carbon bike in winter?

dod 1

i am thinking of buying a specialized tarmac elite which has a carbon frame can i ride in the winter our will the road salt damage the frame.

Smokin Joe

No.

Any bike ridden through salted roads should be cleaned as soon as you get home, not just for the frame but all the other bits and pieces too. Do that with your carbon steed and you will be ok.

martins2463

Personally, full carbon No,

Salt and more slippery condition put me off,

I have already put mine away, as they salted the other week around Northants

Switched to my second/Winterbike Alloy Frame, carbon forks but after every ride the following is done,

Bike is sprayed with Sdoc 100 Motorcycle Gel Total Cleaner or muck off
Chain, Cassette, crank sprayed with Gunk
All above Washed off with bucket of warm soapy water
Rinsed down with cold water
Leathered off
Chain cassette crank sprayed and cleaned with WD40

cougie

I wouldnt ride it if the roads are slippy or have been gritted. The road salt will knacker a nice groupset very quickly unless you give it a full wash and clean when you get back. What bike do you have at the moment ?

SteveR_100Milers

dod 1 wrote:

i am thinking of buying a specialized tarmac elite which has a carbon frame can i ride in the winter our will the road salt damage the frame.

No. Carbon fibre composites are chemically inert, and certainly salt or salt solution has no effect on its strength of life expectancy. Not the case for steel components though, so I wouldnt put expensive groupsets on a winter bike unless you can spend 30 minutes washing down and re-lubing after every ride. I know I cant. why not invest in a turbo trainer which you can use indoors when the roads are unsuitable?

Monty Dog

Carbon bikes are fine for winter - and my winter bike has carbon everything - hand-me-downs from my race bike. IME decent groupsets survice winter far better than cheap ones because components are better finished and use higher quality materials. Salt corrosion depends on where about in the country you live - in the saarf we only get salted roads a few days a year these days - but dripping sweat from a hard turbo session is just as corrosive!