How to winterize your bike
by Tom Chappell
Keeping your bike in good shape over the winter is easy, but servicing a rusty neglected bike after a wet and salty winter is difficult. Here is some information and minimal-effort things you can do to a bike to get it through winter training without its being too affected by the weather. This little guide isn't very organized, so I suggest using some "find" feature of your browser if you're looking for something specific which might be on this page . . .
When I say "affected by the weather" I mostly mean "corroded." Any ferrous material on your bike can rust, and other materials will corrode as well. When interfacing materials corrode at different rates, they will seize. The salts used on roads in the winter accelerate all kinds of corrosion. Salts are necessary to make the epoxy resins which hold carbon fiber together, and salts do a fine job of taking them apart.
No, your bike won't melt if you get it wet, and it will die much slower than a slug when exposed to salt. But I do mean to say that yes, salt and water will damage all of the components on your bike if you're inattentive. Here's what you can (should) do:
Your concern should be greatest if you have a steel frame. Water will enter the frame and cause rust if the inside of the frame isn't treated, and any exposed exterior metal will be similarly at risk of rusting.
First, find out if your frame is already treated - some tubesets are treated before they are assembled into a frame, some tubesets are made from stainless steel, etc.. Most manufacturers don't treat their stuff, though, and you should do it yourself. JP Weigle's Frame Saver is made to protect steel bike frames. It's like a can full of melted Crayola crayons which you spray into your bike, resulting in a waxy barrier between water and metal (and because of the fragrance, a bonus blast from your coloring book past). You can also find many metal preparations at hardware stores which sell welding stuff. All you need to do is coat the inside of your frame with something which is hydrophobic and which won't dissolve the grease you use in your bottom bracket and headset.
Second, try to prevent water's entering your frame. Put a liberal amount of anti-seize compound or grease on your bottom bracket threads (you should do this for other reasons too, but the grease will do a good job of excluding water). Put some grease on all of your bottle cage bolts' threads, too. If your seatpost binder/collar works how it should, you should be able to put a lot of grease on your seatpost - much of the water which gets in your frame enters at the top of your seat tube. Keep plenty of grease in your headset bearings if they're free, and coat your cartridge bearings in grease if they aren't.
DON'T obstruct your frame's weep holes in any way! These holes don't admit water, and are necessary for draining your frame. It's also important for water vapor to have some way to exit the frame. Plugging weep holes will promote rusting by slowing the rate at which your frame dries.
If your paint or powdercoat is damaged enough that bare metal is exposed, cover that metal with something. I have found that fingernail polish works great: it comes in EVERY COLOR, is easy to find, and is packaged with a handy brush! Touch-up paint from your frame manufacturer is obviously the ideal thing to use. Cover the metal, even if you just put some clear acrylic paint over it.
Aluminum and titanium frames don't corrode fast enough to justify coating them with anything. It's still a good idea to liberally use anti-seize compound or grease where components' threads interface your frame for a number of reasons. Similarly, keeping water out of a carbon frame is important because salts can lead to deterioration of epoxies.
The best thing you can do for your chain is keep it well-lubricated with a product which excludes water. If you use a wax-based lube, this means you have to be very attentive to your chain and lube it frequently. Oil-based lubes are better than wax at excluding water from a chain. You can find excellent lubricants at industrial supply places, from lubricant specialists like Amsoil, and so forth. Good lubricant means long chain and component life. Keep things lubricated, or they will rust and gall!
Lube your derailleurs, too. Keeping the pivots lubed will exclude water from them, preventing rust, and keeping them in tip-top shifting shape for a long time.
This one is easy:
Stainless cables cost negligibly more than galvanized cables. You can also find kevlar/Spectra/etc. cables out there, and these are nice - they won't rust, weight nearly nothing, and are stronger than steel in some ways (you just have to be careful when fixing them to components with pinch bolts). Unlined housing is hard to find these days (the lining in lined housing is plastic, between the metal of the housing and the metal of the cable), so it shouldn't be hard for you to choose lined housing.
"Sealed" cable systems are those which have some degree of shielding between the cable and the outside world. Some of these systems feature a liner which runs from lever to brake/derailleur - these are the most thoroughly sealed systems, and housing fits over the liner. Other systems use "regular" housing, but feature special ferrules which interface with "shielding" housing which runs between housing stops on the frame. The former is usually a more expensive system, necessarily installed at-once, and the latter is often something you can apply more cheaply to your existing cable system.
