So, I’ve been looking for a winter road bike and I have an opportunity to buy a second hand Trek Madone at a very good price. It’s before they came with mudguard eyelets, which is a shame, but should it be a deal-breaker?

Should I just WTFU and clean it after each ride, and live with the shouts of “flash cow”?

A proper winter bike will have mudguard eyes, carbon or not. Nothing wrong with carbon for winter, but I’d take an alloy frame with properly fitted SKS mudguards over a carbon frame without.

I struggled with P clips on my carbon forks, they went on but it was never pretty. By contrast, I fitted a set of SKS P35 chromoplastics to a Cannondale CAAD8 in about 50 minutes.

I’ve never understood this summer/winter bike thing. I’ve always thought in terms of wet and dry weather bikes. Forgetting last winter for a moment as it was a bit of a wash out, you normally tend to get alot of very cold dry crisp days through the winter, so no reason why you can’t continue to ride your decent ‘summer’ bike on days like that and have another bike with the mudguards fitted for when its wet and a bit manky underfoot. Seems a shame to put away your decent ‘summer’ bike for 3 or 4 months of the year.

I volunteer at a bike recycling charity and the only carbon framed road bike I’ve seen through was pretty badly looked after. A lot of salt and grit had seized the seat post into the frame. Look after it, wash it show it some rlc and you should be fine but they can seize if left too long. As for mud gaurds, Crud Race Blades fit via a rubber strap around the seat stays and fork. No eyelets needed and they look almost full length. I’d use them.

Salt on the roads on a damp but crisp morning says otherwise. FWIW, I use my winter bike (bought used) for Cat 4 racing and winter training rides, my fixed commuter with full fitted mudguards for winter club runs and all really wet rides, and my nice bike for summer racing in higher leagues.

You really can’t beat fitted SKS cromoplastics, but unfitting them is a pain for winter racing.

I got myself a Giant TCR Composite as my bargain ‘winter’ bike. So far I’m very happy with it; it almost out-performs my TCR Advanced somehow. Although it doesn’t have much mudguard clearance I think you can fit some, but the main reasons I got it was the price, the fact that my existing winter bike was well past its best and if I crashed this bike it wouldn’t cost a fortune to replace. The groupset is a bit basic but work perfectly well. In fact I like it so much I might take it to the Pyrenees next year as I will be prepared to leave this bike in the tender care of SNCF or Bike Express.

I’d look at the Trek Domain rather than the Madone since it has mudguard eyes and clearance.

I’ve been pestering my mate who runs a bike shop to make a carbon winter/audax bike made. I just got the prototype drawings yesterday and I should be getting the first frame in a couple of weeks.

Given how much you ride your winter bike, may as we’ll enjoy it!

I use a Chinese carbon frame with sks race blade longs over winter, with a cheap’ish groupset and fulcrum 5’s. This will be it’s third winter and it’s a high mileage bike; i’ve replaced the wheels and bits of drivetrain, but the frame skill looks pretty good if a bit scuffed up. The raceblade longs keep club mates happy, and are good enough that i’m not fussed about a move back to ‘proper’ guards, you do have to give your brake calipers a bit of a freshen during the winter though to keep all sweet.

other thing to consider is clearance – 25s and mudguards can be too much of a squeeze on a summer racers bike, a winter bike works better with wider tyres for puncture resistance, grip and comfort

612 quid gets you a dolan winter trainer, bob on

I’d do it. No issues with Raceblades myself, they’ll fit just fine.

If this was a mountain bike thread… no reason at all. Off road, mud guards – no, embrace the mud 😉 – and carbon works fine in the mud.

Why are so many roadies on a *Singletrack* forum? 😛

And a bike is a bike. No such thing as a winter bike to me. But I don’t ride on roads, or stop riding off road just because of a bit of mud 😉

Because the majority of decent mountain bikers also ride on the road? You get single track roads too, so ‘hilarity’ fail on your part.

I also don’t subscribe to the ‘winter’ bike nonsense. Its a bike, it’s the uk, the weather is always changeable, my bikes just get ridden regardless of the season. How anyone could justify a separate bike just because its a bit colder and wetter is ridiculous. The notion of a ‘winter’ bike just sounds like an excuse to buy more bikes… 😕

It’s not the colder and wetter issue that makes roadies ride winter bikes. It’s the salt and grime on the winter roads that ruins expensive road bikes. Never mind the need for mudguards and tougher tyres in the winter.

Why are so many roadies on a *Singletrack* forum?

And a bike is a bike.

I think you just answered your own question 😛

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_07/corrosn.html

Thanks, but Boeing’s wheel nuts aren’t made of relatively low grade steel 😉 Based on that, we should have a nice titanium bike with titanium bolts and easily replaceable parts. Salt destroys the lacquer on a nice groupset.

I don’t have a winter mtb – just a SS HT, but then I don’t ride on salted trails. It did wear mudguards yesterday though.

I use a chinese FM028 frame as a winter bike. First had Crud Roadracers on it but then retrofitted proper guards (with carbon rod for mudguard stays and mounting points using Meccano).

Done about 7000 miles on it and I’m still alive. Much nicer to ride than my previous heavy steel/alu winter bikes.

