After Rain Ride Rituals

[GuyGadois]

It didn't used to rain this much in SLO. Lately, it has seems more like Scotland than California. In any case, I wanted to get advice from those with rain experience. When I return from a ride in the rain what after ride cleanup rituals do you do to the bike?

I ride a steel bike with lots of cable guides that water can hide under. Currently, I wipe down the entire bike, spray T9 on the cable guides and downtube cable stop (then wipe off excess), run a cloth over the chain and then add some Park chain lube and wipe off excess.

Anything else I should be doing to keep the ol' Bob Jackson fresh and spiffy?

Guy

[Steve in SLO]

Pull out the seat and hang the bike upside down. It's surprising how much water can get into the seat tube.

[soulspinner]

Pull out the seat and hang the bike upside down. It's surprising how much water can get into the seat tube.

+1

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . I also take out the seatpost and put it upside down. If it's been a seriously wet ride I also do this and take it and put it in my basement bathroom with the door closed and my portable de-humidifier running in there for 8 hours or so.

BBD

[godfrey1112000]

It didn't used to rain this much in SLO. Lately, it has seems more like Scotland than California. In any case, I wanted to get advice from those with rain experience. When I return from a ride in the rain what after ride cleanup rituals do you do to the bike?

I ride a steel bike with lots of cable guides that water can hide under. Currently, I wipe down the entire bike, spray T9 on the cable guides and downtube cable stop (then wipe off excess), run a cloth over the chain and then add some Park chain lube and wipe off excess.

Anything else I should be doing to keep the ol' Bob Jackson fresh and spiffy?

Guy

I agree on the seat post, I had my BB pulled and the LBS guys kidded me
forever about the water down there,

Also, a spay and wipe car wax cleans, shines and makes the next time clean up easy. I also use windex to clean dirt, never have used it but some people swear by pledge, if my wife saw me use it it might cut down on cycling time due to new dusting duties

I do clean and lub the cables with a ProGold ProLink Chain Lubricant or equal product, LBS said it helps extend cable life

[sg8357]

How about a drain hole in the bottom bracket ?

A nice set of metal fenders are a good idea too,
gives your bike that NAHBS look. :)

[wasfast]

The frequency that you ride in the rain makes a difference in how much you want to do. Here in the PNW, I ride my rain bike 6 months of the year and commute on it daily. The only daily routine is to hose it off when I get home (I have a dedicated wash area next to the garage) and re-oil the chain every couple days.

Getting the sandy grit off the bike makes the single biggest difference. Days when the roads are wet but not necessarily raining are the worst. Heavy rain washes off a lot of it.

I pull the chain, chainrings and jockey wheels once a month for a good cleaning/degunking/relubing. Kool Stop salmon pads last 4-5 months, Open Pro rims last 1-2 years before worn out.

The comment about pulling the seatpost depends greatly on the bike. The leak points are the top of the seatpost under the saddle and the split joint in the seat tube clamp area. Drain holes are only effective on bike that don't have a closed bottom bracket shell. Many carbon and aluminum bikes have a complete aluminum cylinder for the BB which doesn't need, nor help, drainage.

I realize that Portland, Seattle etc don't represent the climate many of you live in but thought I'd share nonetheless.

[TimD]

Hose it off, try not to get "too much" water in the BB and White ENO rear hub, try not to get the saddle wet, try not to squirt water in the lights or take them off first.

Bang it up and down a few times to shake the water off.

Maybe wipe the tubes down with a towel, maybe not.

Wipe down the (stainless) chain, re-lube every now and then.

The ENO hub is not as 'bomb-proof' as one might think or want.

YMMV :)

Tim

[John M]

The frequency that you ride in the rain makes a difference in how much you want to do. Here in the PNW, I ride my rain bike 6 months of the year and commute on it daily. The only daily routine is to hose it off when I get home (I have a dedicated wash area next to the garage) and re-oil the chain every couple days.

Getting the sandy grit off the bike makes the single biggest difference. Days when the roads are wet but not necessarily raining are the worst. Heavy rain washes off a lot of it.

I pull the chain, chainrings and jockey wheels once a month for a good cleaning/degunking/relubing. Kool Stop salmon pads last 4-5 months, Open Pro rims last 1-2 years before worn out.

The comment about pulling the seatpost depends greatly on the bike. The leak points are the top of the seatpost under the saddle and the split joint in the seat tube clamp area. Drain holes are only effective on bike that don't have a closed bottom bracket shell. Many carbon and aluminum bikes have a complete aluminum cylinder for the BB which doesn't need, nor help, drainage.

I realize that Portland, Seattle etc don't represent the climate many of you live in but thought I'd share nonetheless.

I live in Seattle, and this is pretty much what I do. You can do all that stuff with the seatpost, T9, etc...and it will help but the bike won't fall apart if you don't.

[skijoring]

The frequency that you ride in the rain makes a difference in how much you want to do. Here in the PNW, I ride my rain bike 6 months of the year and commute on it daily. The only daily routine is to hose it off when I get home (I have a dedicated wash area next to the garage) and re-oil the chain every couple days.

Getting the sandy grit off the bike makes the single biggest difference. Days when the roads are wet but not necessarily raining are the worst. Heavy rain washes off a lot of it.

I pull the chain, chainrings and jockey wheels once a month for a good cleaning/degunking/relubing. Kool Stop salmon pads last 4-5 months, Open Pro rims last 1-2 years before worn out.

The comment about pulling the seatpost depends greatly on the bike. The leak points are the top of the seatpost under the saddle and the split joint in the seat tube clamp area. Drain holes are only effective on bike that don't have a closed bottom bracket shell. Many carbon and aluminum bikes have a complete aluminum cylinder for the BB which doesn't need, nor help, drainage.

