Commuting - Water-resistant parts?

I have a Schwinn LeTour from the early 90's that I use as a commuter. The rain here is taking a toll on the bearings and races, and I'm getting tired of having to overhaul the hubs, pedals, and headset.

I've seen people use sections of tubes as a boot for the lower part of the headset, and I'm planning on doing that as well. But as for the pedals and hubs -- is there any way to reduce or simplify maintenance without spending a lot of money?

I've seen WTB's Grease Guard stuff for sale -- anyone care to comment on the pros and cons of using Grease Guard hubs and pedals?

What do you all do to deal with the rain?

I have a Schwinn LeTour from the early 90's that I use as a commuter. The rain here is taking a toll on the bearings and races, and I'm getting tired of having to overhaul the hubs, pedals, and headset.

I've seen people use sections of tubes as a boot for the lower part of the headset, and I'm planning on doing that as well. But as for the pedals and hubs -- is there any way to reduce or simplify maintenance without spending a lot of money?

I've seen WTB's Grease Guard stuff for sale -- anyone care to comment on the pros and cons of using Grease Guard hubs and pedals?

What do you all do to deal with the rain?

I´ve never had any problems with water getting into the bearings. I use Finishline teflon grease and i overhaul bearings once every two years or something. If you ride in very wet conditions an old innertube round the headset sounds like a good idea. Just be careful not trapping dirt inside the innertube. Take of and clean every now and then. Grease Guerd hubs does not seems like a cheap solution but sure more convenient :)

Well you could replace the headset with a chris king.. it has a 10 year warranty so no worries for atleast that long :) They are expensive but how much is this yearly rebuild costing you?

What kind of hubs do you currently have? Some have better seals then others.

You can always try packing the outsides of bearings with marine grease. This works especially well with sealed bearings-the marine grease is thick as hell, and acts like a barrier, letting the bearing roll in their own lubricant, nice and dry.

I'm talking about hub overhauls every month or two, if it's rainy. I wish I could do it every two years!

The hubs on the bike are the original ones that came with the bike, which claim to be sealed, but I sure can't find any seals when I take them apart. I find overhauling pedals to be the the most irritating since they have so many tiny little bearings.

Thanks for the marine grease tip -- can you get this from places other than boat shops?

Oh - and no King headset for me -- that would cost more than the rest of the bike! I think the inner tube boot will work out for me here. If only I could rig a similar solution for the hubs and pedals...

Thanks for the marine grease tip -- can you get this from places other than boat shops?

I just noticed that Home Depot carries it, if you have one near you...

Every month or two that sounds horrible.. could it be the grease? I know that is a long shot but might be worth a thought..

I think a big part of the problem is that the bearings just aren't sealed. I overhauled the headset just now, and the lower race was completely gunked up. There were no seals of any sort; it was just the cup, bearings, and cone. No rubber or plastic rings in sight. Hopefully the rubber boot will do the trick here.

I'm definitely going to try using marine grease in the hubs. Hopefully it'll reduce the frequency of overhauls..

Pack the grease in till it starts to overflow. Leave some on the outside, but dont rub it back inside. It will seal the space.

Ahhh! a subject close to my heart. This is a real problem that plagues lower quality hubs. I had a brand new bike with Simano Sora hubs and they lasted a couple of months winter riding before the hubs were running rough. The "seals" are useless, ill fitting plastic split washers.
Even a thick grease, applied liberally will emulsify given enough water and time. Without a good rubber seal it is very hard to prevent this problem over long periods (in my experience). I tried Finish Line's teflon grease with limited sucess. The only answer is to prevent mixing of grease and water. I have experimented with home made seals to replace the Sora's plastic seals and improved things slightly, though this is still under evaluation. My first home made seals made from old inner tube were broken down by the grease. The second set cut from silicone rubber are holding up rather better. When I posted about this on the forum a while ago, another member suggested using plumbers valve/gland packing material to create a seal. The exact construction of the hub would determine if this could work in your case.

Eventually I saved up and had a set of wheels built using Shimano Deore MTB hubs (on a road bike? you ask in horror). Comparing the exploded diagrams of the hubs on the Shimano website showed that these are considerably better sealed than the Sora hubs and not too expensive. So far they have performed very well and are still lovely and smooth after a 12 months riding.


Good luck with your problem,

Ed

(on a road bike? you ask in horror)
Ed
Not at all, I rode with a parralax MBT sealed hub for a long time on my road, and it was great for taking the all weather commuting punishment.

I would check your seals, or just replace your components, I live in rain central and only have to repack my bearings every couple of years. Your bike should be able to handle rain without having to relube every 2 months.

Sounds like I should invest in nicer equipment... I'll try it out and let you all know how it turns out.

YOu can start off with the small things like the headset CaneCreek makes some nice ones with good seals for $20-50... that should last you years..

How about a Schmidt dynamo hub?

This is from http://www.kinetics.org.uk

An example of attention to detail on the SON...: The SON is a very high precision hub - in fact, it is airtight. Because it it airtight, the air inside expands and contracts with changes in temperature, and SON found that in some circumstances this could suck water in past the seals on the bearings. To solve this, they fitted an internal bellows connected by a tiny tube to the outside air - the bellows expands and contracts to compensate for changes in temperature, but keeps the hub completely sealed against the elements. That’s how good SON are at attention to detail!

This is from http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/Schmidt-Lumotec.asp

Made by Wilfried Schmidt Maschinenbau in Tubingen, Germany, the hub is quiet and reliable, and is designed to give 50,000 kilometers of trouble free riding between servicing.



Look at that! 50000 kilometers of troublefree cycling. No repacks, no service, no problems. I have rode mine for some 2000 km so hopefully I have some 48000 km left to ride without serviceing, anyway this is the idea.

Alright this piece of equipment is not cheap but could turn out as a good investment in the end AND you get a high class weather resistant dynamo with reasonable high output and almost no drag when in action and no drag at all when not in operating mode and it looks good, damn good. Check it out.

Good luck!

There is always that line between cost and value.. when you go to cheap on average (not always the case) things won't last as long or require more service.. but then you have opposite end of spectrum where they might last 10 times as long but cost 100x as much.. so is it worth it.. Of course then you have to throw in the coolness factor.. lightness factor etc.. which alot of times add to cost but not to actual longevity or value.