[Closed] Anyone (MTB)putting their good bike away for winter ?

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/if-you-last-up-your-fs-for-the-winter-how-do-you-store
According to santa cruz, the grinding noise is perfectly healthy. 😉

But what about those nice, fresh, frozen rides?

No, If I ride in places like the peaks over winter I'll take my best bike as it's the best tool for the job.

Local rides will see the carbon forked Niner being utilised.

I've been wondering if its worth getting a second-hand hard tail 29er for around £600-£700 second-hand so that I can store my full suspension Specialized Camber Evo (2015) and save it from the mud of the Winter.

I've only currently got one bike and use that for everything.

Less components for the mud to wreck on the hard tail and also if the Winter destroys the bike at least it's only the cheaper one. However, it also means that I won't be using the best tool for the job, as most of my riding is in the south pennines (very rocky in places) and very much justifies the full suspension for comfort reasons more than anything else.

If I had a bike that I didn't want to take out in winter, I'd sell it. It'd be like having a hammer that was too pretty to hit nails with.

Personally when it get really properly muddy (need to pedal downhill) I don't see the point in using my full susser.. the Hardtail get dusted off. The full susser should be clean and oiled before 'storage' but this hasn't always happened 😯

If I had a bike that I didn't want to take out in winter, I'd sell it. It'd be like having a hammer that was too pretty to hit nails with.

Totally agree. To me the whole concept of retiring a bike for the winter months is totally ridiculous. Its not a Ferrari - get out there and ride it. As long as you maintain it post ride you will be golden.

Honestly, this just smacks of more money than sense!

I do the local winter night rides on my old 575, which I want to change to a hardtail, and the posh bike I bring out for bigger rides on better days. Don't get me wrong though it still goes out in the mud and I don't ride it any differently.

I rode my old intense throughout the winter and it absolutely destroyed it.
If you continually ensure it's clean and well lubricated I think it'd be ok but I didn't..

Mines laid up. Hairdtail now in use, so glad I used it this weekend, delamere slop had me and the bike completly covered in mud. No way I'm cleaning all the horst link suspension pivots after every winter ride.

Conditions generally aren't a consideration when choosing what to ride. Unless it's snow, then it's the fat bike.

If I still lived down south I'd consider it, but the trails are made of tougher stuff up here and you don't have to slog through a quagmire of mud to get a winter MTB ride in.

No, there doesn't seem to be much point, I went out in August and returned with a bike caked in mud, I went out yesterday and even though it was unseasonably warm and sunny, I came home with a bike caked in mud, it's a slippery slope - you might start out putting it away for Dec, Jan, Feb, but there's Doubleu above who's already put away a bike, it's not even Winter yet - when does it come out again - March the 1st, it's usually still wet and muddy - better wait till May when it dries out - so it becomes a 'Summer' bike' 3 months of the year, before you know it you're looking out of the window in July and thnking "oooh, I'd better not bring it out lest it gets wet".

Sod it, buy Deore/SLX level stuff that's not going to make you cry if it wears out, 3 chains a year and a cassette and keep an eye on the bearings - anything else is darkside thinking to me.

Personally when it get really properly muddy (need to pedal downhill) I don't see the point

I am fundamentally very lazy, when it's properly sh1tty out I ride the SS so that I don't have to do anything except poke the clumps off the whirly bits after its dried, it's not about saving money or not wanting to wear out a geary drivetrain*, it's simply about being very very lazy, I haven't cleaned that bike once in the last 4 years, I lube the chain occasionally though, when I feeling motivated...

*Which I still do as winter racing takes it's toll.

If you are putting your bike away for winter what do you do when you get to a puddle during summer? The "winter bike" thing makes more sense on the roads where you get salt and oil/petrol/diesel type muck than off-road.

I was thinking more of storing the good bike just between November to March. Yes you still get mud in some of the other months but not the bike destroying amounts of mud during the worst 5 months.

The maintenance/damage during those months were awful (often questioned is it worth it?), yet since April up until now hardly anything has been spent and not much has gone wrong despite the much higher milage per month.

whitestone - Member

If you are putting your bike away for winter what do you do when you get to a puddle during summer?