I realize that Portland, Seattle etc don't represent the climate many of you live in but thought I'd share nonetheless.

I'm surprised you only get 1-2 years out of a rim, even with the weather there. And with Kool Stop salmon pads...Open Pro and their variants keep getting softer or what?

[jpw]

A nice relaxing bath.

[BengeBoy]

I live in Seattle too and do lots of commuting and recreational riding in the rain.

As mentioned above, my major concern is grit, not moisture. I try to get the grit off the moving parts and off the rims and brake areas after every weekend ride. On my commuter, I am not as careful (to be honest, it gets put away dripping wet most nights), but I try to give it a pretty thorough cleaning every weekend.

I go through brake pads on my commuter bike pretty quickly. I will be happy if I get two years off the rims on my commuter bike.

I don't do any of the draining stuff.

[veloduffer]

Regrease seatpost and seat tube - rain spraying down the seat tube and causing corrosion/interaction results in stuck seatpost.

My friend's seatpost was stuck so badly that he had to bring it to a builder to heat the seat tube to remove it (aluminum and steel heat at different rates). Of course, then he had to get a new paint job. Expensive lesson. :bike:

[GuyGadois]

Regrease seatpost and seat tube - rain spraying down the seat tube and causing corrosion/interaction results in stuck seatpost.

My friend's seatpost was stuck so badly that he had to bring it to a builder to heat the seat tube to remove it (aluminum and steel heat at different rates). Of course, then he had to get a new paint job. Expensive lesson. :bike:

I just had this happen to a friend of mine's stem. I worked on his Pinarello for days until I came across a great bit of advice - don't heat the tubing which weakens it and ruins the paint. Instead, get one of those cans of air, turn it upside down and spray the post and cool it for many minutes (to approximately 50 kelvin). AL shrinks faster than steel and breaks the seal. Your paint will be ok and the tubing won't weaken.

Guy

[thwart]

I've found softening some beeswax (or similar product) and putting a bead around the seatpost/frame junction area seems to keep water out.

[Waldo]

Stuff shoes with newspaper.

[Erik.Lazdins]

On my rain bike, I lean it against a wall and put a fan on it - the frame dries out pretty quickly - every fortnight wash and relube

QuestionIf you have a steel frame thats been frame-saverized that has a hole in the bb and the seatpost interface with the frame isn't air tight - would water not just run out?

The times I have pulled the saddle - its been dry - am I missing something?

[xjoex]

I immediately wipe it down with a rag, then wipe the chain with a rag and apply new white lightning.

But I started getting a little crazy lately, I use my air compressor to blow water out of all the bolts, brakes, etc... It helps to keep all the small parts from rusting.

And lately I have been using a small ultrasonic cleaner on my commuter bike chain once a week.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Jz4f840sc_c/S1PQadlfJzI/AAAAAAAACV8/WaHim5SUeQY/s400/IMGP1268.JPG

-Joe

[Bob Loblaw]

I go through brake pads on my commuter bike pretty quickly. I will be happy if I get two years off the rims on my commuter bike.

I don't do any of the draining stuff.

I do lots of rain riding too, thousands of miles a year. The seatpost draining applies mostly to bikes without fenders. Bikes with fenders (like Guy's Bob Jackson) don't usually have this issue.

Not much to be done about rim and brake pad killing grit. Also, pedals go pretty fast. I killed a set of Keos in a season and a half...wore right through the platform.

BL

[Ti Designs]

I hang my bike up and have a beer.

Water doesn't bother my bike much (not that I've asked it), but I can't stand starting a ride in wet shoes. For this reason, and one other stupid reason, I have two pair of almost the same shoes. See, my bikes are blue on one side and red on the other, so I bought a pair of red Specialized Pro shoes and a pair of blue ones, thus making two pairs of shoes that match my bike. If one pair gets wet I ride with the other pair. So one morning I put on the second pair, and they're all wet! I got home, took off my wet shoes, stuffed 'em with newspaper (it really does work) and hung my [wet] bike directly over my second pair...

[GuyGadois]

Thanks everyone for the tis. Removing the seatpost from the Bob Jackson won't be that easy since it has my patent pending PBR shim to keep it from slipping. I'll check to see if has a cutout BB but I think not cause it is a '74. Wasn't the cutout an 80's craze? I bet the fenders help out a bit too.

Guy

[soulspinner]

I hang my bike up and have a beer.

Water doesn't bother my bike much (not that I've asked it), but I can't stand starting a ride in wet shoes. For this reason, and one other stupid reason, I have two pair of almost the same shoes. See, my bikes are blue on one side and red on the other, so I bought a pair of red Specialized Pro shoes and a pair of blue ones, thus making two pairs of shoes that match my bike. If one pair gets wet I ride with the other pair. So one morning I put on the second pair, and they're all wet! I got home, took off my wet shoes, stuffed 'em with newspaper (it really does work) and hung my [wet] bike directly over my second pair...

:p

[Velosmith]

+1 for the NW rituals. I'd just add that we finally gave up on gear maintenance and went fixed for training rides. Much less maintenance.

[Velosmith]

And lately I have been using a small ultrasonic cleaner on my commuter bike chain once a week.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Jz4f840sc_c/S1PQadlfJzI/AAAAAAAACV8/WaHim5SUeQY/s400/IMGP1268.JPG

-Joe[/QUOTE]

Been doing this also for the last 3 years. I don't think it does much for chain life but it seems to make a big difference on gears.