I took a chance at riding outside yesterday despite a forecast of on and off showers. Probably not the best decision I have ever made but needed a break from the trainer. I rode about 3 1/2 hours and it rained almost the entire time. My bike and I were completely soaked. When I finished, I turned my bike upside down and a lot of water came poring out. Is there anything special I should do to my bike after this. I wiped it down a bit but I’m wondering if I should take the tires off the rims? What about the cassette and chain? It feels like water got inside the frame.
You could leave the frame upside down for a day or so to get any remaining water out. If the frame is anything but steel, the water won’t have any affect on it. The tires should be fine. Unless you can feel water under them. I’ve had that happen when riding in some hard downpours. Definitely clean the cassette and clean and lube the chain.
After every rain ride I do the following …
Wash the bike using car soap. Lightly rinse it off not directing water at bearings. I drop the fork and clean out lower headset bearing. Remove seat post and turn bike upside down to let water drain out. I thoroughly clean brakes and pads, and inspect them for little shards of aluminum embedded in them. Lastly, I mist the bike with car wax that comes in a spray bottle and wipe it down dry. Then I set the bike in front of a fan to accelerate drying. After its dry I relubricate everything. Yes, I am anal with this but my bikes and components last a long time. I do have an old bike dedicated to crappy days though.
After every rain ride I do the following …
Wash the bike using car soap. Lightly rinse it off not directing water at bearings. I drop the fork and clean out lower headset bearing. Remove seat post and turn bike upside down to let water drain out. I thoroughly clean brakes and pads, and inspect them for little shards of aluminum embedded in them. Lastly, I mist the bike with car wax that comes in a spray bottle and wipe it down dry. Then I set the bike in front of a fan to accelerate drying. After its dry I relubricate everything. Yes, I am anal with this but my bikes and components last a long time. I do have an old bike dedicated to crappy days though.
Damn, that sounds like it takes almost as long as the ride itself!
After every rain ride I do the following …
Wash the bike using car soap. Lightly rinse it off not directing water at bearings. I drop the fork and clean out lower headset bearing. Remove seat post and turn bike upside down to let water drain out. I thoroughly clean brakes and pads, and inspect them for little shards of aluminum embedded in them. Lastly, I mist the bike with car wax that comes in a spray bottle and wipe it down dry. Then I set the bike in front of a fan to accelerate drying. After its dry I relubricate everything. Yes, I am anal with this but my bikes and components last a long time. I do have an old bike dedicated to crappy days though.
Damn, that sounds like it takes almost as long as the ride itself!Eh, about a half an hour or so. The lower headset bearing is a must to clean after every rain ride. It’s taking the brunt of the spray off the front wheel
I just give her a soapy wash to get the gunk off , blow off the components with air compressor and relube.
Personally, I rinse down with water (being careful not to spray aggressively near bearings), dry, and usually wipe off and relube the chain. I’ve never dropped the fork, wonder if I have grit built up in there?
This is what I did after my grungy ride on Friday. It really doesn’t take long, as the bike doesn’t get taken apart in any way.
Hose off bike. Clean chain using one of those cleaning chamber thingies (with citrus cleaner) while chain is still on the bike. Dip old toothbrush into citrus cleaner, scrub the cassette, and gently clean front and back derailleur. With a sponge, wash whole bike with a bit of dish soap in a bucket of water. Don’t forget the brakes, wheels, and under the bottom bracket. Hose off, including the chain etc. you just de-greased. Spray on frame polish. Wipe down with an old sock worn on your hand. With another sock on your hand, grab the chain and pedal it around a few times to get rid of excess water. Put a drop of teflon/dry lube on each link. Pedal it through a few times. Apply WD-40 to cable entrances, derailleurs, and where your brakes move. Voila… clean, shiny bike.
After every rain ride I do the following …
Wash the bike using car soap. Lightly rinse it off not directing water at bearings. I drop the fork and clean out lower headset bearing. Remove seat post and turn bike upside down to let water drain out. I thoroughly clean brakes and pads, and inspect them for little shards of aluminum embedded in them. Lastly, I mist the bike with car wax that comes in a spray bottle and wipe it down dry. Then I set the bike in front of a fan to accelerate drying. After its dry I relubricate everything. Yes, I am anal with this but my bikes and components last a long time. I do have an old bike dedicated to crappy days though.
Man…I wish I lived near you and you loved doing two bikes instead of just one!
I ride a lot in the rain. Post ride, clean the chain, clean the rims and brake pads, rinse down the bike. Every three months, take the bike to my LBS where the pull the hubs, bb, and headset apart, clean them up and lube them.
simple green or diesel to clean your chain and cogs, clean the rims up with soapy water, pull the post so it dries and put the bike inside for a little while. Put some oil on the chain and wipe it with a rag, it’s like 10 minutes, you can ride in the rain all you want it’s no big deal
I took a chance at riding outside yesterday despite a forecast of on and off showers. Probably not the best decision I have ever made but needed a break from the trainer. I rode about 3 1/2 hours and it rained almost the entire time. My bike and I were completely soaked. When I finished, I turned my bike upside down and a lot of water came poring out. Is there anything special I should do to my bike after this. I wiped it down a bit but I’m wondering if I should take the tires off the rims? What about the cassette and chain? It feels like water got inside the frame.
I do a lot of rainriding (Vancouver), the important post wet ride procedure is to get the water out of your chain to stop rust. I use a wd40 spray down on the chain to displace the moisture, and then do an immediate re-lube.
