Originally Posted by
mtalinm
been riding winter for a long time and this never happened before.
snowed overnight and this morning the temp was hovering around freezing. as a result slush was everywhere.
halfway to work I noticed that I was unable to shift into certain gears - more accurately, they would skip continuously. stopped at an intersection and looked down to see the cogs caked with slush. tried to dig them out a bit with my gloved hands, and it helped a little bit. but before long it was back to mush.
any suggestions on how to prevent (other than riding singlespeed/IGH)? I guess I could just shift between gears occasionally to keep them from caking up
you can try some silicone spray on exposed parts before you leave, giving it enough time to evaporate the propellent and such. It will help but it won't prevent it. You can also carry some cans of deicer spray. THAT will help, but there are conditions like you've experienced with the ice/slush just at the freezing temp so any of it that gets kicked up and cooled in a breeze will immediately freeze. There is almost nothing you can do to prevent it. In those conditions you want to get into a reasonable gear and work like heck to try to stay away from slush. The chainrings will -usually- take care of themselves and the rear will also be OK as long as you don't try to shift. In some conditions you simply don't get to shift. Period.