Usually ride round it 🙂

I've gone one further and sold it...

Because I wasn't riding it and want a Ti Switchback.

If I'm honest, I didn't like leaving my full sus covered in crud in the garage to dry natutally etc. It got ridden in some pretty grim conditions but was cleaned that night.

Each to their own on this. Yes I could be out next year in July and the FS may get a little muddy. No problems at all. But the odd summer mud puddle is different to riding 30km of winter slop. I hate getting back from a ride and having to clean down a bike when I'm cold/wet and just want to get changed and go the pub.

The hardtail gets no love, and I know won't be making any horrific noises when I next take it out. A quick hose down and some chain lube now and again is all it needs. Its a great motivator to get me out during the winter. No hassle afterwards!

I've not got a dropper post on either of my hardtails, so they take rear mudguards better.
If weather demands a rear mudguard, I'll therefore take one of them. The full susser is a bit hefty too, so the HT's also get used in summer, and the full suss will be used for rides where it's worth having in any weather.
One of the HT's gets spiked tyres put on as a "get me out in any weather" bike of last resort around this time of year. I keep bikes for ages so having more bikes doesn't actually cost any more, just means the maintenance is spread out over several bikes.

I built a ridgid bike last year for the winter, but only because it gave me an excuse for another bike.
I don't have a good bike, I love all my bikes the same.

My mtb will see as much, actually make that more, use over winter than summer.

The hardtail gets no love, and I know won't be making any horrific noises when I next take it out. A quick hose down and some chain lube now and again is all it needs. Its a great motivator to get me out during the winter. No hassle afterwards!

This in a nutshell,

A muddy delamere ride on Weds will finish at 9.30pm. Its cold wet and dark. I just wanna throw the old hardtail in the shed after a hosedown and then jump in the shower to do the same to myself. My FS needs a lot more love than that.

yep, it's still "dusty" from the last summer evening ride I did...reminds me of what's to come next spring.

Got the old faithful 26" hardtail to blat over winter. Looking forward to the really cold snow days, always a laugh to ride on compacted snow.

I know its a bit decadent having a seconds bike to protect the FS from excessive wear in winter, but as my 26r hardtail is now worth as much as a Boots meal deal, why not?

All my bikes are hardtails, in fact, at the moment they're all rigid!

I'm in two minds though.

On the one hand, in winter that extra control and grip is just as useful as in summer, sometimes more so.

On the other hand, I like my rigid singlespeed because regardless of time, maintenance or weather, it'll be ride able. And I'd rather have an entire winter of difficult rides on that than miss rides on a nicer bike because
The shock needed a service
The gears wore out
The fork seals were leaking
Bushings worn
Bearings worn
Cables stuck
etc.
etc.

Biggest costs of going for a ride are still time and petrol (unless you're unemployed with nice trails form the door).

probably. Don't do the silly steep stuff in winter as it's usually covered in snow/ice so bestest bike can take a break.

did run my old FS the last couple of winters but I put some shiny new bits on this summer so that may be mothballed until the big freeze (think it was only a week or so last year 🙁 )

I have a rigid HT and a sus-forked SS I tend to ride as training bikes, my race bike generally is only got out to race on over winter as it has nice kit on it I'd rather not trash. I'll happy to ride the race bike over summer though!

Why wouldn't you want to enjoy your £3000 machine of joy 6 months a year? Bonkers.

As others, having a bike i can just leave mucky and cover in horrific looking mudguards gets me out.

The thought of faffing cleaning after makes me not bother.

Will only be twiddling about in filth anyway where the suspension is doing nothing anyway.

For southern chalk clag I think the hardtail may still see some action in the depths of winter but only for mud clearance reasons.

Just get a road bike for winter; put the mtb away for good till it's Spring again.

I asked this on another thread - why would you do this? Just get an extra cleaning routine and it'll be fine. Parts wear out when knackered so just ride the bike.
Hardtail will wear out as well and need money spent on it...just ride the bike, it is a mountain bike so ride it, they are designed to be ridden in all conditions.
Just give an extra clean...I'm 5 minutes extra each ride as I wash the bike afterwards.

