Thought it was only gonna be 1 or 2 cm deep at most (was for a while) but it turns out to be about 20cm (8 inches) then I got stopped by 4 cm thick floating ice sheets! Had to get out the bike and walked in the water to cross until there was no more water (about 10 meters).

Now my question, any special cleaning and lubing I should do?

If your bike was properly lubricated before, odds are all that's needed is to let it dry in a warm place.

I've ridden my road bike through floods over my front wheel, and never did anything special afterward. Salt water is a different story and MUST be rinsed off reasonably soon.

If the bike isn't well lubricated, dry it as fast as possible, and go out and ride it a bit to circulate the remaining lube to cover all the bearing tracks, then lube the chain if it looks to need it.

Otherwise, the only real remedy is to take it apart and re-grease every bearing.

FWIW deep water isn't a serious threat to the bike. Much worse is shallow water at high sped which can direct a high pressure spray at the chain, RD, and the crank spindle where it leaves the BB.

Been there...did this....had to replace my BB due to it. sigh......

bb?

Water got into my bottom bracket when crossing fords and riding through mud too often. Screws up the bearings even if they are a sealed square taper unit.

Ok thanks. It was only once (by me, previous owner, not sure). When I got it, I took the crank off the bike to clean it and the shaft in the bottom bracket wasn't rusted so I doubt he went through much deep water...

FBinNY, it's water on the trail and that particular trail is about 100m from the road so I doubt there is much salt (from the road) in it. The bike is in the heated garage right now. I wiped it clean when I got home.

Thanks all.

Do you have water in the wheel rims? Perhaps take the tires off and let them dry out.

Personally, I'd probably just let the bike dry, then keep riding. Once we stop getting rain, hopefully I'll find the motivation to give my rain bike a full tune-up before putting it away for the summer.

I ride my hybrid though water up to the BB all the time. I don't do anything special after the fact. I have a sealed Shimano UN55 BB and loose bearing no name hubs. Both have 2k+ miles on them. I do routine cleaning and grease with marine grease on the hubs. I did have to replace the ball bearings once but the cups and cones were fine. If anything, I probably replace cassettes and chains little more than the average person does but that's more from the dirt and mud riding to.

A lot of mountain bikers experience water all the time. I know I have gone through shallow streams without any issue. But I do agree that well lubricated bearings, especially with something like Phil's waterproof grease, or similar, is important.

John

my bike grease is boat trailer wheel bearing grease - very tenacious and highly water resistant. I stay away from salt water, and don't have to worry about "fresh" water.

Commuting year round in Seattle means everything is almost always wet. I operate on the theory that "if it's full of grease, there's no room for water...." Extra grease might slow me down but if that's true, I think it's a fair trade

I'd be worried about pot holes and debris hidden under a 10 meter wide puddle.

Unless it was a very familiar stretch of road I probably would not have ventured into such a puddle at any kind of speed in the first place.


-Tim-

Yeah, I took that trail daily until last December and like I said, it seemed to be just 1 or 2 cm deep. I could see the trail under the water, that is, until I couldn't :-(

Good point though, don't ride if you can't see what's under your tire...

Easy for me to be an armchair quarterback and I've certainly made my share of ill advised bicycle decisions.

Glad nothing bad happened.

On the other hand:



(Tongue in cheek. This is from last year's dirty kanza--not me but I was there--where all bets are off. Also, I end up replacing my BB after the DK every year.)

Looking at that picture, it reminded me that my bike is a Giant TCX, which is a cyclocross bike. Is it build differently to account for the type of terrain is was designed for? That is, are the wheels and bottom bracket bearings more protected than standard road bikes?

Btw, nice picture :-)

since you're getting your feet wet anyway

No, not really. Some hubs and BBs are better than others at taking abuse but there's nothing specific about cross bikes that makes them inherently better at getting wet.

Thanks, but I didn't take it. Found it on an image search.

Unfortunately I seem to have a magical ability to avoid every camera lens on the course; and of the few pictures I've actually been able to find of myself during the DK, I have a stupid look on my face. (It's hard to look cool when you've been suffering for 150 miles.)

Guess I'll just have to be content with the memories.

Nice, except mine had ice sheets in it so... ice cold water. Got out as fast as I could.

I guess it's just in the frame design then. Thanks