Salt on the roads

gaius c

Hi all
Got a new chain for my bike just after xmas and had to take it into the repair shop yesterday to get it replaced as it has rusted very badly. Guy in the shop said it was all the salt used for gritting the roads.

I put loads of oil on it and it didn't seem to help.
Any tips?

lennymc

wash your chain after you use your bike to rinse the salt off the drive train then oil it. use a good chain oil.

Alanstrainor

Mine isn't looking too great at the moment either, less than a year old at this stage. I degreased and oiled it recently, but I was back where I started not too long after.

Thargor

Ive often noticed that even with careful maintenance and good chain lube my chains on a roadbike that stays in my room always go rusty on me, whereas the 20-30 year old mountain bikes on my parents farm at home that are left propped against walls outside for days on end and out in a shed the rest of the time are still perfect. Those chains have been heavily lubricated years ago with a grease gun like this one and never maintained since, tempted to apply that kind of treatment to my next bike, or do they use lighter more disposable chains on roadbikes for the weight?

cdaly_

Thargor wrote: »

do they use lighter more disposable chains on roadbikes for the weight?

The chains will be thinner to cope with 9-10-11 speed cassettes while your 20 year old MTBs likely have no more than 6 or 7 speed. Since the internal dimension of a chain is still the same (or nearly so), the links have to be thinner and so are more subject to wear.

C3PO

My beautiful steel Langster is looking a bit second hand at the moment too - the salt really makes a mess of anything unpainted! I suppose that's the point of a commuter!

07Lapierre

This is why we have "winter bikes".

benneca1

Motorbike chain lube winter grade that wont wash off just don't go off road as is a magnet for mud. Otherwise use copious amounts of finish line wet lube. Both to be had in our friends in Hal fords. You could go with the old grease gun but then as well as mud old crisp

devonp

are Campag chains more prone to salt/rust, know they are thinner, mine not sounding too good, haven't cleaned since last 3 spins.....:eek:

gaius c

lennymc wrote: »

wash your chain after you use your bike to rinse the salt off the drive train then oil it. use a good chain oil.

Every use?

Wishbone Ash

devonp wrote: »

are Campag chains more prone to salt/rust, know they are thinner, mine not sounding too good, haven't cleaned since last 3 spins.....:eek:

Funny you should say that. One of my bikes has a Campy chain. It's the least used bike and the only one with proper full mudguards yet the chain seems to show signs of rust much more than the other three.