Here are photos of each type of system:
The point of sealing or shielding cables is to keep them clean and dry. A rusted cable inside the lining of a sealed cable is probably worse than no lining/sealing at all, so if you're going to use such a system you should be sure it is pretty impervious to water . . .
Ferrules are available with "seals" as well - these feature a rubber O-ring at the aperture through which the cable passes, helping to keep stuff from entering the housing.
Other things you can do to keep your cables and housing in good shape include lubing your cables, and drying them when possible. You can leave everything installed and adjusted and pull ferrules out of slotted housing stops to allow them to drain. This is only useful if you have water in housing which can be appropriately position to drain, but it's a good idea to do this if you've ridden in heavy rain.
I don't like it when the various bolts on my bike rust - usually this happens because some water is held in a bolt head by surface tension, and even if you store your bike indoors you'll see rust in bolt heads unless you're excessively picky about drying your bike. So, I put some clear fingernail polish on the inside of each hex bolt, and this works great. The polish material isn't too strong, so when I need to move the bolt I can just chip the polish away with the wrench and things work fine. Another thing you can do is cut a small hole out of a piece of cardboard and spray clear enamel through it. Either way you do it, you end up with bolts which won't end up unsightly due to rust. Be careful with enamel, though - if it's in a spray can then it comes out with a solvent, and this solvent is capable of solvating paint which is already on your bike. So try not to get overspray on anything.
Here's a no-brainer: put fenders on your bike. If you really plan on riding a lot in the rain, fenders will do a lot to keep water and grit off of you and off of your bike. They do a great job of keeping water out of your lower headset assembly, and out of your bottom bracket.
Plastic rim strips don't absorb water; cloth strips do. A few coats of carnauba wax on your topcoat will keep salty road grit from dulling your paint. You should use light oil to lubricate a radial pawl freehub body, but a layer of grease outside of its bearing retaining ring will keep water out of the assembly.
Contaminated grease gradually becomes nonfunctional and should be replaced. If you use a tiny amount of grease on your headset spacers, handlebar clamp area, etc., then you'll want to clean the respective parts and apply new grease if these parts develop creaks due to wet-weather riding.
I hope some of this was useful! Happy riding.
When I say "affected by the weather" I mostly mean "corroded." Any ferrous material on your bike can rust, and other materials will corrode as well. When interfacing materials corrode at different rates, they will seize. The salts used on roads in the winter accelerate all kinds of corrosion. Salts are necessary to make the epoxy resins which hold carbon fiber together, and salts do a fine job of taking them apart.
No, your bike won't melt if you get it wet, and it will die much slower than a slug when exposed to salt. But I do mean to say that yes, salt and water will damage all of the components on your bike if you're inattentive. Here's what you can (should) do:
Frame
Your concern should be greatest if you have a steel frame. Water will enter the frame and cause rust if the inside of the frame isn't treated, and any exposed exterior metal will be similarly at risk of rusting.
First, find out if your frame is already treated - some tubesets are treated before they are assembled into a frame, some tubesets are made from stainless steel, etc.. Most manufacturers don't treat their stuff, though, and you should do it yourself. JP Weigle's Frame Saver is made to protect steel bike frames. It's like a can full of melted Crayola crayons which you spray into your bike, resulting in a waxy barrier between water and metal (and because of the fragrance, a bonus blast from your coloring book past). You can also find many metal preparations at hardware stores which sell welding stuff. All you need to do is coat the inside of your frame with something which is hydrophobic and which won't dissolve the grease you use in your bottom bracket and headset.
Second, try to prevent water's entering your frame. Put a liberal amount of anti-seize compound or grease on your bottom bracket threads (you should do this for other reasons too, but the grease will do a good job of excluding water). Put some grease on all of your bottle cage bolts' threads, too. If your seatpost binder/collar works how it should, you should be able to put a lot of grease on your seatpost - much of the water which gets in your frame enters at the top of your seat tube. Keep plenty of grease in your headset bearings if they're free, and coat your cartridge bearings in grease if they aren't.
DON'T obstruct your frame's weep holes in any way! These holes don't admit water, and are necessary for draining your frame. It's also important for water vapor to have some way to exit the frame. Plugging weep holes will promote rusting by slowing the rate at which your frame dries.
If your paint or powdercoat is damaged enough that bare metal is exposed, cover that metal with something. I have found that fingernail polish works great: it comes in EVERY COLOR, is easy to find, and is packaged with a handy brush! Touch-up paint from your frame manufacturer is obviously the ideal thing to use. Cover the metal, even if you just put some clear acrylic paint over it.
