Currently only have one road bike, a nice carbon Aircode with Di2. What will be the consequences (if any), of using it all through the winter? Is it just parts wearing out quicker or will the rain and damp damage the frame and fork?

Cheers.

You will die in a horrific ball of fire.

Your chain, cassette, and possibly chain ring will wear faster.

Wheel hubs and bb potentially too, but I’d expect a carbon bike to have high quality well sealed components here given it’s probably an expensive bike.

People really have ‘winter’ bikes….? 😕

Fitting mudguards will help a lot. There have been a number of threads about it over the pay few days if you have a quick look.

It just gets mucky (natch) and wears a bit quicker (thanks to more bits of dirt and grit getting washed around and into your drivetrain and brakes). Frame and fork shouldn’t be affected, but do take care with salted roads: road salt will corrode stuff quickly, so hose the bike down after a ride when it’s near or below freezing.

People really have ‘winter’ bikes….?

Sure. Race-type bike these days often don’t have clearances or mounts for proper mudguards (which obviously keep you drier and stop expensive hydrophobically-treated jerseys and jackets getting covered in oily road muck) and it’s nice to have one built up for that, maybe with dyno lighting too and maybe with a little more ability to carry a pack to hold clothing. Not to mention that additional clearance for larger tyres is a big benefit, especially if you go the whole hog and use studded or winter-compound tyres.

That said, in time you start realising that a lot of that stuff is still useful in the summer 😉 This thing’s been used as much in summer as my summer road bike. It’s not far off as fast, but it’s got all the bells and whistles.

If think if I had a nice carbon Aircode with Di2 as a road bike then I would also be having a winter road bike.

In reality it probably depends on how much winter road riding you do, how often you clean the bike after a ride etc.

Everyone knows that carbon fibre, being such a naturally fragile material, literally disintegrates on contact with water. It constantly amazes me that they allow people to build bikes out of it at all 😯

It’ll be fine, it’ll just wear out components more quickly and will get covered in tar and general road muck, how much this concerns you is entirely up to you.

I have a winter road bike as my summer bike (carbon frame and wheels, Di2, fast and fragile tyres) for 2 reasons, firstly that the bike would get a bit beaten up and second that carbon rims and fragile tyres are not a great combo in the Uk winter. Having said that, my winter bike is only my old summer bike (alu frame, 105) with thicker tyres, no mudguards or such like, just cheaper components that I don’t mind if I break or get covered in grit.

Lets be honest its cheaper to maintain one bike then buy a whole new one for winter and maintain that? So just ride and maintain. The slightly increased wear rate wont exceed the cost of a new bike 😉

My solution was not to sell my old road and mtb I still use them and maintain them and once they need major repair/maint they will be sold for part or whatever I can get for them.

I have of course ignored the major breach in etiquette about riding a 26″ MTB 🙂

I want to build one/buy one as my nice Carbon bike is creaky enough already without covering it with dirt and constantly washing/cleaning it.

On the flip side I’m so fair weather it probably doesn’t matter, it’s just an excuse for n+1 8)

If you like riding with others, get a winter bike with full mudguards and mud flaps… Otherwise, you’ll notice the invitations drying up.

People really have ‘winter’ bikes….?

Course they do, race bikes often don’t really have clearances for guards or bigger tyres, and replacing a posh drivetrain can get expensive. Some people just stick a winter groupset and wheels on, others have a spare bike, but either way, it can save you anything from £100 to £1000 depending how posh your bits are.

Depends how much you actually ride in the winter though 😉

If you go on the occasioanl club run on a slightly damp weekend then I’m sure your decent bike will last just fine.

If you’re still bashing out 100-200 miles a week in whatever the weather happens to throw at you then you can grind a drivetrain (and hubs, and BB and rims) to oily dust in no time. Your frame and fork will be fine though (if a little mucky).

Lets be honest its cheaper to maintain one bike then buy a whole new one for winter and maintain that? So just ride and maintain. The slightly increased wear rate wont exceed the cost of a new bike

Entirely depends on the posh to winter ratio though doesn’t it, £150 quid 2nd hand winter beater bike is easily cheaper than eplacing/accelerated wear on Dura Ace and funky wheels, even a cheap whirly bits of groupset (chainrings chain and cassette) and winter wheels can actually end up as a saving overall.

+1 on mudguards.

They’ll keep you, your bike and everyone riding near you a bit cleaner and drier. Riding for mile after mile in the rain behind someone without a mudguard isn’t the most fun.

Lets be honest its cheaper to maintain one bike then buy a whole new one for winter and maintain that?

Depends. You’re doing the same number of miles, so spreading them across multiple bikes doesn’t increase running costs. If the winter bike has less expensive kit then (assuming it’s not so cheap as to wear out much more quickly) it reduces them. Obviously there’s the cost of buying the thing, but secondhand bikes are pretty cheap and n+1 is kind of the law, right?