The rest of the drive train should get a spray and wipedown too
After every rain ride I do the following …
Wash the bike using car soap. Lightly rinse it off not directing water at bearings. I drop the fork and clean out lower headset bearing. Remove seat post and turn bike upside down to let water drain out. I thoroughly clean brakes and pads, and inspect them for little shards of aluminum embedded in them. Lastly, I mist the bike with car wax that comes in a spray bottle and wipe it down dry. Then I set the bike in front of a fan to accelerate drying. After its dry I relubricate everything. Yes, I am anal with this but my bikes and components last a long time. I do have an old bike dedicated to crappy days though.
Damn, that sounds like it takes almost as long as the ride itself!Eh, about a half an hour or so. The lower headset bearing is a must to clean after every rain ride. It’s taking the brunt of the spray off the front wheel
Fenders are an easy way to protect that, plus you really want them anyhow if you ride in the rain with a group.
I took a chance at riding outside yesterday despite a forecast of on and off showers. Probably not the best decision I have ever made but needed a break from the trainer. I rode about 3 1/2 hours and it rained almost the entire time. My bike and I were completely soaked. When I finished, I turned my bike upside down and a lot of water came poring out. Is there anything special I should do to my bike after this. I wiped it down a bit but I’m wondering if I should take the tires off the rims? What about the cassette and chain? It feels like water got inside the frame.
I do a lot of rainriding (Vancouver), the important post wet ride procedure is to get the water out of your chain to stop rust. I use a wd40 spray down on the chain to displace the moisture, and then do an immediate re-lube.
The rest of the drive train should get a spray and wipedown too
Hmm, you’re suggesting anytime one hoses down the bike, one should use WD40 to displace moisture off the chain before relubing it? This (possibly sketchy) source suggests WD40 actually attracts water and is a particular no-no for bicycle chains: http://lifehacker.com/...ould-i-not-use-wd-40
They’re all mad!
I ride all the time in the rain.
If you don’t care about your bike being a little dirty, just clean your chain to get rid of any grit and re-lube.
If you want a nice clean bike, hose it down (low pressure water, not a jet washer) immediately after the ride before anything’s dried onto it and then re-lube.
Anything more than a couple of minutes post ride maintenance is overkill. Half an hour is nuts.
They’re all mad!
I ride all the time in the rain.
If you don’t care about your bike being a little dirty, just clean your chain to get rid of any grit and re-lube.
If you want a nice clean bike, hose it down (low pressure water, not a jet washer) immediately after the ride before anything’s dried onto it and then re-lube.
Anything more than a couple of minutes post ride maintenance is overkill. Half an hour is nuts.
I agree, in the winter i run a hose from the laundry tub so i can melt the salt slush off with hot water, but this time of year I just use some soap in a bucket and a brush, though my hose is under snow this morning.
Having a bike with fenders that you don’t mind trashing makes winter/rain riding easier too, you can run big tires and a single gear and just hose it off like a wet dog and forget it
They’re all mad!
I ride all the time in the rain.
If you don’t care about your bike being a little dirty, just clean your chain to get rid of any grit and re-lube.
If you want a nice clean bike, hose it down (low pressure water, not a jet washer) immediately after the ride before anything’s dried onto it and then re-lube.
Anything more than a couple of minutes post ride maintenance is overkill. Half an hour is nuts.
Agree. Rinse off, clean and re-lube chain.
…The lower headset bearing is a must to clean after every rain ride. It’s taking the brunt of the spray off the front wheel
Forgot to mention this in my last post.
Are you actually suggesting I dismantle the front end of the bike to clean the bearing after every wet ride? If so, you’re insane. If not, can you explain what you do mean?
I have noticed over the years both here and on another cycling forum that there are lots of people who seem to follow obsessive cleaning and maintenance rituals and who seem to consider these activities not only to be good practice but essential and to be aspired to. IMO this is deluded and more a function of object/technology lust (objectophilia) than good practice. For example if I understand the above quote correctly, we’re being told it’s “a must” to drop the headset out of the head tube and clean it after every ride where there’s rain. Firstly, if the bearing is not well enough protected to deal with the spray that will come from the front wheel in normal wet conditions then the bike design is not fit for purpose. Secondly this constant removal (or at least loosening) of the stem clamp will almost certainly do more harm than the foreign matter imagined to have gotten into the bearing.
I ride very regularly in the rain. I’ve been know to come in from a cold wet ride and put the bike aside while I went to get warmed up and then forgot to come back to it. Worst case you come back 24 or 48hrs later and find rust spots on the chain. Big deal, it’s not a structural concern and after cleaning and re-lube it’ll be fine. Do it regularly or leave it weeks and you might end up with some stiff links which isn’t the end of the world but it’s not good. So while a little drying, cleaning and re-lubing is best, your bike won’t fall apart if you neglect it a bit. I rode the same bike for 4 winters with this attitude to maintenance. Never replaced a headset bearing and never had any problems with the bike. Riding with lots of grit on the chain or insufficient lubrication will increase chain, cassette and chain-ring wear and make for a less smooth running drive train but this is a very simple thing to address and is the reason I would recommend a rinse and re-lube.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess those with the most excessive approach to post rainy ride maintenance and cleaning are those who very rarely ride in rain?
I live in the northeast, so I do ride in the rain. Some of us like clean well maintained equipment. If you don’t, that’s fine. From my 25 years of racing and riding I know that the lower headset bearing takes a beating. It’s takes me 10 minutes to drop it, wipe it clean and reapply a thin layer of grease on it. I also use a torque wrench on everything carbon. I’ve never had a stem or bar fail on me over the years from over tightening or removing them too often. I have broken several mtb frames over the years but that’s because while I keep my stuff clean and maintained, I also ride the shit out of it.
…Some of us like clean well maintained equipment. If you don’t, that’s fine…
Clean and well maintained is great. Over-cleaned and over-maintained is also possible. More maintenance is not the same as better maintenance.
The only things I feel obligated to clean after a rainy ride are my brake pads, rim brake surface, and chain.