Hey guys first time on these forums and hopefully not my last
So about two summers ago now I bought my first "real" mountain bike, a Marin hawk hill se. After buying that bike, I was so immediately hooked on cycling as a sport and also as a main mode of transportation that during the summer that just passed I sold my beloved Marin and bought myself a Scott Scale 60 as a sort of graduation gift. I've loved the bike so much and have put over 2500 km just over the summer alone, so it goes without saying that she is my baby and I like to take good care of her and expect her to last a minimum of 4 years of solid riding.
Back story aside, I live in Canada and it's obviously currently winter. Lately I have been fighting an urge to bike in the snow, because I'm under the belief that it will ruin my bike/damage it/ruin the lifespan. But I would really like to get out theere on the odd occasion, maybe even just to bike to work which is a 15 minute ride and it's not even too bad out.
So my question to all you is, will winter with all the snow and salt etc, ruin my expensive mountain bike or do damage to it ? If I ride it for 15 minutes to work for example and it sits outside for maybe 4 hours on a snow-less day, and then ride it home dry it all off and lube it occasionally will I be fine ?
Does anyone have experience using an expensive bike over the winter months?