summer bike, winter bike, why not use the same bike?

Dubcat

Hi, I am waiting for deliver of my first road bike. I spent more on it than I expected to so it will be something I really need to make last. I do have another bike but it is a mountain bike which I love getting nice and muddy on

Anyway - I have noticed people talk about their 'summer bike' and 'winter training bike'. In for sale ad's i have seen people write about their bike 'never being ridden in the rain'. My LBS told me it's good to have a cheaper bike for bad weather days and then your 'special' bike for dry weather riding.

Is there something bad about taking your prized road bike out in the rain? It's not the end of the world for me as I have my MTB to play with but I would love to know what this is all about. Road bikes don't melt in the rain do they?

Cheers,
Dub

sjacob33

The main issue with rain is component wear eg chain jockeys and the such. Now if your nice bike is say kitted with dura ace then excessive wear on these parts can be very expensive. Cassette for dura ace is about 200 AUD where as Ultegra can be picked up for less than half of that. Most winter bikes are 105 or equiv so cheaper again to replace parts.

taff..

my old bike has mud guards fitted which are pretty much essential for riding in rain IMO.

my shiny bike doesn't have mudguards and I have no intention of fitting them at the moment, so if it's raining I take the old bike, if not I take the shiny bike.

I'm 50/50 about which to take this morning because it's dry right now, but forecast for rain later this afternoon

DF33

It's the salt.
Winter rides after road salting does more damage than weeks of dry riding unless you really clean the moving components after every ride. So I use the best bike all year when dry and the cheapo in the salting season even when dry but the roads have recently been salted.

ShutUpLegs

Its just a reason to have as many bikes as possible

bails87

Surely a 10 speed chain/cassette/chainring is the same regardless of what level of kit you're at.

So you could replace a worn 10 speed ultegra cassette with a Tiagra 10 speed cassette. same for the chain.

Jockey wheels are pretty negligible in terms of wear, and the other bits that wear out: Tyres, brake pads, chainrings are unrelated to the spec of the bike.

It's just an excuse to buy more stuff.

Bozman

ShutUpLegs wrote:

Its just a reason to have as many bikes as possible

+1 Up until a couple of months ago i had a spring/autumn bike as well and the intention is to one day have a bike for every month.

I bought a Focus Izalco for winter but it won't take cruds, this has created a problem where the only solution is to buy another bike for the winter which will put me back up to three bikes, a never ending circle. Let's hope that the next bike will take mudguards

CYCLESPORT1

Two bikes will last twice as long

thescouselander

Personally I don't get it. I use the same bike all year round. What's the point in spending loads on a bike only to leave it at home while you ride some rusting heap? Bikes are for riding, get out and use them I say. If you've spent thousands on a good bike you should expect it to be able to handle a bit of wet weather.

Nickel

N+1 chaps, N+1.

Mikey23

It's a kind of justification for spending far too much money on bikes and biking equipment. Also not admitting that you didnt make the best choice in the first place. If you have a good bike I can't see any reason why you would not want to ride it all the time. I got myself a hybrid about a year ago and an entry level road bike about 6 months ago. I'm already thinking that if I get a better road bike then it might make me a little faster, a little more comfy, and I might be able to pose better at sportives and at the club. so the only way I can justify that to myself and my family is the summer bike/ winter bike gambit.

Dubcat

Haha some FANTASTIC replies. I particularly liked n+1 OK the salt thing did get me a little worried. Having said that though I ride my MTB on the north downs which are covered in really gritty sandy mud (as that part of the world was the sea bed in prehistoric times). Maybe the bike is surviving because I clean it after every ride or maybe MTB components are just less delicate/precise?

I don't know - but the salt argument did worry me a little. FYI my bike-to-be is ultegra - for me that is probably the equivalent of dura ace for the rest of you, i.e. high end, hence my concern/question.

the_cyclist_of_catan

Whilst I get the whole "n+1" thing, I intend to buy one really good bike, that can mostly survive bad weather (titanium plus mudguards), and spend the cash saved on not having another bike on the wearing parts that do take a hammering.

