My Kuwahara Cascade served as my winter bicycle for 4 years / 25,000 km and came out of that looking so good that I decided I had better retire the old girl from winter riding and make her my dedicated touring bike... I only had to touch up the rear stays a few years ago as they were a little banged up.

I should note that the finishes on these old Kuwaharas is about as good as it gets and that has contributed to the bike looking good... although the bike is 26 years old I picked it up in NOS condition 6 years ago and it has seen well over 40,000 km of riding in all conditions.



The same thing happened with my Kuwahara Shasta... after several winters it suffered the same fate as the Cascade and got turned into my 3 season commuter / utility bike and a newer Norco Mountaineer mtb became my dedicated winter bike.

A lot of people here build up winter beaters with the expectation that they will die a premature death but if you take care of the frame and parts, winter should not be able to kill your bicycle, even if it is steel.