Ok, since it's snowed I've put maybe 3 miles at most worth of riding on the road on my bike. Today I'm leaving and I notice the drivetrain is being really noisy and skipping gears. I look down and what do it see?

RUST?!?!?!?





(Wiped right off the chainrings thank god)

I knew the snowy road riding wouldn't help but I didn't think it would be that fast! This is the definitive answer about my season being done..

Uh oh..
a little rust...time for a new bike...

You could sand blast it off your cranks, I don't know what you could do for your chain though.

When I see a little rust I coat it with lube and pretend it never happened........

looks like dirt and dust sparky

Snow is the last thing that will rust a chain.

This is the definitive answer about my season being done..[/QUOTE]

Excellent idea! I would stop riding at all because if you do your chain will stretch. Saggy AND rusty! Yeeech! Who wants a saggy chain?

Road salt sir. It went perfectly fine after I got out of the driveway, though. The pics don't do it justice really, and I can only afford so much. If the cranks and crap start rusting then they're gonna stay rusty for a long time.

Rust on a bike drives me nuts.. I'll probably start taking it apart today.

You should wipe down and lube your drivetrain after every ride out in the nasty. If not .... well, we see what happens when you don't.

... Brad

spray it down with WD-40 and keep on rockin...

Holy crap!!!!1!!111!!

I rode my bike the other day and I got dirt on the tires!!!!!!!

If this keeps up, I'm never riding again!!!!!!

So rust is normal then? If so, that's new information.

you get rust from the salt they put on the roads. happens to me every winter. put some potroleum base lube on it to keep as much of the rust off. then make sure you scrub it all down when your done. havnt had a new chain since i got the bike about 2 years ago.

Normal under certain conditions. As said above though, wipe off and lube the drivetrain after every ride if it's wet out (including snow/ice) and you can avoid a large amount of flash rusting.

Might want to check that foo rat, you certainly can ride a chain till it snaps but a worn chain can wear your cassette and chainrings as well to the point that a new chain won't sit properly (Presupposing that you don't know that.) We need to explain that to 1 or 2 people a week at our shop it seems, it sucks when you need to explain that after the fact and a $20 chain purchase turns into a $70 one or more.

You need a new chain.

if you put on a new chain on that bike plan on putting on a cassette too.

Give your chain and drivetrain a good clean first, then you can stress out.

thanks for the tip guys but i had the dudes at the lbs check for chain stretch when i had em set up my full suspension frame switch. said it was alright for a little while longer

You don't ride enough.

in other words they'll hold off on the chain now and hit you with the larger cassette / chain bill later.

I think i take that title. I haven't hit the trails in a good 3 or 4 weeks.
Been riding around town a lot though. hit a parked car at 40 odd km/h (24mph) yesterday. Clipped in. Im pretty sore now....

I hit the trails maybe ~4 times this season due to a badly broken hand.