rpenmanparker 

I only have good bikes.

Soody

Ride it if you've got it! Maybe a very rare classic bike would be saved, but not any modern bike.

Not riding your bike to keep it nice is like not banging your girlfriend to save her for the next man.



Ass savers have nothing on real fenders but they're $10 and take 10 seconds to take on and off.

tagaproject6

Too much hand wringing over your bike. Ride it. You should own your bike...not the other way around.

Carbonfiberboy 

I much, much prefer to ride a bike with full fenders in the rain. Clip-ons are OK on wet roads, but are not the same in the rain. So you should have a bike that can take fenders for rainy days. The other thing is a set of rain wheels: conventional wheels with high quality sealed bearing hubs and inexpensive rims. I built up a cheap aluminum frame with high quality components, identical to my "nice bike" and OpenPro rims. I think good components last longer and perform better under difficult conditions. A carbon frame would be even better than aluminum. The trick is to have a fork that can pass a fender and a decent size tire, so probably a cross fork. Disks can be good but have downsides too. My rain bike has a conventional carbon road fork that won't pass a fender, so I macgyvered a fender mount onto the aft brake nut and cut the fender off so that it fit against the fork. That's worked very well.

So I'd say, sure ride the nice bike. I rode mine for years before building a rain bike. But buy a dedicated rain wheelset with a twin of your usual cassette right away. Some day, build a nice rain bike.

link0

I ride my carbon bike for rainy weather and my steel bikes when it's dry. Carbon doesn't rust.

Wingsprint

I ride my "good" road bike in the rain and wet conditions. Call me crazy but I enjoy riding in the rain... After a wet ride, I clean the bike and lube the chain. No problems.

redfooj

Its just a bicycle i ride my nice steel one when i want

Most of the time its me that doesnt want to be caught out in the wet

rpenmanparker 

What do fenders have to do with whether you ride your best bike in the rain. We aren't talking about protecting the rider from the rain. We are talking about protecting the bike. Fenders have nothing to do with that.

Vicegrip

not eating road spray is important to me as well. I ride rain or shine. Fender equped CADD X for the known rain, slushy or salty road rides. If the non rain bike gets soaked it gets a hose rinse off, 2 min careful blow dry with compressed air and chain lube before being put in the rack. I use a sticky chain lube on the rain bike and pay attention to the cables too. Wiping the frame makes them look better but the drivetrain and other moving parts are where I focus service.

Bandera

My fenders are attached to the bicycle and keep road-spooge from slucing directly into the headset and calipers and bathing the BB and front derail in a grit bath as well as keeping the same off my back. This definitely protects the machine, keeps post ride maintenance to a minimum and avoids premature component wear/replacement.

It rained over night, the roads are soaking wet and I'll be taking the Winter/Wet bike out in a bit for a couple of pleasant hours in the hills.

-Bandera

Bob Ross

- If I know there's a good chance of it raining during a ride, I'll bring the backup bike.
- If I know there's a really good chance of it raining long & hard during a ride, I'll stay home.
- If I'm out on a ride on my nice bike and it starts to rain, I just deal with it. Bikes get wet, that's part of the deal.

And if either the nice bike or the backup bike gets rained on during a ride, I definitely wipe it down afterwards. Terry cloth towels or paper towels, some soapy water or Simple Green, and if I'm feeling adventurous a final wipe-down with Pledge Wipes. Also, I'll use WD-40 on the chain as a water-displacer...and then lube the chain the next day.

shelbyfv

I think the option of using "rain tires" is good, whether on a dedicated bike or a spare set of wheels if storage space challenged. Flats are more prevalent and more aggravating in the rain. I like a 28 with some flat protection. I've recently installed a set of full SKS fenders on one bike and the bike stayed much cleaner during a rain ride, hardly any grit on the drivetrain. In my case the fenders complicate my preferred method of transport (fork mount) so not sure if they'll be a permanent addition.

bikecrate

I don't knowingly start out if it is raining. If there is a higher possibility of rain I take my hybrid, but only because it is easier to wipe down than the road bike. However, I don't mind if the road bike gets wet.

floridamtb

If I didn't take my good bike out for fear of it getting wet I'd never get to ride it. Here in south Florida it's going to rain OR in some cities they water the road as much as they water the median and edge of road so I'm always riding through wet stretches. Just wipe it down real good after each ride, you'll be fine and so will the bike.

Icculus21

I have one bike because that's all I have room for or could afford. If it's raining I won't go out, but I've been caught in the rain and just give the bike a wipedown after the ride, and a real cleaning every so often. I don't need the stress of worrying about getting a bike wet; after all, they're made to be used out doors. Everybody gets caught in the rain, it happens.

Icculus21

Ohhh I like that! I don't think I've see ass-savers, but that would save me a lot of hassle. Plus, it makes it look like you're going faster.

bikejrff

Rainy or wet road days are my rest days. Every other day is a riding day.

mcours2006

I just rode my vintage steel in a downpour today, puddles and everything. No fenders. No biggie. It's just water.

Bandera

Are you Shure about that?
What mixture of filth, grit, pesticide and petroleum flung up from the road is "just water"?
Did it taste like pure rain water or a combined sewage/oil spill cocktail?

-Bandera

loimpact

Dave Cutter

My Fuji Newest (that I had bought new).... is now my old bike that I call my rain bike. Sometimes... I call it my winter bike, or the trainer bike, or back-up bike... you get the picture.

I don't go cycling during a rain storm. But if the weather report is sketchy... I will take the Fuji.

Today the phones weather app had sun forecast for the entire day. So after my morning ride on my normal daily rider... I switched bicycles... and took my vintage Trek 1400 for a fast 20 mile ride on a nice flat MUP. The rain poured down. I could barely see the bike path, and because of the high wind I could barely stay on the path. So much for rain bike usage. I think I might stick with the term... back-up bike.

BTW... I keep all my bikes clean and well maintained.

Ghazmh

I have a nice road bike for the rain, winter and the dark (beefy 32 spoke wheelset that can withstand potholes with ease) and an even nicer road bike for the nice weather

mcours2006

Yeah, I'm sure it's water. And I don't make it a habit of drinking/tasting rain water, especially after it's fallen on the ground.

roccobike

I have a 96 Cannondale that I use as a back-up/ bad weather bike. But I've been caught out on a ride on one of the newer, CF bikes when a rain storm that was not predicted rolled in. When that happens I go through and completely clean the CF bike. The back-up bike, not so much.

v70cat

Wonder what the steel is real crowd will say about that?