alias5000

Hi everyone,
we are currently having the first snowfall of the season. As my status might indicate, I'm currently building up a new winter bike. Since it is a bit too fancy to be called 'beater', I'm just going full-on and trying to make it as winter-proof, as I can (my old/current winter beater is very rusty in some places). In my case, we are talking about southern Ontario winter with very mixed slush/snow/ice/salt/water conditions between 0 and -20C.

Aside from the obvious things, such as using single-speed/chainguards, fenders, stainless steel cables, and keeping things clean and lubed, what are some smaller things you have tried to make your bicycle survive winter better?

One thing I am trying this year, is to change all screws to stainless steel.
Has anyone tried to keep cables and components more free of water and freezing? Nosed ferrules?

What other things have you tried or considered to make winter cycling less destructive on your bike?

- alias5000

mcours2006

I'd be interested to hear about how to keep water out of the rear brake housing. This morning the damn thing froze and so no rear brakes.

I'm thinking of trying some rubber boots (used for v-brakes) on the cable opening.

I find that giving the bike a good hose down works and then a wipe down works wonders. My steel winter bike has been going strong for four years now and it still looks pretty pristine.

Stadjer

I usually tighten the rear brake and loosen the front brake, because if the front wheel locks on ice you're going down. And I put some (acidfree) vaseline on the nuts and a few bolts, most nuts on my bike are the bolt covering type for rust reasons anyway. That's about it.

lax

I treated the inside of my steel frame and fork with boeshield t-9, hopefully it will stay rust free. I also am using waterproof grease (blue stuff) on all areas of potential water ingress. I think I will wax the frame with some car wax too, just for some extra protection. I live in the Ottawa area and this is my first year winter cycling... hoping that my bike survives.

alias5000

Being nearby, I know what you mean right now...
There are "nosed ferrules". I wonder how effective they would be in avoiding frozen brakes/gears. Sometimes it may well also be the derailleur being frozen, no? I found these ferrules hard to locate at affordable prices.

alias5000

That sounds interesting! How long does that vaseline stay in place usually?

cyccommute 

These might help. Unfortunately, I can only find them in 25 to 50 quantity bottles or as part of a "kit". Check with your local LBS.

cyccommute 

Choosing a bike that can't corrode goes a long way towards longevity

DSCN0635 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

I've also spec'd parts for the bike that use only sealed cartridge bearings. Additionally, I put KMC ECO Proteq chains on my winter bikes. The chain is less susceptible to salt corrosion that way.

TimothyH

^^

What is that red thing under the down tube?

Dave Mayer

I'm about to give a bike shop course in winterizing your bike, so here are some tips:

• The bike should be simple. As in no suspension - that is unless your bike commute involves descending down steep trails over head-sized rocks. An old rigid-fork MTB is perfect. Apart from adding useless weight, and suspension losses, suspension forks fill up with water, and become a corroded seized-up mess.
• The bike should be cheap and somewhat disposable. It could get eaten by salt and water, and therefore suffer an early death. Again, a recommendation for an old MTB.
• Easy to service bearings, in the hubs, BB and headset. As in Shimano cup and cone. Cartridge bearings get filled with water as easily as loose ball bearings, but at least you can service the loose-ball variety. Cartridge bearings just corrode tight, and then become impossible to extract or source.
• Full fenders: these are huge in terms of keeping you dry.
• Mount lights: lots of lights. We're not talking about the pathetic little blinky LEDS, but real flamethrower lights that cast shadows a block away. Face it: we need to accept that both drivers and peds are now continuously on their phones. Therefore, riders need to adopt a lights arms race to counter the continuously diminished attention spans. If it takes a H-bomb scale blast of photons to get the attention of others on the road, then so be it. I use 2,000 lumen torches both on my bars and helmet.

mcours2006

Thanks. Going to check out LBS tomorrow

mcours2006

If your commute is relatively short then yes, rigid MTB is a good choice. I have one myself for short trips to the store, riding around in the summer with the kids, etc. However, I wouldn't think of riding this 20 km to work. I figure it'd add at least 15 minutes to my ride. So that's 30 minutes a day, and 2.5 hours per week. I'll save that time and take my road bike.

Dave Mayer

Good catch: you are absolutely right. On any kind of a distance commute (>5 miles) a road bike is a no-brainer recommendation. If you are traveling long distances, it becomes less about smelling the flowers and getting the blood going in the morning, as opposed to pure efficiency and speed. When I was commuting daily to and from work, a lightweight race bike was my main weapon of choice.

For the same power output, a road bike will deliver you a several MPH speed gain, mainly due to aerodynamics and faster tires. And lower weight on the climbs. On the flip side, the worst possible commuter choice: a full suspension bike with knobby tires, will lose you several MPH of speed. And the knobby tires will howl away constantly, and the suspension will sap your pedaling watts, especially on climbs.