I don't see what's so hard about hosing the bike down after a middy ride..
Even when I lived in the flat and it was muddy I'd get most of the mud off outside with a few diy squeezy bottles and sponge. Take it up to the bath and shower it down! Let it dry while I'm having a bath then lube it..
What's the point spending £600 on a winter bike when if you do wear some parts out in winter riding you can just replace them? (With shiny new kit)
As long as you look after your shocks and wash them after every muddy ride I can't see an expensive bill coming.. If its a worry get some of them shock boots to protect them..
On the other hand I'd like to be out ridingy my nice bikes especially if I were to pop my clogs all of a sudden or brake a leg..

I did moth ball my Whyte upstairs in the study and the wife bought me a 29er for winter, it was rubbish ,so it got sold as did the whyte and now me and the winter can hold hands together on the bombproof Five that sits in the study ,, neon orange too ..single bearing goodness

Anyone (MTB)putting their good bike away for winter ?

Maybe mate, but at worst that would be from the beginning of Feb wouldn't it? Ya big frikkin hetrosexual 🙄

Why oh why...

Proper bikes with proper bits last winter. My hub and frame bearings are well sealed.

For those who's rides are through endless slop why? Ever thought your in the wrong place? Forget the bike and think of the trail.

There are these magic places called trail centres, these are generally all weather and fun to ride in the depth of winter.

weeksy
Did a distinctly muddy ride on Fri and thought "you know what, I'm going to retire the Spearfish until spring", the drivetrain was making horrific noises all day.. it wasn't nice.
So I'm thinking of lubing/greasing and putting the spare mud tyres on the Charge Cooker and leaving the Fish until spring

OP..... firstly I feel your pain. Not about having to decide the best course of action but opening it up to debate on here.Lol

I did basically the same post a week or so back and it just quickly turns into a "your mad not riding your bike through the Winter because it's what I do and my opinion is right and yours is wrong" type affair.

STW is a fanatic forum, it truly is, but some guys on here find it genuinely incomprehensible that any opinion that goes against their own can have any validity. I'm being quite serious here.

So.... My opinion, as that's all it is(!) is to do whatever makes you feel better during those mucky Winter rides.

To me that means riding a bike I built up for Winter from mostly spares/ and second hand parts and not minding the grinding paste noise I hear.**

**Your riding experience may differ and no significance to my personal opinion is either intended or implied. 😀

"Anyone (MTB)putting their good bike away for winter ?"

Errr.... Yeah! 😯

Totes.

In fact I've put two of my [i]best bikes[/i] away for the winter. I have another two that I will use in what I like to term [i]mild autumn-winter mud[/i]

...and another two I will happily use in the worst abject winter filth imaginable, so I will switch over to those two when things get really bad.

I shite ye not..

Thing is, when you've spent ~£4k a piece on two lovely blingy (mint condition secondhand) carbon bikes in 2012 - and also have another eight MTBs of various ages and loveliness to choose from - why would you want to trash the really blingy ones by riding them thru' the winter?

...especially as I can no longer afford to buy nice bikes anymore 🙁

I have to make these beauties last.

As despite my best efforts the bike I rode through the last three winters has in that time needed a new fork (albeit because I couldn't get hold of the parts to service the original), two new hubs, a new bottom bracket (and a nice man at the LBS with a scaffolding pole to remove the old one), a new rear derailleur, two chains, one cassette, one rim, a crankset, one set of headset bearings and a complete headset (when I realised that the first really wasn't very well sealed) as well as brake pads and a couple of sets of cables, then yes I do tend to look at the weather and the state of the ground and decide which bike to leave at home. This year's winter bike is going to be a Rooster running 1x10 which should at least cut down the number of parts to replace.

stevedoc - Member

the bombproof Five that sits in the study

Ah, I was waiting for someone to do the "I have a Five so it only has"... Wait, hang on, what the?

..single bearing goodness

You want to get that fixed

Serious though, what's the meaningful difference between a five and a multi pivot bike, like, £30 per full service every once in a blue moon? On a bike that costs thousands of quid? Don't get excited because you slightly reduced the smallest part of the service costs that aren't, when it comes down to it, that big a deal anyway when considered as part of the whole cradle-to-grave thing. Your shock and suspension, drivetrain, even the bloomin tyres are a higher cost than bearing replacement.