I dont want to spend the winter riding an "inferior" (or less comfortable) bike; I want to enjoy it all year round.

And on that note, I'm off to the bike shop to discuss spending a scary amount. The wife ought to be understanding; after her birthday last week, she has a bike that cost more than my current (two) bikes put together!

rolf_f

thescouselander wrote:

Personally I don't get it. I use the same bike all year round. What's the point in spending loads on a bike only to leave it at home while you ride some rusting heap? Bikes are for riding, get out and use them I say. If you've spent thousands on a good bike you should expect it to be able to handle a bit of wet weather.

Who said anything about rusting heaps? I have various bikes but the ones that get the toughest time in winter are my MTB (snow and ice conditions) and my Dawes Tourer. The latter is not rusty, is well maintained and nice to ride. It costs a fraction to run than my other bikes. Once the worst of the weather is over, my carbon Ribble takes over and I have my posh bike for high days and holidays. The fact that that bike doesn't come out often means it always feels like a real treat to be riding it. And why would I ride that bike in the rain when the Ribble has Cruds on it?

Besides, you can only ride one bike at a time so running more than one doesn't really cost more in itself in the long run.

CiB

I'm in the one bike all year camp personally. Like others, I don't get the idea of having a great bike that can't be used in case it gets wet, and salt isn't much of an issue in my rural backwater, nothing that a clean & lube afterwards doesn't resolve.

Let's not get suckered into imaging that it rains every day from October till March, or that councils are busy dumping a few tons of salt of every road for miles around as soon as the clocks go back. The opposite is the case. I'd rather enjoy wearing a good bike a bit quicker than having to use one that's not as good just because it's raining.

dylanfernley

I have a bike for each month of the year,


its the same bike, i do however have a road bike(alan) and a tourer (mercian)-- campag gear on both, the winter salt thing , it does blemish shiny metal, but hey ho don't let that stop you going out, round my way they only salt major roads, minor ones are left alone

All depends on your viewpoint/finances/situation-- but surely you want to get the most use out of your hard earned sports gear ?

some people get very precious about their bikes and wrap em in cotton wool, me i like to use them

trek_dan

I have a singlespeed bike that I use for my commute in bad weather, based on an 80's Peugeout frame and fork and mostly old plarts off my road bike that I've upgraded. Cost about £100 to build. Main reasons are that it has mudguards and lights (two things I'd never put on my beautiful roadbike!). I also just ride flat pedals so I can wear waterproof walking boots instead of peeing around with overshoes, and remove foot easily in the ice/snow.

iPete

I'm a one bike man but I do have 'weekend wheels' that have a nicer cassette and chain.
Don't see the point in owning two roadies but could understand if you had a £3000 dream machine.

Saying that I might build a track bike/SS for commuting this winter.

cougie

Just summer and winter bikes ? Thats a bit light on numbers eh ?

Of course you can ride your best bike in the winter- but the roads are wetter and possibly salted. If you dont clean it every day - your components will corrode. Probably not to a detrimental level, but enough to look a bit pants.

Also winter rides are wetter and colder. So mudguards make it much more enjoyable. You dont need them in the summer - so why laden the bike down.

Dont forget winter is icier too - a fall on your hack bike isnt as harmful to the wallet as your best bike.

PLUS - you always need at least two bikes. What happens if your bike has a mechanical just before you head out ? You take the other bike. Simples.

The winter bike neednt be a rust heap - I usually ride fixed in the winter -its not flash - but its perfectly serviceable and bombproof.

El Zomba

Dubcat wrote:

My LBS told me it's good to have a cheaper bike for bad weather days and then your 'special' bike for dry weather riding.

I can't help but wonder if some sucker with more money than sense has actually bought two bikes at once because of that advice.

russyh

Doesn't carbon melt in the wet? ;-)

whyamihere

N+1, naturally. If you follow the link through to the comment, you can see how easy it is to justify at least 117 bikes.

rolf_f

CiB wrote:

I'd rather enjoy wearing a good bike a bit quicker than having to use one that's not as good just because it's raining.