Stadjer

I don't know to be honest, my bike was build for all seasons and I'm not very concerned about rust and don't do maintenance frequently. But there's always a can of vaseline in the toolbox, use it to lube the cables too. But after a year there are no traces of vaseline left, so it's probably better to put it on twice or three times a winter.

alias5000

This might be a bit off-topic, but I politely disagree. 2000 lumen torches will get you safe through traffic because everyone else stops because they're blinded. Using them on MTB trails to blind deer, fine. I own a 100/200/400 lumen light and barely require to go to the 200 lumen setting. For distracted pedestrians, there is this wonderful thing called a bike bell (polite sounds work better, because people do not start to jump randomly). Using many lights and combinations of always on and blinking is something I would recommend for the rear to cope with white-out conditions. For that purpose, I love these planet bike superflash turbos. Also, you need to carry a bottle-cage battery to still have juice on the return commute.
I don't think traffic war escalation is not going to improve your ride.

The other points you mentioned sound very reasonable. Changing out a suspension fork can also make your bike much lighter.

alias5000

I did that yesterday and got 6 nosed end caps for free! I am currently experimenting with duct tape to cover the cables a bit more to avoid the big amounts of moisture getting onto these transition points. Will likely have to transition to something more long-term soon...

Thanks, I'll give it a try

I have several scratched spots on my (new) winter bike build where I think it likely is plain steel (rear derailleur, for example). I had some clear nail polish flying around, so I had a 'cover all scratches' session yesterday evening.

Going further might be absolute overkill.. Has anyone tried car wax on wheels, yet (obviously not on braking surfaces, such as disks or rims)? On fenders, it is said to keep snow accumulations low. If this applies to wheels too, that might be nice, as it would might keep the drivetrain cleaner...? I have disc brakes, so covering rims would not be much of a concern.

revcp 

T9 is great for inside the frame, and for winter use it's even better on the exterior. I wipe down all exposed metal with T9. It's also my chain lubricant year round (for chain, leave on overnight, as protectant, wipe off after applying). I've been doing this now for four years riding year round, and I've never had rust on anything.

wphamilton

I need to go over mine, just basic maintenance grease and lubrication. I'm in the "keep it simple" camp, in my second winter using a fixed gear, fenders and chain case. No shocks, just a steel road frame fixed gear. I'm a believer in sealed hubs and cartridge bottom brackets - Dave has a point but personally I'll take the trade-off of wrestling it out in a few years over getting into a cup and cone every month or so in the winter.

cyccommute 

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On this we can agree. There is no room for subtlety in a urban environment. Tiny little blinky "be seen" lights just aren't...seen that is. If a driver thinks that I'm a train that has jumped the tracks and is bearing down on them, all the better.

Leebo

Guessing you don't use studded tires, huh?

bikeclub

To be safe — which also means not blinding drivers or other riders — I like to wear and put on my bike lots of reflective surfaces. While the standard Scotchgard stickers are bright, they can’t be brighter than other headlights and are also down a bit lower than eye level. A jacket and pants with reflective trim or better yet, an orange triangle that you can put over anything else when needed. Reflective patches on helmet, fenders, and cranks, since the motion of the fork or pedals catch the eye the most. Finally, I like reflective sidewalls on spiked tires: think of it as additional resistance training.

I do have lights on my helmet, handlebars and seatpost, front and back, but not too high intensity and pointed down so they don’t blind anyone.

After all that, if somebody hits me, they can’t say they didn’t see me...

kingston 

I set out to build the ultimate winter bike a few years ago with the following requirements:

• Drum brakes front and rear - to accommodate the foulest of weather with minimal maintenance
• Dynamo Hub and lights - because it’s always dark in the winter and batteries don't last very long in the cold
• 3 Speed IGH - there aren’t any hills where I live so 3-speeds is plenty. 1 isn't enough because I need a lower gear when there is snow on the road.
• Space for wide Schwalbe Marathon Winter tires
• Flat bar - so I can use my poagies when it gets really cold
• Uprightish riding position - so my goggles don’t fog up as bad
• Full fenders - At least 50mm, 60 would be better

I ended up with this. We had the mildest winter ever last year in Chicago so I don't know yet if it's a good winter bike or not. Maybe I'll find out this winter.

alias5000

Thanks guys. The outcome of these conversations for my bike build are written up here:
https://www.bikeforums.net/winter-cy...-ish-post.html

DaveQ24

[MENTION=430655]bikeclub[/MENTION] - I haven’t played around with any of the reflective clear coat spraypaints yet, but I’ve wanted to. There is a temporary one for textiles called Albedo 100 that washes out with detergent - I watched a couple of YouTube video demo/reviews, it looked pretty impressive in terms of the reflective effect. That brand also makes a spray for hard objects, several of the big names in spray paint do as well. It would be fun to experiment with it.

alias5000

Nice one! Generator hubs are an extremely wonderful thing. I have ridden other peoples bikes with them and they are just super useful. When I had a 2x10km commute straight through a forest, people had lights powered by these hubs that were brighter and better focused than any handle-bar mounted battery lights. And they probably not even felt the drag.

Have you thought about using a chain guard to keep your drivetrain clean?