Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
The thing is, washing your bike off in the winter when you're going to be going through the same stuff the next day is like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic. Your bike is clean for 50 feet then it's dirty again just like it was before. My winter bike has an IGH so that derailler parts aren't exposed, other than that I just don't see how the effort of constantly cleaning my bike more than once a year (in the spring) would be worth it.
I will be unlikely to be riding my bike on ice, but after the ice has melted, I'll probably ride my IGH-driven bike until the salty slush and whatnot has dried up. Of course if the ice has melted, that means I can use my garden hose. I've been advised though to have isopropyl alcohol on hand for the disc rotors, if for some reason i'd ridden my derailleur bike instead. I was also advised to rinse off the spokes too, regardless of which bike I ride, because de-icing salt can also do a number on spokes.
Even in fair weather I'm only a twice a week commuter anyway, so bike cleaning is not going to be that frequent for me.