General Cycling Discussion - Saltwater Bicycle

We like riding on the beach and get into saltwater occasionally. We usually ride in wet sand, but sometimes get into looser sand. Does anyone make a bike that is saltwater or especially corrosion resistant?

We are light riders looking as much for comfort as performance a cruiser or something similar would be great. We’d rather have brakes and gears that don’t rust than the fastest or lightest.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Alligatorob

The best advice I can give is to wash and lube after the ride. The beach is horrible on a bike, so here is one place that I would say that a cheaper bike is better.

My friend rides like that every day and he is the type that thinks maintenance is a squirt of WD-40 on the chain. He buys the $99 special and replaces it once a year. It is usually beyond repair by then.

Ti and carbon should be impervious to rust. OK the chain andother replaceable stuffwill rust. Or you can wipe with WD-40 (water displacer) the wipe dry and lube.
Sounds like it's risky though.

Joe

Keeping sand and water out of the bearing is difficult, even with the best (expensive) seals. A grease-injection system will allow you to clean any gunk out of the hubs, bottom bracket, pedals and even headset with a squirt of a grease gun. You can get some conversion kits, and some equipment with the ports already in place.
Consider a fixed gear bike.

Look for a crusier with an aluminum frame and fork, Eletra, Jamis, Hampton Crusier, and Diamondback make a crusier model like such. Jamis Taxi crusier, altough a rental fleet favorite, are specced with a cartridge bottom bracket, which are about the same durablitly as cup and cone BBs, but are easier to service and are not as prone to damage that makes the bike unservicable. Try to get a nickel plated chain, and lube it with a good teflon lube, such as Tri-FLow or Liquid Wrench Super Lubricant. Beach riding is messy and confusing sometimes. You'd think a dry chain lube would work because of the blowing sand, but the inevitable water contact will wash it off. About once a year, you'll want to repack the hubs, but have an LBS do the rear hub if it's a coaster brake.

TI or AL would be impervious to the salt, BUT anything on the bike that is not made of that stuff would become rusted after awhile. Make sure your hubs and BB are the sealed kind-most are these days. After every ride just hose off the bike with fresh water and clean and relube the chain. The worst thing about beach riding is the sand eating away at your gears and chain and ocean spray carries with it sand particles, so even if you don't have blowing sand the water carries it.