I don’t really get “winter bikes” for mtb either but I think for road it makes sense. Once again I miss my old Langster. I never cleaned that and used it every day. Gave the incredibly rusty drivetrain a spray of GT85, some encouragement with a light wire brush then some White Lightning clean ride and it was good as new ready to sell it on. My CAAD8 is currently in a similar condition but the drivetrain is a bit more fiddly to clean up. I’ll probably just ride it into the ground over winter then replace the nackered wheels/drivetrain.

I wouldn’t ride any bike through the winter without full length mudguards, makes wet rides utterly miserable.

Get the right tool for the job.

Carbon race-geometry bike + proper SKS guards. Job done, no faffing with raceblades or adapting to a different wheelbase etc.

If you rode the roads I ride on that LS, you’d be stopping every 10mins to scrape the build up between guards and tyre – imo they might fit but but clearances are too small to be practicable.

Lee, parts of that Fossa looks quite similar to my FM028.

loddrik – Member

I also don’t subscribe to the ‘winter’ bike nonsense. Its a bike, it’s the uk, the weather is always changeable,

true, but in winter the roads get caked in salt.

even on a dry day you can taste the salt dust in the air, it’s evil. You finish a ride on a beautiful, sunny, winter’s day, and put your ‘clean’ bike away, only for it to rust solid in a couple of days.

you can just about clean the salt out a chain, but brake callipers, spoke-nipples, derailleur pivots, etc. etc. are all but impossible to clean.

and putting the summer/winter bike to bed for 6ish months means you can do a really good strip-n-rebuild on it.

(the summer bike might need too much, but the winter bike will be fu***d)

I ride on the worst roads that the Peak District has to offer and I have no problems with clearances at all. Certainly no more than I did even when I converted a cross bike into a winter trainer with the wider SKS guards.

Lee, parts of that Fossa looks quite similar to my FM028.

It does a little Amit – Are you on Di2? Flash git 😀

loddrik – Member

I also don’t subscribe to the ‘winter’ bike nonsense.

You clearly ride alone. If you ride with a group on the road you’ll be told to sit on the back if you’ve not got guards, and told in no uncertain terms not to come out again without full mudguards and a rear mudflap!

It does a little Amit – Are you on Di2? Flash git

Couldn’t resist Merlin’s 50% off upgrade kits 🙂 Surely its the perfect winter bike groupset; no cables to go gritty and easy to push buttons with frozen fingers.

I could easily extend that logic to having both cross bikes rigged up with it as well!

I ride on the worst roads that the Peak District has to offer and I have no problems with clearances at all. Certainly no more than I did even when I converted a cross bike into a winter trainer with the wider SKS guards.

I’ll have to take a photo and show you what I mean – they are a bit extreme I guess so not very typical of what an average road bike would ride on – there a few sections where you struggle to see any tarmac and I wonder why I’m not on cross tyres. I need to be able to poke a fat finger between tyre and guard to stand a chance.

My winter bike is my old good bike – LeMond Chambery – with rubber band attached mud guards and winter tyres.

My winter bike is really my “wet” bike i.e. a bike with proper mudguards.

Having two separate bikes has the side effect that I have one bike that I make a reasonable effort to keep clean and shiny, and one that I am resigned to be being more or less permanently covered in mud. Having a clean and shiny bike makes me happy, even if it’s not the one I’m currently riding…

If I were speccing a new winter bike, then I’d also go for disc brakes.

njee20 – Member
You get single track roads too, so ‘hilarity’ fail on your part.

Singletrack here clearly refers to the magazine of the same name that runs this forum. A mountain bike magazine. While mountain bikers may also ride road bikes it would help to make a distinction on the threads about the content, or go post in a road forum perhaps. One associated with a road magazine if you like 😉

While mountain bikers may also ride road bikes it would help to make a distinction on the threads about the content,

It says singletrack, not singleminded. Don’t be such a bell…

It also says ‘bike forum’ – head back to BikeRadar for 87 different forums!

I also don’t subscribe to the ‘winter’ bike nonsense

is it REALLY such an imaginative leap? The drivetrain on my “summer” bike is worth more than my entire “winter” bike, so it is cost effective to ride a second bike in lousy conditions, and saves faff time unless you intend to leave heavy mudguards on your lightweight bike 12 months of the year. As ahwiles says, one dirty/damp winter road ride and everything that can corrode will. My “summer” bike does get used on nice dry winter days, but my winter/commuter ploughs on with a regular blast of GT85 and not much else, when stuff wears out its cheap to replace.

Deadkenny, poor trolling, there are ~2.3 million threads in the STW Bike forum alone and yet you post in a thread of no interest to you, have you really exhausted every mountain bike specific thread? Give it 5 minutes there’ll be another “what tyre” or “which flat pedal shoe” thread along for you to get a fizzy feeling over.

I’ve never understood this summer/winter bike thing…. and have another bike with the mudguards fitted for when its wet

…erm…?

If you rode the roads I ride on that LS, you’d be stopping every 10mins to scrape the build up between guards and tyre

was just about to ask about clearance, my pompino was OK on well used roads but take it down back lanes and even with the reasonable clearance you still got build up. The guarded up CX I’m running now was having problems the other week on damp/mushy trails, now we’re back to proper slop it seems fine again.