Bicycle Mechanics - post-ride maintenance after rain

Until yesterday, I've never intentionally ridden in the rain...

I rode a metric century in the rain yesterday, and I'm wondering what kind of post-ride maintenance I should do. For mtb-types, this kind of abuse is par, but for a road weenie, well, I usually go for kinder, gentler conditions.

Chain maintenance is a given. Other than the sealed casette bottom bracket, all the other bearings are cup & cone (ca. '99 Ultegra). Should I:

1) ride on, dude
2) clean and repack everything
3) take one apart and decide about the rest based on that?
4) Other

Any Belgians, Brits, or others out there who deal with inclement weather on a regular basis?

Thanks in advance!

Originally posted by roadbuzz

1) ride on, dude
2) clean and repack everything
3) take one apart and decide about the rest based on that?
4) Other


I would vote for no. (2) if circumstances allow it, but will be very interested in hearing the Europeans' opinions.

Spray it off, dry it, relube the chain and you're good to go. If you do regular maintenance on the bike, you're in no trouble. That's the news from the four seasons of Chicago.

when I am already out and it started to rain, that I cannot avoid, so when I go home, I will hang the bike rear tire first and let it drip and dry/ ( water gets inside the frame tube and the only way you can get the water out if you hang them upside down) and since I have a sealed bottom bracket, I just take out the bottom bracket and the dry it out, wash and dry the chain and relube them again, as for the Head set I will re-grease them again, and the bike feels that it hasn't been rode on rain...ahhh, remember my bike has feeling too they need my tender loving care......

It depends on what kind and how much air pollution you have where you rode in the rain.

Generally, Rasco is correct that you should only have to dry it off and re-lube the chain.

However, if you are in an area with bad air pollution - especially coal generated air pollution, then you need to wash your bike and dry it.

I have seen bikes rust away in garages simply from acidic air from pollution. Acid rain is worse.

If you live in an area with acid rain problems, you know what I am talking about.

Remember, even if the town you live it is small and is not a generator of much pollution, the air in your community could be terrible due to pollution from cities hundreds of miles away.

Did you see the story on national news a couple of weeks ago about the pollution from Chicago drifting up into Wisconsin? Small towns with no industry over 350 miles north of Chicago had D- air quality ratings due to the pollution drifts from Chicago; Worse than living in Chicago central!

Canada has long suffered from acid rain produced mainly in the USA.

The point is that acid rain WILL eat your bike, so keep this in mind before you simply park your machine after rain exposure.

Servus!

As a honorary European, my answer to you is 3/4.

I regularly ride in crap weather (no choice there) and that means muddy trails for me on a regular basis. I look at my bearings once a month and determine if they need cleaning/replacing. Your road bike shouldn't take as much abuse my MTB should receive during a wet-weather excursion (no up to the hubs mud puddles for you, no river crossings) so I would recommend bi-monthly checks. Repack, replace as necessary. Of course, squeaks and grinds should be investigated immediately, but you already know that.

BTW - "sealed bearing unit" means "hidden maintenance area" in bike shop speak. You have to check them as regularly as a standard cup and race bearing set. I had a BB die on me that was a "sealed unit" after a particularly grueling wet weather ride. The LBS guy showed me the mound of grit that had worked it's way inside the unit and led to it's untimely demise. Beware!

Most bearing surfaces in the wheels especially have some kind of an outer seal on the hub. Also in most cases they are packed with a waterproof grease. Your headset is vulnerable but there again there is the grease. Orguasch is correct by hanging it from the rear wheel. The most prone pieces are the drivetrain, the chain especially it should be cleaned and re lubed after a wet ride. Lube the pivots of the derailleur's providing they are not all sealed. I am against spraying it off, especially if you are going to use a hose. If you must clean it then use a wet rag, soap, and then get the soap off with a wet rag then dry.

I ride all year/all weather in the UK.
Ultegra is sealed well enough to prevent the ingress of normal rain. I wouldn't feel the need to strip my bike after every rainy ride, or I'd have to strip it every day.
The cons of unneccessary stripping are that the bearings wear themselves into a shiny groove.
When you disturb them, they have to wear in again. All the metal flakes end up in the grease, and can lead to further abrasion. Thats why pro-level kit comes with grease injection ports, to flush out the metal, together with any dirt or water.

I would say that 2 to 4 repacks a year is sufficient.

When you do repack the bearings, make sure you use a lot of grease. It will work its way through the seals at first, but then you know its packed solid with no room for grunge to get in.

Sealed cartridge bearing are sealed against the loss of grease in high-speed /low torque use, not against the ingress of dirt at low speed/high torque applications or from a pressure hose. Avoid any hosing, detergent or solvent in the area of seals.

