Presenter: If you live in a part of the world that has a proper four seasons, spring, summer, fall,
and winter, then you already know that the hardest time of the year to ride is in the winter. Now,
depending on how you look at that, that could be a real drag or it could be a great opportunity
to stay fit and to get ahead of the competition. In order to do that, you're going to need
some secrets to the trade. That's why we're here today. To keep your wheels turning,
because the winter weather can really destroy your bike if you're not mindful,
without further ado, let's jump into 10 ways to look after your bike this winter.
[music] First things first,
you've heard it before, but you need to get some reinforced heavy-duty, wide-as-you-can-go tires
on your machine. The wider the better, because the rubber that's on the ground is going to make a big
contact patch with the ground. It's also going to help with traction, and it's going
to help reduce punctures. You do not want to get a puncture in the middle of the winter. Trust me.
It's also going to slow you down. That's going to be great because,
with the colder winter temperatures and the sweat and the wind going through you,
you don't really want to be going fast. If you remember, last year Ted King and I went out
and did a fat bike ride. Some things that we both said that we could immediately tell was that, one,
by riding in the woods and, B, by going slowly on those big fat bikes, we were able to easily
keep our body temperature up and stay warm. Another thing on tires, if you live in some really
wild weather conditions like the Northern parts of Europe or Alaska or something like
that, and you're going to be seeing a lot of snow and ice, consider getting a pair of studded tires.
[music] Something
else to consider is to run a sturdier chain and cassette. You don't want to go with the
super-light race stuff that you use in the local hill climb series in the middle of the summer. The
light stuff is traditionally more fragile. For the winter, think rain, water, salted roads as being
your norm. If you ride gravel, well then you're going to have dirt and sand and all that jazz,
and it's going to end up wearing out your chain, your cassette, your wheels, your tires. Basically,
it's going to ruin things day in and day out. It's going to wreak havoc on your components.
Being able to have some heavier duty stuff that has a longer lifespan would be my suggestion.
[music] Now, you've got to
grease everything in the winter. Headset, bottom bracket, seat post, thru-axles, pedal bodies,
even the little bolts. All of this is going to get tons of dirt and salt and water on
it consistently. It's going to dry your stuff out and it's going to create tons of creaking
and other problems. Keep your stuff greased up to properly avoid it getting seized up,
potentially broken bolts, or worse, yes, something failing while you're riding.
[music] Now, fenders. We've all heard about fenders
or mudguards like I've got here on my Pinarello, but they are essential in the wintertime. They're,
of course, going to keep you and the people that you're riding with clean of debris that are coming
off of your tires, but they'll also help you keep your bike a lot cleaner by keeping all of the mud
and muck off of your drive train and off of your frame for the most part.
Now, if you watch yourself doing a bike ride in wet conditions, then you'll see that everything
that comes up off the road goes pretty much directly onto your frameset. It's basically
like streaming water into your bottom bracket and the moving parts, pretty much for the entire
time that you're riding. If you get a good pair of fenders, you'll be able to keep the
water from going constantly into places like the bottom bracket. Think of it like a river coming
off of here, but just going right down onto the ground. All that stuff that comes up off the tires
is going to go onto the fender and is going to go onto the ground. I can't emphasize enough
how important fenders are for winter riding. In fact, I'll go as far as to say
they're essential. [music]
Another way that you can look after your bike in the wintertime is also a good way to look
after yourself, and that's to have a reliable, consistently charged up pair of lights. When
the daytime light is running out so quickly in the winter, having a good pair of lights is absolutely
essential. Now, I know it's a little bit off-topic about how to keep your bike in tip-top shape,
but you're not going to be able to do any riding if you run into someone out on the dark roads,
or worse, someone were to hit you. A good pair of lights is absolutely essential in
the wintertime. [music]
One tip that I always do is, I leave my cleaning kit outside my garage door with the hose set up,
ready to go. When I come back from my ride I just do a quick once-over with the hose,
spray off all the additional muck and grime, and then I'll pull out something like this Muc-Off
cleaner and I'll just hit the bike real quick with that. I finish it off by wiping everything down
to make sure that it's dry, put some lube on the chain so that it's ready to go for the next day.
