Up here in Canadia we get winters along with some parts of the US. Some days here in toronto can be up to -20 Celsius.

I keep all my grail bikes inside in my warm house. But i leave my flipper bikes that i have left over in the season in a storage unit and a few in the garage that i work on.

Anything ever have anything happen to you bikes that you've left in the freezing cold? maybe something seizing or so?

the storage unit and my garage are dry and insulated, but it gets really cold.

i was just curious that's all...

Brooks saddles can develop a white mold...wipe well,apply proofhide (top only) and plastic bag the saddle.

The shift cables on my winter ride ice-up regularly, and convert it into a single speed . In the really bitter weather, it does not melt even in my attached garage where it is stored.

Taking steel bikes in and out of the cold can be a problem but just sitting in the cold has never hurt any of my bikes. I've ridden one in -5 f and it worked fine.

My initial thought when I saw the title is what I tell my kids, why don't you put on some pants and a sweatshirt instead of shorts and a t-shirt.

My bikes are kept year round in my uninsulated attached garage. But then it might only drop below 40 F maybe once or twice a year...

Maybe seedsbelize may have even a less helpful comment to add

We get very cold dry winters so do not have the humidity problems of other locales... my bikes spend the winter in the garage tht only gets warmed up when I am working out there.

Leaving my bikes hanging in the unheated garage all winter in NH hasn't seemed to do any harm. I did pick up a free Trek 300 a couple years ago... it had a burst top tube and chainstay from being left out, accumulating water inside the frame, which then froze and burst.

What does -30 do to the very thin carbon, anyone? Just wondering?

I don't think I'd leave any good leather saddles out there to experience the cold/very cold cycle day after day for 5 months.

Whatever you do, do not cover the bikes with a non-breathable material. You will get condensation and rust. I saw a guy do that with an E-Type. Needed a repaint after that winter.

I bring them all inside except Icicle, which stays outside all winter long to avoid freeze/thaw stress. If we do have a nice day and I take a road bike out, I pull the seatpost when I return so trapped condensation can escape.

I've had issues with the grease in the headset getting "slow" on my winter rider but it was in -20 or so.

Pete's Winter Cycling Tips is an oldie but goodie. I can say proudly that I saw this post when he first posted it in 1991 or so. Oh, take a look at this page of Pete's, too.

Someone recently told me that the rust isn't so much from the moisture but it's from the drying phase. In Washington State, where it's wet a lot, cars and bikes don't rust so much. So I'm going to try coating everything with oil or WD40 and see if that makes a difference. It may require frequent re-coating, but it may be worth it.

That seems like it would get gummy quick Tom, but I'm sure you thought of that already are you going to coat it and rag wipe it lightly or something? I'm curious since I have a couple bikes with some pitting that I'd like to keep rust free.

In Western South Dakota the humidity is very low so I don't worry about rust. My bikes I ride most are in attached garage, the rest are in a unheated shed. I have seen no problems from the cold, it gets to -0 temps in Jan. and Feb. as low as -35 on real cold nights.

Living in Helsinki over winter a few years back, my wife's bike at below -15C would stop getting drive. By that i mean the grease in the free hub mechanism would stiffen up to a point that the pawls would not engage the corresponding teeth that transfer drive to the wheel.

When it warmed up - all was good. My bike never developed the problem.

Not sure, but most carbon frames are laminated. If the layers don't respond to temperature changes evenly, then delamination could happen. I don't know enough about the properties of carbon fiber bicycle frame materials to know if this is an issue.

CF experiences very little thermal expansion, so this isn't an issue.

I'm not sure about bike-specific grease, but most greases start having problems around -25 to -30F (-30 to -35C.) At this point the viscosity is around 100,000 cSt, which doesn't hurt anything if the bike sits, but makes turning anything very difficult. There are low-temp greases on the market for operating under these conditions.

(This will be briefly followed by a comment about cf and space shuttles and or jet planes....just you watch.)

Clean the bike well, then apply paste wax to the frame and all the metal parts. The wax acts as a barrier between the metal and moisture,and will last longer than WD-40. Use Tri-Flow teflon spray in your cable housings; WD-40 is paraffin-based and leaves a slight residue which attracts dust buildup, which in turn holds moisture. I only use WD-40 as a solvent for cleaning.