That picture was taken in my office when I was staying late at work one night last winter. It could have been anywhere from 10 *F to -10 *F at the time.

You don't rinse your bike off when it's that cold. Weather varies from winter to winter quite a bit but we can easily go several weeks with temps never getting above freezing. So unless I want to drag my bike into the basement and attempt to wash it off there, it's not going to happen.

The rust you see is almost entirely from the chain. It splatters rust everywhere else. I can clean/lube a chain and it can look like that a few days later. It can also stay clean for weeks depending on the temps and how much salty slush is on the roads. Cold and dry is best. Now, it's not like I don't ever clean the bike off. Here's how it looked this afternoon:



But with two young kids at home, having a clean bike has fallen pretty low on the list of priorities.