Originally Posted by
Thulsadoom
I'm a firm believer that you need a "winter bike" if you're going to be riding in the winter. I'd never ride one of my regular bikes in the salt. My winter bike gets cleaned once or twice a season. Occasionally I'll spray off the gunk and lube everything up real good but most of the time I just lube the chain and let the rest of the bike stay filthy.
I fully agree.
Last season, I used a spray bottle with warm water after every ride in wet conditions. I also wiped and occasionally cleaned the chain and re-applied oil frequently. I wore out the chain in a season anyway.
This season, I've only been applying oil to the chain which has a gooey black buildup around it and the associated drive train parts. The bike has a nice coating of brown and white crud. Getting it wet will only accelerate rust and if I have to replace the chain after a season anyway, why bother cleaning it?
My winter bike (has plastic fenders now).