Winter Bike Maintenance Guide
As snow settles in and temperatures drop, we cyclists face the harsh reality of winter riding. While some of us store our bikes for the season and pull out the skis, others embrace indoor trainers, brave the cold for year-round riding, or do a mixture of both. Whatever your choice, winter presents unique challenges for bike maintenance. Even if you’re not riding through the winter months, a few key maintenance steps can help protect your bike and ensure it's ready to roll when spring arrives.
Trainer Maintenance
As temperatures drop and snow accumulates, many will turn to an indoor routine. While it might not be obvious that your trainer needs maintenance, there are a number of things you can do to prolong the life of your indoor equipment.
Your biggest enemy is corrosion, and it sneaks up on you. When you're not riding in the muck, the last thing on your mind is how your bike might corrode. However, the indoor trainer brings corrosion back into the equation—it happens fast, and you need to stay on top of it. Many riders sweat a lot on the trainer which can cause significant corrosion given time. The electrolytes in sweat can cause surfaces to corrode and can lead to bearings seizing up. Make sure after trainer sessions, you wipe off your bike and excess sweat to prevent this. Key areas to check for corrosion are your saddle rails, seatpost clamp hardware, headset and stem area, as well as brake levers/shifters. Riding with a towel draped over your bar and stem can capture sweat and prevent it from soaking into your components. Make sure that if you sweat enough to soak the towel, you remove it from the bike when you're done and wipe off any excess moisture. When taking your bike off the trainer, another place to check is under your brake hoods. In addition, the brake clamp underneath your bar tape can oftentimes get corroded. Sitting right under your hand, this metal band soaks in the sweat trapped by your bar tape and can corrode, causing damage to your bar, carbon or alloy. So, do yourself a favor and replace your bar tape after the winter season, and please check the area for any corrosion or damage.
When it comes to drivetrain cleanliness and wear on the trainer, we recommend a drip lube. An excellent trainer lube is Dumonde Tech, but most drip lubes work great! When you take the bike off the trainer, make sure to double-check all of the bolts, make sure everything is tight, give it a thorough clean and run-through. The MSW tool kit has almost all of the tools you need for this, plus some more.
Outdoor Riding Up Keep
Winter cycling is not for the faint of heart, and hardcore riders will spend their bike time outside even when things get wet and snowy. But riding in these conditions can be rough on the bike, and we are here to make sure your bike keeps running smoothly through the season.
Tip number one, use fenders!! The best thing you can do for your bike when riding in the wet is to keep as much water off it as possible. Using fenders reduces the amount of splash-back on the drivetrain, bottom bracket, and headset. Fenders won't keep everything off—water is still bound to get on your bike. Be sure to wash your bike regularly to prevent excess dirt and grime from accumulating. This is especially important to avoid corrosion caused by salt present on roads in the winter. Investing in some bike specific cleaning products and brushes is an excellent idea to help keep your bike in tip top shape this winter!
In addition, it is best practice to lube your chain regularly and we recommend wiping your chain down after every ride. Your chain is one of the first areas to rust so it is important to remove contaminants as soon as possible to prolong the life of your drivetrain.
The other area on a bike that gets a lot of water ingress is the bottom bracket. This would be something that after a season of wet riding you should check to make sure it doesn't need to be replaced. Bottom brackets such as those made by Wheels MFG have replaceable bearings that are pressed into the threaded section of the BB. These can be replaced regularly for $15-18 a bearing. It’s also a good idea to watch your brakes! Wet roads bring oils and grime up from the surface that can contaminate your pads and rotors, regularly cleaning off your rotors and pads with isopropyl alcohol is a great idea!
Storage And Winter Repair
If you plan to hang your bike for the winter season make sure you do some preventative maintenance first. Give your bike a thorough wash, lube the chain properly, and make sure your dropper post is fully extended before you hang it up. If a bike is hung or stored with the dropper post down for extended periods of time, it can start having issues returning completely. Another good thing to do before you hang it is to deal with the tires! If you ride tubeless, pop the bead of the tire off the rim and drain any sealant in the wheels. This prevents the sealant from solidifying in the bottom of the tire in a pool causing an extreme tire wobble from un-even weight. Winter is also an excellent time to catch up on all your bike repair needs! In depth services such as linkage rebuilds, suspension services, dropper services, cable and housing replacement, and brake bleeds can be tackled over winter to ensure your bike is ready to go come spring time.
And if you would rather do the maintenance yourself, winter is the perfect time for that too! If you want to learn how to do some things yourself, do it now as you have the extra time when not riding. Wera has an Advent calendar of tools, perfectly themed to the season and you can use them while you learn how to do some at-home wrenching. Check out our shops YouTube channel, or the Park Tool channel for some how-to’s.
Looking to get some of these services done to your bike? Come by the shop anytime to drop your ride off for a winter tune-up. When you stop by make sure to browse our selection of cleaning products, lubes, trainers and tools. At Contender Bicycles we have everything you need to keep pedaling this winter!