Bike Gremlin

On cold winters, I've had RD cables freeze. That was not much of a problem, I just stayed in a gear and rode. Lubricating, cleaning, did help a bit.

This winter ought to be very rough, if meteos are correct. Now, for people who ride at -10 celsius or lower - do you have problems with jockey wheels freezing, when RD cables freeze? Is there some preventive maintenance (lubricating I guess) that helps with that? Both RD and cables/housing?

Juha

In all my bikes it seems the cables and/or shifters tend to freeze first. I'd imagine if you go down to low enough temps the rest of the rear der mechanism starts to freeze too. It has not been a problem for me though.

jwarner

I've ridden much, much colder on a regular basis. Down to -50F. I've had plenty of problems with cables freezing up, but never had a problem with a rear derailed freezing.

On cables. I generally flush them out with a little isopropanol, shake them out really well, let them dry, and then shake just a small drop of Boeshield T-9 through them. This seems to solve my cable freezing problems.

Tailor

I have to say, I hadn't really thought of this as a possible problem. Do you live somewhere humid enough that there is water in the housing? if so, a compressor and airgun blowing it out night and dry before winter sets in might help. I rode in -30F at least 20 times last winter, and the bike was stored outside (under a roof, but outside) and of all the little things I had to deal with, no moving parts froze up. That said, I am in SE Idaho, where humidity is pretty low. Also, whenever I replace a cable on my bikes, I switch to full housing runs. I don't care about the grams of extra weight, I just want to keep my cables away from the elements (especially the elements H2O).

Bike Gremlin

I live in low flat lands with quite some humidity. Not like the South America, but humid still.

If I shouldn't worry about jockey wheels freezing, I'm happy - just stick to one gear. Or 3 - keep it in the middle of the cassette and just use the front der.

Tailor

I really think that if this is a problem that's being seen there, clearing out whatever is freezing in the housing might be the solution. Using isopropyl alcohol or something similar might help it rinse out whatever is getting frozen.

gecho

Yup the housing loop going into the derailleur has always been the cause of a sticky derailleur for me. I've had the shifting get sloppy right around freezing. The most thorough way to clean it is to remove it and purge it with WD40 etc. Though that does mean having to adjust your gears after reinstalling the cable.