Corrosion free groupo?

[Jacomus-rides-Gen]

lol, no horse at this house luckily!

My brakes are 105 and I find the same thing as you - rust in the allen key hole for the brake shoes. I usually leave a tiny blob of FinishLine Kevlar grease in there, but there is little one can do about rust in those bolts.

Have you thought about a trip to B&Q armed with a brake shoe, and trying to find some tougher bolts there?

 

[Tim Bennet.]

I don't think any group sets use stainless. Also in salty environments, stainless tends to weep rust, especially on edges or threads. In fact the corrosion of stainless steel can be more rapid than high tensile steel. It only really works well in large flat expanses that are polished and open to the air. I went to see some 35mm diameter A4 (316L) keel bolts this morning that had corroded through in less than a year.

Most bikes that go 'rusty' are too dry. The lubing as above is good, as is the liberal use of grease when you assemble parts. Once a part is back together, then wipe away any grease that is visible. Under no circumstances use Fairy Liquid (loaded with salt) or Muck Off (strips all lubes away) on a bike. Use a decent car 'Wash & Polish' and then dry and spray lube.

The most (economically) durable winter components are probably around Veloce / Deore / Tiagra / 105 that are kept nice and oily / greasy. Anything more than this will probably fair no better and will be more expensive to replace. Having a winter bike isn't just about mudguards / lights, etc, it's also so you can hide away in the shed all the ugly ravages of winter once the salt is gone off the road. And then bring out 'The Summer Bike'! Not long now!

 

[Monty Dog]

In my experience, the better the quality of the groupset then the better quality of materials / finishing makes it more resistant to corrosion. Having slowly upgraded over the years, my training bike now sports older Record and Chorus parts and needs very little attention all year round - apart from the obligatory clean and lube - in fact the titanium fasteners on Record are probably the best of all!