Twice out on the bike, twice caught in downpours and twice seized steering the day after.
I guess this means I need a bit more grease on the steerer.
Remember this is all a bit new for me…
Is there anything else I should do, bar not riding, to weatherproof the bike against the rain?
Said bike.

IMG_4941 por kala y simon, en Flickr

Sounds like your Headset’s as dry as a bone / knackered – take the stem off and inspect it

As above, check your headset.
Clean out the cable outers, and lube the cables.
Check for grease in your hubs if they’re cup/cone (Shimano)
Check brake pads. If you need to replace, look at sintered ones for better gloop resistance.
Check the seals on your forks. Can’t actually do this, but if its been a while, they might need replacing pre-winter.
Mud-tyres
Mudguards

etc etc….

It’s just a temporary seizure, which I assume is due to the ingress of water. Headset was put together a couple of weeks ago and absolutely fine. The only new element is water, a quick turn of the steering releases the steerer and the bike performs flawlessly, excluding rider error.

look at sintered ones for better gloop resistance.

Excellent, this is the kind of thing I’m not aware of and am looking for. 😀
forks due a service shortly and cable will come off for a good lubricating too.

Well you may have overtightened the SFN (bolt that goes down through the top of the stem to preload the headset)or you’ve got an alignment issue with the respective headset cups – has the headtube been faced properly?

Of course, I could go off on a tangent about hub-gears or singlespeed, and belt-drives…

OMG! I need worms, where do I put those?