5 Tips for Winterizing your bike

Gulo warehouse manager Sam Yates, talks about 5 tips he does for winterizing his bike.

These are my 5 tips for winterizing your bike. We’re going to cover mudguards, frame protection, brakes, and tire changes. And then miscellaneous things I do when we talk about mud protection.

#1 Mudguards

The first big obvious one is using mudguards. These are great for keeping the mud off you, keeping you a little bit drier and warmer through those rides. And it’s also a nice thing if you’re riding in groups. A good mudguard that covers most of your rear wheel will spray less mud, and the guy behind you will be happier for it, and you’ll have a better all-around day.

Sam Yates

#2 Silicone spray

The second thing I like to do to my bikes during the winter is spray my frame with silicone spray. Silicone spray is excellent, especially on mountain bikes, because the mud will stick less easily to the frame.

We’re going to shed mud, have a lighter bike, and have less clean at the end of the day, and your bike looks great and is clean and tidy for the next ride.

#3 Brakes

The third item for, getting my bike ready for winter is to prepare my brakes. I will check both wheels to see if I need new brake pads and possibly new rotors, if I have done a lot of hard riding.

#4 Tape

My next thing is tape; I’m going to take something like Gorilla Tape or another strong tape, and I’m going to cover the top of my calipers. Taping calipers are especially helpful on mountain bikes. The tape will help to prevent extra dirt, mud, and little pieces of stone from getting into your breaks through the winter. This little hack helps to improve the longevity of your pads, pistons, and rotors. The last thing I do with my brakes is to clean them well after every ride and make sure no debris could get past the tape.

#5 Tire Choice

Number five winterizing checkpoint is our tire choice. Depending on where you live, this will be more or less important. Depending on the style of riding that you’re doing, it will be more or less critical.

If you are riding on the road, changing tires will have less impact on your winter rides. You could go to a thicker casing, something with a little bit more grip than you’ve written in the summer. However, you can still keep running that summertime tire without swapping tires.

Using the right Mountain biking tires for the winter is a bit more critical.
We need to evaluate; do we need a Wet Tire or a tire with a little bit more tread or something that’s going to shed mud?

Depending on the area that you live in, will dictate your tire choices.

If you have any questions and you’re unsure about the type of tie that you should choose.. mud tires, gravel, tires, street tires, enduro tires, double downs, single casings, then head to your local bike shop, ask them, and they’ll be able to help you choose the best tire for where your area.

Other Tips

To wrap things up on this video about winterizing your bike, Here are a few things I like to do when riding in the winter. I always carry a little bottle of chain lube when I ride just in case it’s a particularly wet ride or has multiple water crossings then I can add a little lube and keep things running.

I’m also a big fan of keeping spare hand and toe warmers with all my spares, either my saddlebag on my road bike or my riding pack for mountain biking. If it’s a really cold ride it’s nice to have that little extra warmth or a nice thing to give someone who has a puncture and will be out in the cold fixing a puncture. Having hand warmers goes a long way to keep things a bit happier. These are some of the things I like to do, and hopefully, they will be helpful to you.

We’d love to hear from you if you guys have any ideas or anything that you do that we didn’t cover.

Check out Kyle’s post – 5 Winter Training tips to Maximize Your Summer Racing