As for hanging your frame, internal water is usually the result of condensation, not rain. If you do have water inside the BB shell, where will it go ? If the BB is a simple TIG welded tube, then it wont go anywhere.
If you have a lugged frame, the water may drain into other tubes, and even find its way inside the head tube (EEK).

It has been said before on this thread (thanks Ranger and MichaelW) that off-road riding necessitates bearing cleaning and repacking more often than road biking.

I would like to point out that grease effectively protects your bearings from moisture, but it does not protect from dust. Actually, if you mix a little dust, dirt, grit with grease, it makes for an excellent abrasive bearing eater and bearing cup destroyer.

For this reason, I always make sure to wipe off any excess grease that oozes out from the sides of the bearing cones, lest the excess grease becomes a dust magnet which can eventually get sucked back into the bearings. I have seen some guys leave this excess in place thinking that it is extra moisture protection.

Hunter and Orguasch mention hanging the bike from the rear wheel. This seems curious to me. Most back stays have holes in them for moisture release. If you ride in the rain or through water, these holes become water intakes. I alway thought you would hang the bike from the front wheel to allow the water to run out through these holes. If you hang your bike from the rear wheel, doesn't the water flow down into the bottom bracket and headset? Somebody explain that one to me.

Thanks, all.

Well, I checked the front and rear wheel bearings. There was no evidence of any moisture ingress. Amazing! If these are any indication, the headset's probably in good shape to. The chain, on the other hand, was as dry as the Sahara (but clean!).

Looks like I'm not going to be able to use rain as an excuse not to ride any more.

As long as you are not riding in handlebar-deep puddles, the bike should be okay after a wipe-off & drying, then perhaps a bit of lube to the chain and derailleur pivot points.

Might I suggest that you build up a banger for duty in the wet?

I keep an old bike around for rides when I know I shall be caught in the rain... (although at this precise moment, it is broken... shredded-tire blowout on the way home last night, rode the last half mile all wobbly on ruined flat.)

My rainbike receives a few Cambronne touches to ready it for the wet:

I packed all of the bearings with moly-disulfide (car axle) grease. Yes, it is thick and viscous, and raises rotational effort a bit... but it lasts forever... and keeps moisture out of the bearings. I also run a bead of Vaseline around the exposed axle shafts and around various dust caps.

I lube the chain with motorcycle chain wax... by Maxima. Yes, it stiffens the chain (one could probably remove it from the bike and hold it out straight.) It also helps the chain survive 2 500 to 3 000 miles of this madness, and doesn't have to be reapplied after every rainy commute.

I liberally grease the cables with an aerosol lithium grease that I found at Lowes, and spray some on the derailleur pivots as well.

All of this goo wipes off with a bit of WD40, which also kills those pesky gnats that hover around your face as you try to work...

The bike is a very old former-top-of-the-line Trek hybrid, so I can run 700X35 inverted tread street tires (they look a bit like sport moto tires.) The tubes each get 4oz of Slime, as I do detest repairing punctures under a downpour... Whatever compound is in brake dust, it comes off of the rim easily, but becomes permanent once it adheres to skin and clothing.

The frame is alloy, the seat is torn, and the whole bike is decorated with reflectors, blinkies, and retroreflective tape. I use Mt. Zefal mudguards and a Blackburn rear rack with a water-resistant rack trunk, but I still wrap the belongings inside in plastic grocery bags.

I like it! Especially the advice for dealing with pesky gnats!

One more follow-up.

I had a flat on this evening's ride, and when I pulled the tire off, the inside of the rim and rim tape was soaked. After I got home, I pulled both tires off and am letting the wheels dry overnight. I guess most everything is aluminum or stainless, so corrosion shouldn't be a problem. I suppose the moisture could be a problem if you used cornstarch based powder, rather than talc, on your tubes.

Sorry, Roadbuzz, aluminum WILL corrode. It gets a white patina.

I have seen this when riding in salty road slush in winter. I too incorrectly thought that aluminum would not corrode.

Depending on the quality of the stainless, it can corrode as well; not as bad a regular steel, but in spotty patches. If the part is "Made in China", as many bike parts are these days, there is a higher probability of spotty stainless steel. This is especially the case if the Chinese manufacturer used locally made materials.

I'm no metallurgist [now I need the spell-checker!], but I can testify from experience with cheap aluminum cooking utensils that aluminum can corrode REAL BAD. I imagine there are different grades of aluminum just as with most metals.

(By the way, aluminum-in-cooking/Alzheimer's connection has been disproved, for this year. Next year, who knows.)