The main benefit, though, isn’t running costs, it’s having a bike better suited to the types of riding that have less in common with a sportive on a sunny day.

People really have ‘winter’ bikes….?

Well more a training bike and a race bike, but yes. Winter bike has decent guards attached, more suitable wheels and rubber, mounts for lights, even different gearing on mine. Gets used all year round though.

reality it probably depends on how much winter road riding you do, how often you clean the bike after a ride etc.

It’s probably this. I’ll go out for a couple of hours late evening in the middle of winter in the wind and rain. Guards make things much more pleasant, and fat rubber and sturdy wheels help as you can’t see the road surface as clearly in the dark with lights. I’d not want to be riding the race bike.

Dunno much about roadies but my father in law subscribes to the winter/summer bike theory. I imagine his full carbon campag’d up winter bike is better than most peoples main bike, but his main bike is a custom built titanium effort, with carbon everything. he wont go out on that until he knows it hasnt rained for days incase there are puddles!

freak.

i only mtb and have a HT alongside my full suss for when its particularly grim and boggy – but that could be any time of year!

People really have ‘winter’ bikes….?

Yeah,some even have summer bikes.

But you knew that anyway 😛

These threads are timed to appear on the September Equinox 😉

Ride off road people, then it’s the same bike all year round as it can rain and turn to mud any time of the year 😀

Not that you need to be running mud tyres. Just big grippy tyres and run them all year.

And no one uses mudguards off road as it’s not cool, especially on group rides 😉

People really have ‘winter’ bikes….?

Yeah,some even have race bikes.

I

n reality it probably depends on how much winter road riding you do, how often you clean the bike after a ride etc.

I wash it after each ride if that helps! As much of a faff as it seems to be at times.

If you like riding with others, get a winter bike with full mudguards and mud flaps… Otherwise, you’ll notice the invitations drying up.
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😆 😆

just make sure you wash it well. road salt is the biggest enemy. I was amazed at the amount of corrosion on a mates aluminium specialized frame.

half the paint was peeling as the aluminum had turned to a crusty salt like substance underneath.

You will be the ridicule of all right thinking roadies. They will make you ride at the back of any wet group run.

Your expensive bike will corrode and wear down a lot and you’ll be horrified about this and the cost to replace transmission, brake callipers, wheels etc when you take it into a shop in April saying “the gears are a bit out and the brakes are a bit stiff”.

Price up the cost of drivetrain consumables, pads, and a Di2 rear mech that will get thrashed when you come off on ice/slime. Spend £1 less on another bike to use as a winter bike and you’re ahead of the game.

That day when the recent snow has mostly melted away but weather steadily deteriorates and the temperature never rises and the 70 miler you’re on offers no shortcut home, but you console yourself with the thought that its a classic piece of winter training and get through the last 20 miles by thinking of all the things you’re going to eat when you get in, and just as you reach your street the steady rain that’s been falling decides to up its game and properly chucks it down and you’re so happy to see your house because the tips of your fingers are pretty cold despite your gloves and you’re properly hungry now, so you stick your bike in the shed and think OK I’ll come back out and deal with it once I’ve showered and eaten something, but then the house is nice and warm and you make yourself a belter of a sandwich and a vast mug of tea and your wife’s just taken a cake out the oven and the paper’s lying there, then an hour or so drifts by then the kids want help with something and then it starts getting dark and oh bollocks I forgot to wash the bike, ah well I’ll do it tomorrow but you won’t because you’ve a cross race tomorrow.

That’s why I’ve got a winter bike.

Maybe you’re more diligent than me (I am quite lazy). In which case don’t bother, just fit mudguards.

You will be the ridicule of all right thinking roadies.

🙂

Maybe a hint of irony in Al’s comment but most right thinking roadies will run two bikes, a training/winter bike and a race/summer bike. They don’t do this just because everyone else does.

I suppose the rationale of a winter ‘beater’ bike is that you can throw a £20 casette and a £5 chain on it as opposed to a £50 casette and £25 chain.

I’m a renegade though, I have a MTB which I ride all year in all conditions, AND in winter it gets long mudguards, which is a lynchable offence on an offroad bike, but I don’t care, it keeps me much cleaner and halves the work of keeping the bike clean.

If you ride ~5000 miles a year, which isn’t unusual, then you can can easily get through a few chains and a cassette each winter, and a set of rims every couple of years. Wear is much faster over winter, so having a bike with cheaper bits to replace can save money long term. Plus mudguards are brilliant, and getting on the summer bike again in Spring is a great feeling.

More to the point, why do non racers ride lookalike racing bikes in the Summer?

I know we used to ride ‘racers’ as kids, obviously some people haven’t grown up.
😉

My winter bike is an On-One Pompino SS, a drive train lasts about 6 years….

#hardas ^^

🙂