I also think it's important to emphasize that you don't have to meticulously
clean the bike after every single ride in the winter. Now, if you listen to
the earlier part of this video where I was saying use some heavier duty componentry,
this is the reason why. I think it's important to get the bike cleaned up and functioning at
a good level. Then, maybe once per week, I'd say get a meticulous deep clean with a proper
degreasing of all the components and stuff like that to keep the bike going all winter long.
[music] This one deserves its own number these days.
Make sure that your bike is properly dried off before you throw it in your shed or your garage,
wiping it down with a rag or blowing it out with some compressed air, or spray it off
with some Muc-Off Bike Protect to help dispel some of the water. If you need to bring your
bike indoors for a few hours to make sure that it's dried properly, do it. It's going to make a
world of difference when it comes to longevity of your components and your entire machine.
[music] Now, let's talk about
brakes. If you're running traditional caliper brakes, then getting a pair of cold weather or
wet weather pads is going to help a lot. They're going to do better in sloppy conditions, and that
would be my recommendation for the winter. Also cleaning the cables or using a sealed system if
it's really wet conditions that you're riding in. Like I said before, just make sure that you dry
your bike out properly after washing it. There's nothing worse than storing a bike in the cold,
and then coming out after you've washed it to find out that the cables are totally frozen solid.
Now, if you're using a bike with hydraulic disk brakes, which some of you will be, hydraulic disk
brakes are not going to have those problems. Replacing cables and stuff like that, it's not
going to happen. The same goes for electronic shifting. However, for disk brake users,
you will want to invest in some sintered pads. Sintered pads are also known as metallic pads
that have flecks of metal and a different compound in them. It's going to help against those wet,
sandy and gross conditions that you typically ride in the winter. That's versus organic pads which
tend to have a softer feel and do better in the warmer, nicer climates. Definitely go with some
sintered pads if you're using disk brakes. [music]
Another thing that you can do when you're going through your bike is to pull your cranks. If you
hear a lot of creaking in the bottom bracket area, that could mean that you have a lot of
grit and sand built up down there. This goes back to earlier when I was talking about using
fenders on your bike. If you're not using fenders then you're going to have that direct stream of
water and sand and grit going right into the bottom bracket and crank area, which is going
to lead to the creaking and nasty sounds that you might hear coming off of a winter bike.
You're also going to be doing a lot of damage on the bearings, so you're going
to be doing double nasty duty. It's a mess. Again, I'd recommend getting a good pair of
fenders that are going to keep the water from going directly into that bottom triangle of the
frame set in the bottom bracket and all that. As a weekly gesture, when you're doing that
deep cleaning of the bike, I'd also recommend that you pull the cranks off at that time.
We've got tons of tech videos on this over on the Tech channel, so go check those out.
[music] Another big theme that I like to go through for
winter riding is, get the super light carbon fiber race gear off of your bike for the wintertime, or
consider just getting a dedicated winter bike altogether and leave your race bike as is. By
using something like an aluminum wheel with a thicker tire on it and that heavier, more
solid drive train, cog set, brake pads, all of these things are going to lead to a heavier bike,
but it's also going to be a bike that will do much better against the brutal winter conditions.
Those are some tips to look after your bike in the wintertime. A little bit of TLC will
go a long way. Five minutes of washing your bike a day, putting the bike somewhere dry
after you're done with that, and really looking at what your bike needs to be able
to keep moving without being obsessed with it, is going to help you keep going in the
wintertime. These tips are going to save you a lot of time, a lot of money, and keep you safer
when you're out there riding during the winter. Let us know down in the comments if we missed
anything, or if there's a particular tip that you think makes you get ahead in the wintertime,
leave that for us down below in the comment section. Be safe out there, dress warm,
and thank you all so much for watching. [00:08:43] [END OF AUDIO]