideas. A lot of this is what I have done in the past. I wasn't intentionally going every possible day like I want to this winter, but I have done some winter riding. Except the fixed gear part. I have actually thought about getting one to try. I just don't think I can retrain this Brain of mine to not coast. It's kind of like breathing to me. I been thinking of trying a cheap aluminum frame bike. Try to clean it up as much as possible. Let the wheels, drive train, and maybe bars get sacrificed, if necessary, and rebuild it better next year. I'll second the Kool Stop pads. I ran their continentals on my old 10 speed commuter and those things would stop in anything. I think they stopped frozen rims once!

A fix gear trick to ease the transition and make that first accidental coast a lot more minor - lower the seat; a lot, like perhaps a full inch. If you do this, you cannot get anywhere near straightening your leg no matter how hard you try. You are also in a very poor place to exert much back pressure. (Keep the brakes!) Fact is, you will try to coast. It will be a rude awakening, But with a low seat, only so rude.

I was into high seats my first year of racing, The club vets hadn't succeeded yet in getting me to drop mine but I did set up that UO-8 fixed as they suggested, Well, first ride I was going close to 20 and wanted to make a left turn. 3 cars coming the other way. So I coasted, Locked my knee because me seat was that high, And guess what? I got shot into the air by that left pedal. I remember looking down. My front wheel was ~2 feet off the pavement and still going up. Back higher. Then I collapsed on the pavement, No real damage. Very light road rash because I'd transferred my speed into vertical and my left leg muscles. Some light bruising. And a left leg that felt like it'd been through a shredder, but all internal. Nothing to see.

The woman in the first car had no idea what she just witnessed! And I learned. But I tell people now, put tape on the seatpost exactly 1" above the seattube. Drop the seat to the tape. Ride. After that first "coast", raise it 1/4". Next, lesser coast, another 1/4". Seat can go back to the 1" when you know you've got this. Do this and the learning won't be too painful.

Clean and lube often.

I have a spare one-gallon hand sprayer for my yard which I keep full of water. After any salty ride I spray it down, then I blow dry with my air compressor.

The idea of having all the extra hassle of another bike has kept me from going that route, you can spend a lot of time cleaning one bike before it is worth it to get another which you need to get the fit adjusted, keep lubed, tires maintained etc etc. I do have an extra set of wheels with studded tires but they only take a few minutes to swap in. Plus I only want to run studs when I absolutely have to, I hate the ride quality.

Thanks. I'll definitely try this if I ever get the urge to Fixed gear.

:thumb: started using one last year. only thing was, on very cold days the water from the sprayer froze on the bike. I believe I used warm water. not sure even if I used HOT water that it wouldn't also freeze to the frame. not tragic because I also wipe the bike w/ a shop towel(s) & bring it inside to dry. but kinda defeated the purpose of spraying it

the big snow/ice build up on the tires in pic below is from riding on the back of my car from the trailhead
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f7d21bcfdb.jpg

I do it in my garage which is above freezing. The sprayer doesn't put out a whole lot of water, something like a pint is all that is needed so it doesn't make too much of a mess. That option may not work for everyone though.

:thumb: yeah I live in a condo w/o a garage. totally jealous! ;-)

I ride a cheap Au bike with single speed set-up

You should be able to get one of those thick plastic drop cloths and just do it inside. Put and old towel on top if you need a margin of safely against it dripping off (e.g. floor is wood). Since the humidity is low the plastic should be dry in a few hours. In some ways I almost want to do that, inside is a lot more fun than the cold dark garage.

Fit - a one time deal. Lube - pack bearing with a ton of marine grease while they are clean. Done. Chain - see my post above.

My carless days living in snow country (Boston and Ann Arbor), I rode at least 5 days a week, 3 to 12 mile each way commutes all winter, always arriving home after dark (and usually leaving n the dark). Being able to just park the bike, shed all those clothes, shower and eat was a blessing. Bike would be ready to ride the next morning. (Well, i might have to slide the wheel forward to get chain slack back.)\

No, that bike was nothing I would ever want to post a picture of here but it did its job as my basic transportation well. In fact, on the worst snow day I've ever commuted, I arrived at work 20 minutes late on that 12 mile commute. I was one of the very few who showed up at all. Coming home I laid the bike down three times. (2 mile gentle downhill. I could stay up as long as I could stay in the tire rut in 6 or more inches of unplowed heavy coastal New England snow.) Put it away as usual and rode the next day,

I've had snow clog up freewheels so the chain just slid over all the cogs I wasn't riding all the time on my one and only derailleur snow excursion in 50 years, (Left the house in good weather and that kind of serious snow isn't supposed to happen in Portland, OR.)

hmm interesting idea ...!

Same here. Just clean it, lube it and ride. Spring rolls around I will get fixed what needs to be fixed.

After each ride, I spray the bottom bracket and other places with windshield washer and scrub them with a brush and repeat. I use the same type of sprayer as shown on post #14.

If you've ever driven around in the winter, you'd notice how the salt just builds up on your windshield without it having to snow. Windshield fluid cuts right through that.

I just came across this stuff.
I haven`t tried it, but it looks like a good idea...
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https://www.griotsgarage.com/brillia..._content=EMKDJ
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https://www.griotsgarage.com/rinseless-wash-wax/
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I've read of ppl using spray on furniture polish for the same purpose. never tried it myself

fwiw - DO NOT use cooking spray on your car's doors' weather stripping. it's a mess! I now only use Armor All wipes for our cars' door seals

I bought a new '95 Cannondale H600 hybrid specifically for winter riding. It has 29k miles on it now. It goes through components about 6 times faster than my summer bike. The frame will corrode from the MN salt, but it's easy to scrape it off and paint over with some Rustoleum. I use a plant watering can with warm water to rinse off the frame as needed. I can control the trickling of the water and have no problem with ice build up. Lightly rubbing with a cloth/paper towel while watering my bike gets the crud off too. But it's the salt I'm mainly after.

A chain lasts about 1k miles. I used to put more effort into maintenance of that, but it wasn't worth the time. I'll rinse that off with the watering can, pat it down with paper towels, and lube with Chain-L. I'd had higher hopes for that lube but it doesn't seem to hold up any better than any other petrol lube in winter conditions.

Oh, and if you don't have fenders, get some!