How good does the weather need to be to use your summer bike?

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Mortiroloboy

New Member
Once all the salt is washed off the roads, there's little or no chance of precipitation, and I don't need to wrap up like Mr bibendum!
 

RedBike

New Member
Location
Beside the road
So that it can come back off a ride looking pretty clean / definately not completely covered in salt.
 
I really can't understand the summer/winter bike thing. I have bikes for different uses (mountain, road, folder) but what happens in the winter that stops you using one bike and start using another?

If you get salt on it- there is not much to rust on a modern bike as it is all alloy or plastic. You have as much chance of geting rain on it in the summer as in the winter.

An old relative of mine bought a new car. He kept it for 15 years and in all that time he kept the original plastic covers on the seats. What did he achieve? Just 15 years of sitting on plastic instead of a nice comfortable seat. If you have something then use it and enjoy it.
 

Leadlegs

New Member
If the roads are wet I use my bike with mudguards fitted. If the roads are dry I use my bike that doesn't have mudguards fitted, it also happens to be my best bike (most expensive).

Where I live the roads are usually wet/damp from mid-November until mid-March. I suppose that means that I have a winter and summer bike by default.
 

RedBike

New Member
Location
Beside the road
I really can't understand the summer/winter bike thing. I have bikes for different uses (mountain, road, folder) but what happens in the winter that stops you using one bike and start using another?

Anyone who say this either hasn't got a summer bike or they're made of money.

Its works out a heck of a lot cheaper to use a winter hack on wet mucky roads than it does to go around riding your best bike and wearing out expensive kit.

You also have the advantage of being able to kit out your winter hack ready for bad weather wereas your best bike can stay mud-guard / light free.
 

stephec

Squire
Location
Bolton
RedBike said:
Anyone who say this either hasn't got a summer bike or they're made of money.

Its works out a heck of a lot cheaper to use a winter hack on wet mucky roads than it does to go around riding your best bike and wearing out expensive kit.

You also have the advantage of being able to kit out your winter hack ready for bad weather wereas your best bike can stay mud-guard / light free.

Agreed. My Giant TCR is sat in the front room winking at me where it's been since November, but it won't tempt me. It doesn't take full length mudguards, which is why I currently use the old Kinesis winter bike.

Come April I'll get it out for a spin and hopefully fly along when I feel the difference.
 

gbb

Squire
Location
Peterborough
Using your summer bike in the winter can cause problems.
My last Via Nirone was cossetted for the first two years...then i started using it through the winter when the weather seemed ok and dry.
At the end of that winter...i found scabby corrosion round the brake mount, hole at the back of the front fork. That lifted some of the carbon away.

My guess is that although i didnt ride in the outright wet..inevitably it did occasionally get damp, including some salt that was left on the roads. Although i clean my bike very regularly (even the hack) in the winter, damp could settle in the brake mount holes. I've also noticed some furry corrosion on the spoke nipples of my Shimano wheels on the winter bike.

My thoughts...if you only have one bike, ride it all year...but keep it super clean in the winter.
But then...why not get an old Raleigh racer (or simiar) , have some extra interest in that, and protect your pride and joy.
 

Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
Over The Hill said:
I really can't understand the summer/winter bike thing. I have bikes for different uses (mountain, road, folder) but what happens in the winter that stops you using one bike and start using another?

If you get salt on it- there is not much to rust on a modern bike as it is all alloy or plastic. You have as much chance of geting rain on it in the summer as in the winter.

An old relative of mine bought a new car. He kept it for 15 years and in all that time he kept the original plastic covers on the seats. What did he achieve? Just 15 years of sitting on plastic instead of a nice comfortable seat. If you have something then use it and enjoy it.
Yessss!
My best bike goes out in all weathers, the only change I make to my TCR is that I have heavier winter wheels with heftier 25c Krylions for winter saving my Reynolds/PR3 lightweight combo for the spring/summer club season.
Mudguards? F*ck it, just get out and ride... you're a long time dead...
 
Like I said This is my 2nd winter on my Cayo '07. It gets washed maybe twice a month and I've still not seen anything that makes me think I should wrap ot up for the winter. I have another road bike that I use on my turbo, but I'd never consider using this instead of the Cayo.

Saying that, the MD of the company I work for has a Bentlet Continental which he won't take out if it's raining!!!
 

goo_mason

Champion barbed-wire hurdler
Location
Leith, Edinburgh
When I got my SCR2 last April, I kept my Carrera Vulcan MTB with the intention of using it when the winter weather set in.

I've enjoyed the SCR2 so much that I've never stopped riding it since ;)
The Vulcan is sitting, all forlorn, with its tyres slowly going down. Perhaps I'll sell it this year...
 

Chris James

Über Member
Location
Huddersfield
My bike sports mudguards all year round. As long as you keep it clean I don't subscribe to the view that bikes automatically fall to pieces in the winter.

Grit is the main problem, but they grit the roads around here for at least four months of the year, maybe more. I'd never get out on a 'summer' bike - or at least I woudln't get out enough to justify buying it in the first place!

Having said that, I am thinking of adopting a similar stragety to Fab Foodie and getting myself a pair of lightweight wheels for summer, ones that will never see grit.

The rest of the bike will have to look after itself.
 

Neilwoo123

Active Member
Location
Shropshire
Your all mad!

Use your best bike all year round come rain or shine, just keep it clean.
I may be weired but I find it very relaxing stripping and cleaning my bike and leaving it in the lounge winking at me. All the more fun cause it drives the wife mental!! ;)

Why spend money on two bikes, lights and maintenance when one nice bike will do!

Just my twopence worth.

There is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothes!!!
 

Randochap

Senior hunter
Illogical as it may seem, my titanium-frame bike is in the closet until the weather improves and all the salt and grit spread on the roads from our record December snowfall has been cleaned up.

I'm using my steel bikes right now.

Why, when titanium won't rust? You may well arsk.

Word up: Campagnolo Record.

My bikes.

BTW, All my bikes take mudguards
 
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