Yes - but what if the 'not so good' bike is still very good? And, as I and others have said, the second bike can have mudguards on it which really is a very, very good idea for all season, all weather commuting.

I don't seem to see any problems with salt on any of my road bikes really except maybe for bolts (the MTB on the other hand has lots of rust attracting components which is odd really). But I do keep my bikes clean.

Of course, the other advantage of a second bike is that mechanicals are never a rush to sort. Finally, I find that the December-January period causes about 95% of the wear on my bikes - so at the very least, use something cheap to maintain then.

Dubcat

He was advising me to buy the winter bike second hand from classified ad's.

Simon Masterson

If you ride in horrible weather on horrible roads, you need to be using mudguards. It's not just for your sake.

Having bigger/tougher/both tyres will also be beneficial (bike maintenance in the cold is no fun...), but many racey bikes don't allow you to put a 28-35(+) on.

It just makes sense. 'Winter bikes' tend to take many forms, but if we're referring to more relaxed road bikes, often made from steel, these are multifarious machines that every cyclist would do well to have. Tougher wheels, clearance for bigger tyres, fitments for rack(s) and mudguards... These are bikes that can commute, carry loads, audax, tour... They last for donkeys' years if taken care of, and are much less stealable than flashy carbon fibre racing bikes.

I also agree with Paul about having a second bike for commuting. I'm slowly becoming less of a hack at bicycle maintenance, but that aside, a few months ago I was on my way to work (thankfully I didn't get very far) when my freewheel (that's cassette to all of you modern bike owners ) died. I don't even own a freewheel tool, let alone keep a spare freewheel, so it was a good thing I had alternative transport... I've also snapped an axle, sheared a fixed cup, snapped a rack... Not everything is a quick fix!

thescouselander

I don't have problems running the same bike all year round. There aren't that many bikes that absolutely won't accept some sort of mud guard if required. Modern tyres are up to the bad conditions even in winter and with a good preventitive maintenance regieme surprise mechanical issues should be a rare thing. If anyone wants to run a winter bike fair enough but I would suggest modern bikes are tough enough to take winter conditions and therefore is it not absolutely necessary to run a winter bike.

Another observation from my point of view - where I live, over the last few years, the winter months have actually been a lot drier than the summer by a considerable margin. It should probably be that you actually run a hack bike in the summer when its wettest.

nmcgann

My winter bike has full mudguards, a cheap group set and heavy puncture-resistant tyres. There is so much mud on the local roads in winter that i end up looking like i've dived into a ditch every ride.

My nice bike stays In the shed until British summertime kicks in

Bordersroadie

Winter/summer bike? I have a wet bike, a dry bike and an ice bike.

The wet bike (full mudguards) gets use all year round. The dry bike is my lightest, very important for Strava-bagging and "non-competitive" sportives. The ice bike (old MTB with rigid fork) wears studded tyres and got little use last winter but it's great for icy commutes for top smug-factor.

N+1. . .hmmmm. . . maybe I need a "cloudy with occasional showers" bike. . .

the_cyclist_of_catan

cougie wrote:

Also winter rides are wetter and colder. So mudguards make it much more enjoyable. You dont need them in the summer - so why laden the bike down.

You've clearly had a different summer to me

southdownswolf

I bought a frame and groupset off ebay, other bits new. I ride it all year round and enjoy it.
Maybe if I was rich, I would have a £10k bike, but I'm not.
However, I doubt that I would enjoy cycling any more just because I had a more expensive bike.
Now, if someone was to allow me a long term loan of a Cervelo R5ca, I would be willing to test the n+1 rule

I do have a mtb though for when I want to check how hard trees are :shock:

ben16v

ive just bought my summer/dry bike and you sure as hell wont catch me using it where im more likely to bin it in the wet or on the commute in busy traffic - but also its good to train heavy and then race/sunday ride with the club light