And everyone else! Why, if you don't like washing your bikes, are you so obsessed with washing them? You don't need to! Do the chain, clean the sliding parts, done. Mind you this is why my white hemlock was permanently stained brown but still

washing your bikes... You don't need to!

Tsk! Get out!

😉

[url= http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#4 ]Rule #4[/url]

Winter = hard tail permanently set up with lights, so the FS (the "good bike") is ridden in daylight.

Both get cleaned post ride. I don't understand the issue.

As despite my best efforts the bike I rode through the last three winters has in that time needed a new fork (albeit because I couldn't get hold of the parts to service the original),

two new hubs, a new bottom bracket (and a nice man at the LBS with a scaffolding pole to remove the old one),

a new rear derailleur, two chains, one cassette, one rim, a crankset,

one set of headset bearings and a complete headset (when I realised that the first really wasn't very well sealed)

It seems like somethings would be good normal wear and tear for 3 winters of solid riding. Some stuff seems like it's just false economy and other failures could have been at any time but your just blaming winter!

I reckon it was just a sh@t bike to start with..
If your going to replace that amount of parts, just buy another bike and save yourself the hassle 😀

I have a brown rigid singlespeed.. It's my only mtb
problem solved

yunki

I have a brown rigid singlespeed.. It's my only mtb
problem solved

On any other forum you would have won over both sides if Im honest. Well, mine anyway.

This being STW however, you've probably (unknowingly) taken out a contract on your soul. 😀

I have two rigid singlespeeds.

A summer one and a winter one. Not sure which is which.

Josh that is just showing off now

For those who's rides are through endless slop why? Ever thought your in the wrong place? Forget the bike and think of the trail.

There are these magic places called trail centres, these are generally all weather and fun to ride in the depth of winter.

I ride most days, that happens because i have plenty to ride from the front door. The most fun stuff is generally the worst in terms of slop, i avoid it to prevent as much trashing as possible, this leaves fireroads and some select trails which are also still saturated with surface water, where i live, if i want to regularly ride, i have to ride slop.

I have a local trail centre (swinley), some more fun stuff stays pretty dry, happy riding it on the hack bike, the actual trail centre trails hammer the bike, avoid those and ride the more natural trails, it's only bimbling anyway.

I have multiple bikes, i ride the bike for the job, during winter it becomes much more XC, so i start using my XC (or hack) bike.

As others above, it's fine to have different outlooks, like i struggle with MTBers insisting they need 6" gnarpoon weapons for the simplest of riding and trail centres, those same people then proceed to find the climbs too much hard work, ride less, get more unfit, find the climbs even harder word, ride even less, get even more unfit etc etc etc.

A lot of my rides are 60-80mins local stuff.

driving to a lovely nicely drained trailcentre takes 2 hours... so obviously isn't viable.

I'm off to Afan a week on Friday so the Gnarpoon (Spearfish) will be still coming out for that... but for the local stuff it will sleeping with the fishes.

just get new drivetrain in the spring?

Wow I'm seeing a lot of hate again for a Five owner , I'm off to find that hate thread and order an Audi ,

Pointless rant

jaffejoffer - Member

just get new drivetrain in the spring?

It's drivetrain and new bearings though, which is not only £50-100 all in, but it's an afternoon swapping them.

I have a brown rigid singlespeed.. It's my only mtb

Me too. (Mine isn't brown though, that sounds horrible 🙂 )

What is all this winter/summer bike stuff. I just change the chain now and again.

£100 and an afternoon tinkering but you get to ride your fave ace bike all year! also cheaper than a winter hack if you havent already got one...

jaffejoffer - Member

£100 and an afternoon tinkering but you get to ride your fave ace bike all year! also cheaper than a winter hack if you havent already got one...

I have got one though and it's pretty decent 🙂 I've actually ridden the HT a fair bit this year anyway as my riding buddy has been having some Zesty issues so every time we've been out together I've been on the HT and he's been on my Spearfish. It's set up pretty damn well and is a lovely HT.

