rkelley23

So today i went on my first ride since being rather sick and it was a great ride aside from the fact that its been wet here and it flat poured for about 5 min. anyway i got back from my ride, changed tossed my clothes in the washing machine and hopped in the shower and when i got out i went to get some things i had left in my saddle bag and noticed that my cables running across my top tube were rusty, which of course got me worried about the rest of my bike. What do I need to worry about when i get caught in the rain? what routine of sorts should i go through upon completion of a wet ride?

merlinextraligh

dry the bike. Clean and lube chain. Beyond that I wouldn't worry too much about it.

pretzelface

Hose the bike down outside when you get home, before all the road grime has the chance to dry. You'll save yourself some scrubbing later (although you'll still have to scrub occasionally). Pay special attention to the rims and brakes, and try to avoid spraying water directly into the bearings (BB, hubs, headset). Get it as dry as reasonably possible. Lube the chain, and squirt a little into the allen wrench holes of any rust-prone bolts on your stem or seat binder. Also, the springs on my cross bike's MTB pedals seem to like a light squirt of Tri-Flo, but my road bike pedals don't care much.

Velo Dog

I go along with what everybody else said. I've ridden in the rain quite a bit (we don't get much of it here, so it's a treat when we get a chance), and it's never caused a problem even though all my bikes but one are steel. One is a mid-'80s Trek that lived near the ocean for several years and has been ridden in snow/sand/salt since I bought it in about 1995. There's some superficial rust on the paint chips, but nothing I can feel or see otherwise.
FWIW, I pretty much ignore rain except for lubing the chain more often. After I've ridden on salted roads, I just hose everything off (it's already wet), bounce the bike a few times to shake off the water, then lube. I use ProLink on the chain in summer, but switch to something greasier and heavier in winter. Now that I think of it, though, hardly anything sticks to ProLink and everything sticks to heavy goop, so maybe I'll stop doing that.

nhluhr

Riding in the rain is only a problem when you don't do proper maintenance on your bike.

After a ride, just wipe dry the whole bike, paying special attention around bearing interfaces. When you have time, pop the cables out of the slotted frame guides and apply some slick-honey or tri-flow to them (sparingly) and then put them back in. that is usually all the cables need. lube your chain and wipe off all excess.

Eclectus

Rain isn't a problem. It's when it snows and they dump salt.

rkelley23

thank god I live in south Texas, where the only snow we see comes from south of the boarder and travels up I-35