6 Essential Winter Road Bike Maintenance Tips

The freezing temperatures currently hitting the UK have made us realise that winter is definitely not over. So here are some top tips to keep your bike working throughout the rest of winter, and hopefully save you some money when spring comes around.

There are a number of parts on a road bike that can take a battering throughout the winter, and if you're not careful could end up costing you a lot of money. So here are a couple of simple tips to keep your bike in top working condition throughout the last bit of winter.

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[gcntech]

Let us know your tips or hacks for keeping your bike running through the winter

[jonahconner]

The key to winter bike maintenance: grease the hell out of everything.

[joostdemoor]

7:24 Si is so lean, he can comfortably sit on his rear mech. What an athlete

[SwedishHouseFifa]

Riding on the sunny Island of Watopia and Mallorca this Winter has been rough on the bike ;)

[sudduthjonathan]

Thanks for the great video. Even simply seeing parts and what things look like inside is enough to get me started.

[petinka]

Thanks again GCN for a very good video keep the bike in good condition! I self ride bike in winter time and wash the bike quickly as often I can and keep the shain in good condition by cleaning and lubricate it often.

[SamGibson]

I really liked the synopsis in the intro. Helps to understand it's not just a video about mudguards again

[scottishjohn]

Simon what is going on! You didn't mention your favourite thing to do on a bike. Clean the drivechain! The biggest preventative measure to premature wear and you don't even give it a mention. You always mention cleaning! Good video none the less.

[morlamweb]

My #1 hack for winter maintenance... is to take the bike over to my local shop for a thorough, professional servicing in springtime. I try to time it with when I swap my studded winter tires over to my summer ones, usually in mid-March. #2: use sealed-bearing components wherever possible: pedals, wheel hubs, bottom bracket. I'm sure that the shop will look at all of them when I bring the bike in for her springtime service, but I doubt that they'd need to do anything with them. #3: use full mudguards with mudflaps to keep as much snow, ice, water, and gritty stuff off of you and the bike.

[willian.direction]

Never tipped my bike up to drain water, will do it after my ride this morning thanks for the tip.

[robbchastain]

Great tips, Si, thanks, and probably my tip would be to make the tires as impervious to flats as possible--stout rubber, fresh tubes, protective liners, that sort of thing. It gets hard to fix a flat in the cold, the colder the harder, I suppose.

[Acerc-orit]

excellent videos, I just need the right tools

[ukestjohn]

As a preventive procedure, I always wrap electrical tape around the seat post where it fits into the down tube, and over the little slot below the seatpost clamp. This is very effective in keeping winter gunk out of the seattube.

[joewang]

In Canada, the way to do it is leave the gunk on the bike for most of the winter. Otherwise the road salt will likely have a better chance of corroding the components if you expose it with frequent cleaning. It's certainly debatable.

[hedleykerr]

I spray my whole frame and drivetrain with dry silicone! Keeps from picking all the grit and debris you have on the road! I also will use Duponts spray wax with Teflon this does a great job with all the crap on the road has well!

[janwillemkuilenburg]

Great video with good tips!
It would also be good to stress cleaning the brake pads from grit and aluminium particles as in winter it destroys your rims.

[pavelpavel]

Applying grease over the seals of the cartridge bearings just gets me everytime XD stay classy GCN

[johnmac]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who works on my bike at total ridiculous heights and angles.

[maxmoorhead]

Here in Toronto, where they over salt the streets and it all turns into snowy salt soup, we just buy beaters that are hard to care about to get around. That being said, they do need regular cleaning. I can't wait to break out the roadie, not long now.

[egorblinov]

3:40 also, the wear of the chain can be accurately measured using slidegauge (calliper)