Got one bike Yeti ARC5c, it will get used all through winter, and will be washed and lubed at the end of every ride, as it lives inside, and I rent. It takes 20 minutes at the end of the ride, and It's done and ready for the next go.

I have 1 bike and 1 bike only ... I ride the spesh enduro all weathers any weathers .. all these folk talking bout how many bikes they have and what they use and when 😐 .... really !? a bike is there to be ridden

I have a similar strategy to McNulty up there ^^. My Five is my main bike, unless I'm away for a big epic in the hills, but now that we're getting into the real dark nights, I'll be resurrecting my P7. The Five will still get used on most drier weekend day rides, but the P7 will take over for night riding duties and wetter day rides. It's simpler to clean, has a slightly lower spec....so the inevitable trashed kit after a night ride impact won't hurt my wallet so much...and in all honesty, it's easier to pedal when the going gets a bit soft. Oh, and it's got the hipflask holder on it....very important on a cold winter's night. 😉

If you have the storage space, what's the problem with having more than one bike? If you have more than one bike, what's the problem with choosing to ride one over the other as the seasons change?

Chill out dudes.

C. 🙄

I would consider all my bikes as "good" but the single speed will be mostly in service during the winter months 🙂

and a nice man at the LBS with a scaffolding pole to remove the old one

A scaffolding pole eh? Not seen many of those about in a long while, everyone uses tubes these days 😛 (sorry - used to be a scaff)

It's drivetrain and new bearings though,

I went out for a short ride last Friday afternoon, on my way to Builth, around a local beauty/nature spot scattered with bridleways, fire roads and marked paths (perhaps intended for walking........). I'm glad I went, the trails weren't too muddy as such, but man was it hard going, we've not had that much rain but everything was just so boggy and seemed to require so much effort, my average speed was under 4mph, and I was blowing and sweating like a carthorse. Bike just didn't want to roll.

Most of my local routes/woods will be like this from now on, and I'm not sure I fancy it much to be honest. I need to keep riding to build and maintain fitness and make sure I don't put weight back on (1.5 stone lost since March).

I only have hardtails, so full sus maintenance not an issue, but scraping loads of mud, pine needles and crap off my freshly built up Soul on the weekend was somewhat demoralising.

I'm thinking the off road mountain biking will be almost exclusively weekends at more surfaced trail centres until we have some decent frosts and the ground firms up, but I want to ride mid week too, so contemplating a rigid fork on my Scandal 29er for more road-based rides, or getting a bargain basement road bike to use..........

Except I used to get through more than a winter on a set of bearings in all of my bikes. More like 2 years... Unless you have a chap bike with crappie bearings

You have one experience, another person has another, doesn't make you right and him wrong, it makes you both right but different!

FWIW, [b]In a single race[/b] I've managed to kill a brand new (as in fitted the day before) Shimano UN72 BB, and lower bearing in headset (Cane Creek), and bearings in rear hub (White Industries, standard sealed cartridge and extra grease sealing) which were only ~3 months old. Also put significant wear on the drivetrain too, and had to junk the cables (standard Shimano SP41 inner and outer). Fortunately it was a rigid bike, hate to think what state any shocks would have been in 😯

Conditions vary, just like experiences 😉

stevedoc - Member

Wow I'm seeing a lot of hate again for a Five owner

Where?

+ 1 here with a couple of rigid singlespeeds.

I built up one and enjoyed it so much I bought a nicer one.

It was a bit of an n+1 excuse but it's become a real pleasure to ride round the muddy trails on them in the winter.

There is an element of saving the nicer bikes from the mud but in reality it's to save the washing as I'm not motivated to clean when I get back wet, cold and muddy.

It depends where you are really. Here in the Dales most (but certainly not all) bridleways are pretty weather proof, they might be wet in places and you are going to get muddy but you aren't battling through 6 inches of clart. However there are some BWs where your bike seems to double in weight during the course of a ride.

You just need to know what conditions are like and plan a route accordingly. After a while you get a set of "indicators" that let you know what the tracks are like plus you tend to know which routes get muddy first.

£100 for a new transmission?

Hmmm. Where do you buy your kit from?

