I just moved to the midwest from the west coast, so i haven't been biking much in sub-freezing weather before. I'm having this weird thing on both my bicycles where my shifters keep freezing in place and i can't downshift. Both my chain lube and WD-40 haven't been helping.
Any bright ideas?
Any bright ideas?
posted by:
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California
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Re: biking in the winter...
Sun, December 2, 2007 - 9:42 PMever thaught of going single speed?
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Re: biking in the winter...
Mon, December 3, 2007 - 9:07 AMfixedgear.tribe.net.... theres the link to a fixed gear tribe... i ride my fixie everywhere i go. everyday, even in the winter. with very minimal maintanence a fixed gear bike can get you a long way.... one other good link on fixed gear is sheldonbrown.com/fixed/index.html even if you stick with your gears, sheldon brown may have some good pointers for keeping your bike working smoothly in the winter...check it out, i hope it helps......what area of the midwest are you in? i stay in chicago. let me know if you are in the area and want to give a single speed bike a try...i have a few -
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Re: biking in the winter...
Wed, December 5, 2007 - 9:12 PMthanks, i have a fixie, but i prefer to ride my mountain bike in the snow...
i figure there must be some secret to keeping the shifters working.
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Re: biking in the winter...
Mon, December 10, 2007 - 7:47 PMChicago, here. I use Tri-Flo or Boeshield on derailluer pivot points, etc. Trick is to be sure they're well lubed so as to preclude water getting in between the parts. Re-lube often. Don't be afraind to have a little drip (but any more than that is wasted) and put something underneath to catch it.
Hopefully you have somewhere protected to stash the bike. If it's outside all winter, I'm not sure what will work.
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Re: biking in the winter...
Mon, December 10, 2007 - 7:50 PMChicago, here. I use Tri-Flo or Boeshield on derailluer pivot points, etc. Trick is to be sure they're well lubed so as to preclude water getting in between the parts. Re-lube often. Don't be afraind to have a little drip (but any more than that is wasted) and put something underneath to catch it.
Hopefully you have somewhere protected to stash the bike. If it's outside all winter, I'm not sure what will work.
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Re: biking in the winter...
Tue, December 11, 2007 - 2:09 PMI ride all winter in eastern Washinton State. I think the key is keeping things dry, whether with plenty of the right lube to keep water out, or keeping the bike inside where the warmth and dry air will take care of it (generally my approach, and I almost never have a problem unless I´m riding in slush, and then it´s not shifters/cables/deraileurs, but rather slush cloging up the cassette for the higher gears), or if you can think of some other approach. Freezing water is the problem. -
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Re: biking in the winter...
Fri, January 11, 2008 - 12:51 PMAt least your in Eastern WA Scot
It's nearly Impossible to ride a bicycle all winter in the Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia area.
We get an annual Rainfall of FORTY SIX Inches of Rain per year here (nearly FOUR FEET of Rain!) This translates into about 295 "Rain Days" per year!
From December to May it rains almost EVERY Single Day,then we have "Sun Breaks" and a SHORT six WEEK "summer" where it actually goes OVER 75 degree's and we have "Full Sun" Days.
Winter here consists of:
36-48 degree WET Damp or Rain-filled Days.
And from May till October,excluding our Six Week "Summer"(last 2 weeks in July and all of August)) it rains a portion of almost every single day and the day can start out at 68 degree's and DROP to 40 degree;s with the cold Rains.
I "Used to be an avid Cyclist"...but NOT in this Climate!
Riding a Bike in all this Rain we get here just Destroys the Bike no matter What Lube you use to try to protect it. -
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Re: biking in the winter...
Sun, March 30, 2008 - 11:11 AMdude, that is not true. loads of people bicycle year around in the pacific northWET, including myself. wear raingear, and keep things lubed so they don't rust. but if you really hate it here, you can always move to spokane. i only stop riding if the roads are icy, or if the wind is gale-force.
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