Aluminum and titanium frames don't corrode fast enough to justify coating them with anything. It's still a good idea to liberally use anti-seize compound or grease where components' threads interface your frame for a number of reasons. Similarly, keeping water out of a carbon frame is important because salts can lead to deterioration of epoxies.
Drivetrain
The best thing you can do for your chain is keep it well-lubricated with a product which excludes water. If you use a wax-based lube, this means you have to be very attentive to your chain and lube it frequently. Oil-based lubes are better than wax at excluding water from a chain. You can find excellent lubricants at industrial supply places, from lubricant specialists like Amsoil, and so forth. Good lubricant means long chain and component life. Keep things lubricated, or they will rust and gall!
Lube your derailleurs, too. Keeping the pivots lubed will exclude water from them, preventing rust, and keeping them in tip-top shifting shape for a long time.
Cables
This one is easy:
1. ALWAYS USE STAINLESS STEEL CABLES
2. ALWAYS USE LINED HOUSING
3. Seal your cable system to some degree
Stainless cables cost negligibly more than galvanized cables. You can also find kevlar/Spectra/etc. cables out there, and these are nice - they won't rust, weight nearly nothing, and are stronger than steel in some ways (you just have to be careful when fixing them to components with pinch bolts). Unlined housing is hard to find these days (the lining in lined housing is plastic, between the metal of the housing and the metal of the cable), so it shouldn't be hard for you to choose lined housing.
"Sealed" cable systems are those which have some degree of shielding between the cable and the outside world. Some of these systems feature a liner which runs from lever to brake/derailleur - these are the most thoroughly sealed systems, and housing fits over the liner. Other systems use "regular" housing, but feature special ferrules which interface with "shielding" housing which runs between housing stops on the frame. The former is usually a more expensive system, necessarily installed at-once, and the latter is often something you can apply more cheaply to your existing cable system.
Here are photos of each type of system:
|
| A continuous lining system. The black lining continues uninterrupted through the housing. The clear piece can be moved to facilitate lubricating the cable. |
|
|
| A shielded system. The red pieces slide over special ferrules, and are only applied in straight sections between housing stops on the frame. | |
The point of sealing or shielding cables is to keep them clean and dry. A rusted cable inside the lining of a sealed cable is probably worse than no lining/sealing at all, so if you're going to use such a system you should be sure it is pretty impervious to water . . .
Ferrules are available with "seals" as well - these feature a rubber O-ring at the aperture through which the cable passes, helping to keep stuff from entering the housing.
Other things you can do to keep your cables and housing in good shape include lubing your cables, and drying them when possible. You can leave everything installed and adjusted and pull ferrules out of slotted housing stops to allow them to drain. This is only useful if you have water in housing which can be appropriately position to drain, but it's a good idea to do this if you've ridden in heavy rain.
Other Stuff
I don't like it when the various bolts on my bike rust - usually this happens because some water is held in a bolt head by surface tension, and even if you store your bike indoors you'll see rust in bolt heads unless you're excessively picky about drying your bike. So, I put some clear fingernail polish on the inside of each hex bolt, and this works great. The polish material isn't too strong, so when I need to move the bolt I can just chip the polish away with the wrench and things work fine. Another thing you can do is cut a small hole out of a piece of cardboard and spray clear enamel through it. Either way you do it, you end up with bolts which won't end up unsightly due to rust. Be careful with enamel, though - if it's in a spray can then it comes out with a solvent, and this solvent is capable of solvating paint which is already on your bike. So try not to get overspray on anything.
Here's a no-brainer: put fenders on your bike. If you really plan on riding a lot in the rain, fenders will do a lot to keep water and grit off of you and off of your bike. They do a great job of keeping water out of your lower headset assembly, and out of your bottom bracket.
Plastic rim strips don't absorb water; cloth strips do. A few coats of carnauba wax on your topcoat will keep salty road grit from dulling your paint. You should use light oil to lubricate a radial pawl freehub body, but a layer of grease outside of its bearing retaining ring will keep water out of the assembly.
Contaminated grease gradually becomes nonfunctional and should be replaced. If you use a tiny amount of grease on your headset spacers, handlebar clamp area, etc., then you'll want to clean the respective parts and apply new grease if these parts develop creaks due to wet-weather riding.
I hope some of this was useful! Happy riding.