I reckon I've saved enough to buy another couple of best bikes by not running the best bikes through the winter over the last 9 or 10 years.

£100 for a new transmission?

Hmmm. Where do you buy your kit from?

I reckon I've saved enough to buy another couple of best bikes by not running the best bikes through the winter over the last 9 or 10 years.

Depends what stuff you use, but for a bog standard 2x (or 3x) drivechain,

Chainrings: £40
Chain: £15
Cassette: £30
Jockey wheels: £10
=£95, and lets round up to cover some cables?

Horses for courses (and budgets) though. I've known people who buy £300 hardtails from Halfords for the winter, do the bare minimum of maintenance, and junk it in the spring (or more likely, jet wash the hell out of it so it looks clean and sell it to some poor sod on ebay).

10 years ago my best and only bike was a £300 hardtail form halfords, I replaced the drivechain each April and ran it into the ground over the winter.

These days I buy bikes based on reliability and low running costs, so they're a rigid SS and a rigid fat bike (with 1x10). Partly because I'm tight, partly because I like the idea of going for a ride somewhere nice and it costing me nothing, rather than getting to the top of a long muddy climb and thinking "this view just cost me £15 in XO1 cassette".

The decision as to what to ride is easy as the muddiest trails round here don't require gears, and the ones that do are chalky mud rather than gritty/grinding paste mud.

As Whitestone says...My winter riding involves thinking of the trails i'm going to ride based on conditions, and I know the areas that deteriorate easily and can judge that pretty well. Riding through hours of slop is no fun for me, and it's bad for the trail too. It does mean that in a wet winter the trail options are very poor, and what's left will still be slow and pretty much non-technical. This means that i'll ride a rigid geared bike mostly, because the best bike isn't as much fun going slow in mud. I'll still ride the 'best' bike (a HT) when I want, but the key point is that the winter riding is not based on any maintenance equation. For me it's about keeping riding in bad conditions, but with respect to the trails and whilst still trying to have fun. Maintenance will cost what it does and happen whenever needed throughout the year, but winter will have less of a toll because i'll generally avoid multiple clag-fests.

Serious though, what's the meaningful difference between a five and a multi pivot bike, like, £30 per full service every once in a blue moon?

Having moved from a Five to a multi-pivot Smuggler it's not the cost that concerns me so much as the ease. Bearing changes on a Five were so simple that I'd often pop a new set in just in case and on more than one occasion I was surprised to find that bearings I thought were OK were actually pretty rough once I got them out. Am I going to bother doing that with all those fiddly little pivots? I don't know is the simple answer. Maybe it will be a trivial matter once I've got the hang of it, but the Five did make a pretty fantastic winter bike. In fact I'm thinking of building it back up with budget components for a bit of fun. Even if I don't keep it (based on this thread) I reckon somebody might fancy a cheap Five for the winter.

That's a fair point actually, some bikes [i]are[/i] a bollocks to change bearings on.

Don't say that. You were supposed to tell me it wasn't going to be an issue 🙂

i'll be swapping/changing bikes for winter, yes.

i like the 'freshness' of changing from hardtail to full-suspension every 6ish months.

it means my bikes get stripped/rebuilt every 6months.

winter/summer is just the excuse.

(well, that and the hope of keeping road-salt away from pivot hardware)

Chainrings: £40
Chain: £15
Cassette: £30
Jockey wheels: £10

Best bike?

Can pretty much double everything on there.

Best bike?

is SLX/XT not good enough for you?

Despite what the mags and a few on here might tell you the vast majority don't spend thousands on a frame (and forks and wheels), and then hang XTR off it.

I know, but I do. Most of the guys I race/train/ride with do as well.

The kit all wears out at some point so riding in mud (a UK factor) isn't really going to save the wallet as all the bits will need replaced at some point - most at the same point.
Having more bikes just adds to this cost.
The fact a full bounce needs more attention is part and parcel of running a full bounce bike...
I'm still unclear to the why (or the why not to riding it all year round), but I'm not saying it is right or wrong...I just can't fathom the logic as it seems to suggest more cost to me as you have more kit needing replaced due to more bikes.