Re: [RBW] Do you ride your Rivendell in the winter, or use a beater bike?

[Lyle Bogart]

The damage from salt and such isn't an issue until the temperature starts to rise a bit above zero F. Where do you ride at? When in doubt, a simple rinse of the bike with not-very-high-presure water will keep her from rusting on you. You might also give the bike a protective pre-season coat of car wax which you can renew as needed. 

Cheers!

lyle 

On 8 August 2012 11:12, lungimsam <john1...@gmail.com> wrote:

I really want to ride mine this winter, but don't want it to get damaged by road salts.

Any ideas? How do you keep it safe from salt?

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lyle f bogart dpt

156 bradford rd

wiscasset, me 04578

207.882.6494

206.794.6937

[Eric Platt]

I choose not to.  However, there is someone in St. Paul, MN who I've regularly seen on an AHH.  Also, a co-worker has a Protovelo (Bleriot) that she uses for commuting.  It's been converted to semi-horizontal dropouts and has a 5 speed i.g. hub.

 

Personally, I use either my Surly LHT or a Surly Cross Check as the heavy powder coating seems to resist rust a bit better.  My bikes sit in an unheated garage all winter and rarely get cleaned.  Many years past, I destroyed a very nice Specialized Stumpjumper that got too much crud built up on the bottom bracket.  After about 3 winters it rotted through.

 

Eric Platt

St. Paul, MN

[Lyle Bogart]

Correction: "temperature starts to rise a bit above zero F. . . " should read "much above freezing (32 degrees F) . . " and, yes, I ride my atlantis in the winter. . . 

Chers!

lyle

[robert zeidler]

Hell yes. It gets regular TLC (Atlantis). It's been frame-savered
though, and I use it s a chain lube also.

[Larry Powers]

I ride my beater bike in the winter and most of the rest of the year as well.  Of course my friend called my Quickbeam the most expensive beater bike he has ever seen.

Larry Powers
 
Get a bicycle.  You will not regret it if you live. - Mark Twain

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Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 08:12:32 -0700
From: john1...@gmail.com
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [RBW] Do you ride your Rivendell in the winter, or use a beater bike?

[Kelly]

Well I ride my bikes in winter and had no issues. Fenders keep most the gunk off. Wheels collected the vast majority of dirt so I would wipe down the wheels around the nipples once in awhile.

Now put those winter photos, after all these 100'plus degree days we need cooling off :)

AHH
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tksleeper/5288695002/in/set-72157625432975212

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tksleeper/5356457612/in/set-72157625432975212

Bomba
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tksleeper/6629290559/in/set-72157628701780997/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tksleeper/6629298479/in/set-72157628701780997

Kelly

[Zack]

I ride mine in the winter, in Vermont.  Love it.  I thought about getting a "beater" but that would just be time spent on a bike that I don't love, which isn't worth it.  I probably wouldn't ride without fenders though, as wintertime increases the amount of junk on the road that is getting kicked up into the bike.  

I also just ride the bike, and don't keep it showroom clean all the time (although I do buff it up from time to time just because I think that's fun).  

[Allan in Portland]

I live in Portland so take this answer with a grain of salt (heh). But when I first got my AHH I intended for it to be a summer bike. Once winter arrived I couldn't bring myself to stop riding it.

-Allan

[Liesl]

I ride in Minneapolis/St. Paul in the winter, and I have two winter beaters: an '86 Trek 620 and a 98 kona fire mountain.  I had the kona before I found Riv's, and rode it in the winter to begin with, so it stays in the winter beater category.  It's the one bike that sports studded tires.   When I got my Saluki in 2006, the kona felt like an old Econoline van and lay fallow in the basement.  So winter comes and I wasn't excited about riding the kona but I didn't want to be so hard on my Saluki, so I found the Trek.  I was ideal because it had seen a lot of use and had been converted to a single.  Singles are great in urban snow/winter.  Then I fell in love with single speeds (it's endless, isn't it?) and got a proto bleriot that I made into a single.  At this point, all of these bikes have seen snow and salt and grime.  The bleriot comes out for those very cold days when the roads are mostly dry even though there's snow.  The Trek does duty on the regular old salty grimey slushy roads.  The kona, with its with studded tires, comes out for the saltiest grimiest ruttiest conditions.    The Saluki goes into hibernation, but sometimes gets caught in an early/late snow. 

For me, much of it is about tire choice.  Unless I need them, I don't like knobbies and I really don't like studs.  That said, I am not immune to slipping and falling on ruts—this is probably one of the biggest dangers winter bikers here talk about.  (Just ask Jim Thill!)  So I grab the most sure-footed for the conditions.  This helps keep both me and the bike from getting bent and broken. 

And yes, the salt and slush are very hard on the bikes if you don't get it wiped down after a ride.

And I love seeing photos of Rivs in snow!!!!

Liesl

[Joe K]

I don't really take out the Riv in the snow, but here in the NYC area
we have many, many winter days with no snow or wet roads at all. But
there's still plenty of salt out there, and I worry about what that
might do to the bike.

Nonetheless I take the Riv out now and then on those clear bright
winter days. I should probably have rinsed it down afterwards, but it
still looks good.

The regular winter bike is my Univega beater, which is also my year-
round shopping bike, as it has racks and folding baskets.

Joe K

[Rob]

I commute on my Saluki all year 'round. I'm in Seattle, so salt is very, very rarely an issue, but it does consistently rain here eight months/year. The Saluki has fenders and 'flaps, which keep most of the grit off the bike, and I (fairly) regularly wash the bike and lube the chain. The home-made flap made a big difference: http://www.flickr.com/photos/robharrison/7682504902/

Riding this bike gives me inordinate pleasure. Life is too short not to enjoy the wonderful things in it as much and as often as possible. 

Rob in Seattle

[Marc Irwin]

In the past, no; but this year I am buying Nokia Extreme 29ers for my Hunq. I am worried about the road crud also,but the MUP's could be a lot of fun with an inch or two of ice and 3 inches of fresh snow. I just can't resist.

Marc