Originally Posted by
Greenfieldja
You can certainly ride your new wheels throughout the winter and whether you have problems or not will depend on how much TLC you give them and what the road conditions will be like. If you live in an area where they salt the roads then you will need to spend more time making sure to clean your stuff off.
If your new wheels were bought for performance and are nice then you may find that you will shorten their service life considerably if the winter conditions you ride in are harsh.
Since you have your old wheels (at least thats what I infered from your post), then why no ride them throughout the winter and save the newer/performance oriented wheels for nicer weather?
-j
This.
I have a decent set of wheels to commute on which 1) have sealed cartridge bearings, not loose-ball / cup-and-cone 2) are not super-expensive to repair / replace and 3) have a relatively thick anodising that protects what is underneath to a reasonable level.
I ride through most conditions on them and have had them for two years with no problems, but I make sure I rinse at least the rims down pretty regularly. Every day if there is any salt around. Also, as soon as I hear the grinding when I brake (grit / build-up of metallic shards in the brake pads), I take a file to them to minimise wear to the rims.