12/01/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 12/01/2021 20:11
Winter weather can be tough on bikes. There's more rain and sometimes snow and ice, which brings salt and slush. All this grit and grime can add up and be tough on the moving parts of a bike.
Here are some tips for keeping your bike running well and looking great:
Your chain
If you want to turn your chain into a solid piece of rusty, non-moving (and non-recoverable) metal, the best way to do that is ride it a few times in salty snow slush without cleaning or lubing it (I learned this the hard way a couple of times). Normally, it's a good idea to clean and lube your chain about once every 100 miles, but salt and sand will act much more quickly to destroy a chain. So, don't go more than two rides in the salt, snow or slush without cleaning and re-lubing your chain (or just do it before you know you will be riding in some snow or salty slush).
Items you need:
To clean the chain with a cleaning tool (A.K.A. a chain scrubber), fill the tool with the chain cleaning solvent/degreaser of your choice, cycle the chain through the cleaning tool a few times and wipe it down with a rag.
To clean the chain the old fashioned way (which ensures a spotless chain):
To lube the chain:
Your frame
Clean and polish your frame with wax or bike polish before the first grimy rain rides. It will keep your bike looking nicer since the wax or polish will help shed some of that stuff that would otherwise stick.
Remove accessories like bottle cages, pumps, and racks, which will make it easier to clean and polish the entire frame.
For cleaning, just use a spray bottle of water with a LOT of degreasing dish soap, like Dawn, or a spray like Simply Green. Spray the frame down with a moderate amount of soap, and wipe down with a clean rag. If your frame is already pretty grimey, you may have to use a second rag or use a cleaning brush to knock off excess grit before you start spraying cleaner on your bike. Otherwise, the rag will start collecting that grit and become more like sandpaper and less like a rag. Any soft-bristled household cleaning brushes work well for getting tight corners.
For polishing, you could use car wax or Pedro's Bike Lust. Clean your rims also! If your rims or brake rotors are producing a squealing sound, clean them with rubbing alcohol or denatured alcohol, and check the pad alignment of your brake pads. Remove any embedded grit from rim brake pads or just have them replaced.
When re-installing accessories on the bike, apply a bit of grease to attaching bolts. For metal frames and seatposts, remove the seatpost, clean it and the inside of the seat-tube, then apply a coating of grease inside the seat tube. Doing so makes it easy to adjust the seatpost, but it also prevents a chemical reaction between salt and the seatpost.
Finally, for nice steel frames, if you have the tools and know-how, you can remove the crankset and bottom bracket bearings and coat the inside of the frame tubes (especially lower frame tubes like the seat tube and the chain-stays) with JP Weigle Frame Saver or linseed oil, which prevents salty moisture from causing rust damage to the inside of the frame.
Use a syringe to squirt the rust-proofing inside the frame tubes, plus a repair stand so that the rust-proofing liquid spreads around the inside of the various frame tubes by changing the position of the bike in the stand (remove the wheels for this operation). Drain out excess frame-saver or linseed oil; it will leave a coating on the inside of the frame.
A bike shop can also rust-proof the inside of a steel frame if you don't have the tools or knowledge to do this disassembly.
Your cablesCables and cable housing also need to be maintained and lubricated during the winter. Salty water can get inside the cable housing (the section of tubing that the cables run inside) and rust non-stainless steel cables, or just cause the cables to dry up and get sticky. Newer bikes with housing that runs all the way from the brake/shift lever to the brakes and derailleurs may be less susceptible to this problem, as the cable is sealed for the entire length. For these bikes, it's still a good idea to check the housing for damage that may allow water inside.
Many bikes use a system where bare cable runs along straight sections, with housing where the cable needs to make a turn around corners and curves. It's the openings of this housing, where the cable enters and exits, where water can get in.
TL;DR?Join our Basic Bike Maintenance Classon December 6 via Zoom where we walk you through some of these procedures!