Long term storage?
 

Hey everybody. I have family out in Florida so I go out there a couple times a year, generally for 2-3 weeks at a time. I don't like being really limited on my exercise program while I'm out there, plus I am making it kind of a tradition to schedule my visits around a triathlon. So I'll be taking one of my bikes with me next week and leaving it there. I will rig a bike hanger from the ceiling in the garage, so it will be stored in doors. But since I only get out there once or twice a year, the bike will probably hang for probably 11 months out of the year.

It's Florida, so I'm already thinking about rust. Bike is an early 2000s Trek Lexa, so aluminum frame. Not worried about that. I am worried about the chain and cables. Also thinking about prolonging tire/tube life as much as I can. Any suggestions?

Just make sure everything is cleaned & lubed & you should be just fine.

I'd be concerned about ozone from any furnace or any UV light from a window or grow light (Florida, duh) degrading the rubber. So in that maybe bagging the bike to limit the exposure might be a reasonable precaution.

Honestly, it's probably fine though. Don't store it with the chain in big-big, don't bother with tubeless & I'm not sure what could go wrong or need attention.

I would just clean it and clean/lube the chain before leaving it, and make sure to remember the tires and tubes will age out long before wearing out.

I live on the south shore of Long Island, so also a humid, near the ocean environment. I keep my bikes in an unheated and uninsulated basement, so similar to your garage and have never had issues with rust or corrosion.

Could you talk your family into running a dehumidifier in the garage if you provided it? The better ones come with drain tubes so you really don’t have to do anything to them.

Thanks for the heads up, guys. I was planning on just lubing the chain and maybe trying to squirt some oil on the cables. Only other thing would be to intentionally deflate the tires before hanging it. But I haven't had to deal with humidity like that in 30 years. I prefer the dry climate out here. Rust is a minimal concern.

Don't 'squirt some oil on the cables'...all that will do is attract dust and dirt. Just leave them dry.

OK. Good logic. What about a "dry lube" kind of thing? no-no?

I lived in Florida (on the Gulf) and left my bike in the garage and never had an issue with rust. You could could probably give it a good cleaning and maybe a layer of wax before storing to put your mind at ease, but even that would be overkill. I like the idea of a quick blast of dry lube on the chain and cassette. I do that here in the Northeast before storing my bikes in the basement (climate controlled).

I would be more inclined to talk your family into storing the bike inside the house.

Running a dehumidifier all year long in Florida is just a waste of energy. That’s like keeping an outdoor fire going all year long in the Arctic Circle.

Depends on how you hang the bike in the garage. Make sure you remove the pair of wheelsets before hanging. Brass nipples last longer than other material, as a general rule. Still, you want to keep the spoke tension to remain in good condition. Hanging with stress on the wheelset is not the best.

There are wheel covers that would be ok to use and then store for extra protection. I am assuming that you will be removing the wheels from the bike.

Also, depends how near the home is to the ocean.

Also, tri bikes have specific wheelsets and costly.

Your whole post is wrong excepting the brass nipple part but it doesn't really matter for storage. Hanging the bike from the wheels will do absolutely no harm. 'Pair of wheel sets'? What? Hanging a bike will not harm, add or remove any spoke tension. It's much less stress than actually riding the bike. Tri bikes don't necessarily have 'specific' wheels. They might, they might not. They might be expensive, they might not be.

If your bike has 4 wheels, it isn't really a bike.

And hanging the bike from the wheels has negligible effect on spoke tensions. It is nowhere near the effect a rider has on spoke tensions.

Tri bike wheelsets aren't really different from roadie - we'll tend towards deeper but if you show up at a triathlon, you'll see mostly standard road wheels. Only a few will be bringing discs and seriously deep (>60mm) wheels.

FWIW…earlier this year (May) I purchased a used steel road bike to leave at our vacation house in Ft. Lauderdale. I hang the bike from an overhead hook in the garage. When I finally made it back November, the bike was no worse for the NON-wear. I.e. the rust monster didn’t attack it. The chain was fine, bearings were all fine, and other than a bit of dust on the frame, and spiderwebs…there were no problems.

Dan

I wouldn't worry about it hanging in a garage in Florida. Just give it a good cleaning after you finish all your rides there and are ready to put it up for the year.

If it is going to be somewhere that it might have to be taken down and moved, caution them about rolling it on tires that might not have sufficient air in them. The tube can be damaged rolling it without enough air and you might fill it up and it last long enough for you to get to the place were you least desire to have a flat.

Thanks for putting my mind at ease, guys. And this is just my regular road bike, not a tri bike. Although it doesn't appear to make a difference.

Shouldn't be a problem unless you're very near the water. Bikes stored on the porch at the beach house rust rather quickly.

Define "very near". The house where this bike will be stored is about six miles from the gulf beaches. Ian rolled right over top a couple months ago.

In my experience living on a beach, it is the fine mist from the surf that causes high rates of rust. This is location-specific. Look around at steel in the area. I would be surprised if you saw unusually prominent rust 6 miles inland.

Here's a view of a professional team truck. Admittedly, its a pro-team and it is travel thing. Inside of the Team Sky material Truck

OK. Makes sense I guess. Certainly not that close then.

But one of my experiences that made me concerned is I spent a year in Okinawa thanks to Uncle Sam's Big Green Gun Club. Everything rusts there. Even wood. OK, that last part is a joke. But any car more than about 6-7 years old would start showing signs of rust under the paint. By the time a car made it to 20 years, if it did, it was pretty much held together by duct tape and bailing wire. Never noticed any on bikes though. But nobody had a bike more than a year or two before it got stolen.

Take a look at the garage you intend to use. If little used things stored in it seem all rusty or the tracks, rollers and hangers for the garage door seem rusty and corroded then maybe you should be wary of storing in the garage. But likely you'll be good, even next to the beach.

And consider if those rusty things were put up without cleaning after use.

I've got over 10 years as a team mechanic for pro teams here in the states. Hanging bikes by the wheels in a moving vehicle or trailer would be stupid. They'd swing and get damaged. In a team truck or trailer the main constraint is space. The other important fact is that those bikes will have different wheels installed nearly every time they're taken out of the truck. Sometimes training wheels, sometimes climbing wheels, sometimes wheels for flat races. Since they're in a TRUCK, which moves, and they all have carbon wheels, the risk of damage from road bumps is possibly a worry. I will repeat...storing a bike in a room by hanging it from the wheels is not risking damage. Especially if it has aluminum rims like the bike the OP is talking about. You're just changing the story in an attempt to make your post sound legit. Quit trying to sound important just for the sake of posting.