Do i really need a winter bike ?

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Globalti

Legendary Member
You definitely need a wet and salty roads bike and a dry roads only bike. It doesn't matter how careful you are, every time you wash the bike down the grit will scratch the finish on paint and components and the salt will slowly rust spokes and anything with a less than perfect protective finish. Dirt will settle inside spoke flanges and chain rings and gradually accumulate causing moisture to settle and oxidation to happen.

For me one of the joys of road cycling is the mechanical perfection and the beauty of a thoroughbred bike. The bike is the culmination of decades of technical evolution and represents engineering perfection. It also cost a hell of a lot of money so I don't want it caked in filth and salt, I want it to gleam and to work perfectly. So that's why I have a best bike and a winter bike. Others may have a different, don't care attitude but those may be the same people who will present a neglected bike to a mechanic and expect him to put it right, a thoroughly depressing task for a craftsman.

As for the winter bike there is also honour in a machine that is old and scruffy and bears the scars of hard use and perhaps the odd accident but is still well maintained and in efficient and reliable condition. Ask anybody who relies on their equipment for work or sport and they'll tell you this.

Philosophy lesson ended!
 
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Kestevan

Last of the Summer Winos
Location
Holmfirth.
I dont have a winter bike per se.
But i do have a commuter bike.

Ill hapily ride the best bike in winter... But only when i know i can spend time afterwards cleaning off all the road grime and salt.

The commuter gets a clean once a week at most. I expect it to need a new drive system every year so it runs a cheaper groupset and mudguards.
 

Vantage

Carbon fibre... LMAO!!!
We live in the UK where it rains 12 months of the year. If it isn't raining it's snowing and when it's neither of those, the roads are still wet from when it did. On the rare days when we don't have wet roads, they're covered in crap which gets into the drivetrain etc anyway. Salt? That's present on the roads for maybe a couple weeks after which it's washed away by rain.
For those of us who appreciate a clean and gleaming bike, there's something called 'washing and caring for the bike'. It's the lack of these two practices which causes rust, oxidation, excessive wear etc.
My old Vantage bike was 6 years old and had been dragged through sheep shoot covered moors in the pissing snow and rain every one of those years and still looked showroom perfect after a good clean.
It isn't bad weather that ruins a bike, it's a bad owner.
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
It isn't bad weather that ruins a bike, it's a bad owner.
That's nice in theory, but I commute by bike daily, leaving at 7 and getting home around 6, so it is invariably dark when getting my bike out or putting it away. The best I can do most of the time is give the chain a good wipe down and wash the bike thoroughly at the weekend - assuming I have time in daylight. My bike tends to look terrible during winter.
 

postman

Legendary Member
Location
,Leeds
Do you need a winter bike,of course you do.Do i need the National Parks new jersey course i do,i'll ask the boss.
 

Alan O

Über Member
Location
Liverpool
You definitely need a wet and salty roads bike and a dry roads only bike. It doesn't matter how careful you are, every time you wash the bike down the grit will scratch the finish on paint and components and the salt will slowly rust spokes and anything with a less than perfect protective finish. Dirt will settle inside spoke flanges and chain rings and gradually accumulate causing moisture to settle and oxidation to happen.

For me one of the joys of road cycling is the mechanical perfection and the beauty of a thoroughbred bike. The bike is the culmination of decades of technical evolution and represents engineering perfection. It also cost a hell of a lot of money so I don't want it caked in filth and salt, I want it to gleam and to work perfectly. So that's why I have a best bike and a winter bike. Others may have a different, don't care attitude but those may be the same people who will present a neglected bike to a mechanic and expect him to put it right, a thoroughly depressing task for a craftsman.

As for the winter bike there is also honour in a machine that is old and scruffy and bears the scars of hard use and perhaps the odd accident but is still well maintained and in efficient and reliable condition. Ask anybody who relies on their equipment for work or sport and they'll tell you this.

Philosophy lesson ended!
I do understand that thinking, but there really is no "definitely" about it. If you have a top technology bike that's such a delicate creation it can't stand winter conditions, especially if it's very expensive, then it does make sense to have a cheaper and tougher winter bike.

But I see a very different, and equally valid, way of looking at things. My view is that any bike worth having for most of us (with the exception of serious racing bikes) should be easily capable of handling British winter conditions - after all, it's hardly Siberia here, and a hosing down after each ride (which is what I do with mine) is surely all that's needed.

Only buying bikes that satisfy that requirement, the question for me would be whether I need a summer bike. And instantly, it seems obvious that a bike that is so delicate it needs to be that seriously mollycoddled just isn't one I'd ever consider buying.

I largely see the "winter bike" thing as yet another success of modern marketing, with little rationality for most of us.

know, i know, it would be nice to buy another bike anyway and its not that i cant afford one but really whats the point buying an inferior, less fun to ride bike ?
In a nutshell.
 

Brandane

Legendary Member
Location
Costa Clyde
We get some crap weather in summer, much the same as we get crap weather in winter. Winter is colder, that's all. So I don't get this winter bike thing. Get a crap weather bike if you must ride in crap weather, or restrict your riding to decent weather only. I prefer the latter tactic.
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
But I see a very different, and equally valid, way of looking at things. My view is that any bike worth having for most of us (with the exception of serious racing bikes) should be easily capable of handling British winter conditions - after all, it's hardly Siberia here, and a hosing down after each ride (which is what I do with mine) is surely all that's needed.

It's not the temperature which is the problem, it's the grit and salt that gets put on the roads, it gets thrown up with all the water on the roads and then forms a grinding paste in your drivetrain. In theory cleaning your bike after every ride would be great, but I can't do that at work, and it's not practical at home most of the time. So I have to make do with wiping the worst of it off at the end of the day. This means that my drivetrain wears much faster than it would otherwise, and I end up having to replace parts quite quickly. I think I went through a couple of cassettes and three or four chains last winter.

If I had a "nice" bike I certainly wouldn't ride it in those conditions, as it is I have an all year round bike, but I have to accept the increased wear and tear on it.
 

Slick

Guru
It's not the temperature which is the problem, it's the grit and salt that gets put on the roads, it gets thrown up with all the water on the roads and then forms a grinding paste in your drivetrain. In theory cleaning your bike after every ride would be great, but I can't do that at work, and it's not practical at home most of the time. So I have to make do with wiping the worst of it off at the end of the day. This means that my drivetrain wears much faster than it would otherwise, and I end up having to replace parts quite quickly. I think I went through a couple of cassettes and three or four chains last winter.

If I had a "nice" bike I certainly wouldn't ride it in those conditions, as it is I have an all year round bike, but I have to accept the increased wear and tear on it.
Pretty much the same problem for me, the salt is murder and does eventually cause me problems. I pretty much just accept it now as a fact and service it as much as I can and replace worn parts when required.
 
This image if exaggerated, gives a valid reason for mudguards on a winter bike (to my mind anyway)


Replace the 'Strada Bianchi' muck with rain diluted diesel, oil, horse-poop, etc.....

DSCF6804.JPG
 
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