What do you do when your bike gets wet ?

[geo]

Just wondered what everyone does when there pride and joy gets a good soaking. Is it leave it to dry ? quick wipe over with a towel and that's it ? or the full works drying lubing etc etc,if so how long do you spend drying / cleaning ? Just curious really how riders differ in caring for there bikes.

Geo

 

[Ben M]

Get my bike wet?! Are you mad?

 

[geo]

Get my bike wet?! Are you mad?

sadly with the weather in this country sometimes it just cant be helped,or you would get the chance to ride it about twice a year

 

[Moodyman]

With the aluminium bike - nothing.

With the Chromoly bike- wipe the frame as steel starts to rust.

Neither get substantially wet as they both wear full guards. Most wetness comes from rain which is clean vs road crud.

Both have disk brakes so I never need to clean the rims

 

[battered]

Hose the mud off, oil the chain and ride it.

 

[ColinJ]

I throw it to the ground!

Seriously - that's what I do. When I wash my bike or it is very wet from rain, the last thing I do before taking it back into the house is to pick it up and chuck it down fairly hard, onto the tyres of course! The impact throws off a lot of the surplus water which not only reduces chain rust etc. but also any potential pools of water in the house. I usually give it a quick wipe down with a rag too.

 

[Fiona N]

I throw it to the ground!

Yes I've found bike wheels bounce quite nicely, shedding water as they go

'Wet' covers a multitude of possibilities from a mild sprinkling of clean rainwater on the mtb - potentially cleaning it up - to several hours of road spray on the best road bike which means a fairly comprehensive wash, spray with water displacer on moving parts, and re-lubing the chain and cables when I get back. Also, time of year - in summer the road spray is mainly just dirty water possibly with some grit whereas, in winter, it's a more or less concentrated solution of salt and grit. So in winter, I'll wash the bike down pretty much every ride as the roads stay damp a lot of the time so even when not 'wet weather', there's a persistent road spray.

 

[HJ]

Stick it in a corner until it is dry...

 

[runner]

Stick it in a corner until it is dry...

I think when I first started commuting some 4 years ago my intention was to religiously clean the bike at least every 2 weeks and as always started off with the best intentions but gradually that faded....faded..until I now clean when only really necessary. I ride both a road bike for training/commuting and a hybrid for those days when I want to keep my head above the traffic (I still have a fond affection for quick fire gears espec in traffic) My bikes are kept safe and undercover at work and safe in my "bike Shed" at home so any rain will dry naturally.....I would certainly hate to leave my bike out overnight
so hears to the "stick it in a corner until it is dry"....as long as that corner is undercover.

 

[iZaP]

I continue on cycling, even if its a tornado in front of me.

 

[potsy]

Stick it in a corner until it is dry...

Mine gets left in kitchen,seems to do the trick

 

[asterix]

I invariably get wet in sympathy. Doubly annoying though. Recently both of us were wet for three consecutive days and survived.

 

[snorri]

My bikes have drip-dry finishes which will last throughout their lives.

 

[HLaB]

What do you do when your bike gets wet? Throw it away and get another one

Seriously though I just let them dry off, if the good bikes they'll probably get cleaned and relubed the next day; the utility bike just has to tough it out, as it gets cleaned and lubed less often.

 

[The Eighth Man]

My Dawes Giro 500 is 3 years old and gets used every day, it has not suffered from being wet or covered in salt in the winter if I bothered about it getting wet I would never use it. On the other hand my old Bianchi SLX has never seen rain and as such gets used once a year