Bikes in the Winter: Stayin’ Salty Feb 12, 2010

Steady stayin’ salty. That’s the shitty thing about snow in cities. You wash your bike off each night and the next day, it’s a salty mess again. It’s usually not an issue for aluminum frames, but a steel bike (with a steel drivetrain) can get crusty. I usually overhaul the bb and cranks once a week to keep everything in working condition.

Last weekend, when I switched to a LSD / LHD, I got to adjust the new Profile Outboard BB cups. Pretty clever design. You simply set the bearings in the cups for whatever spacing you need. On a fixed gear, I run the drive-side slammed to the bearing and the non-drive with one cone spacer. This makes for a decent q-factor. Just make sure you install the BB tube spacer and shims when doing so or you’ll get a bit of pedal resistance!

Previously:
Left Hand Drive Bruiser

  • does this count as a drive side photo?

  • hah. I flipped it so you could see the cups / salt.

  • Rui

    You could get a beater for commuting in the shit.

  • That is my beater!

  • mattie d
  • Stillen

    Can you run a 5 1/4 spindle with this set up or do you need something a little longer?

  • Meic

    The advantage to the pacific northwest. When it does snow once a year they don’t salt the roads. Sucks for cars but not that much worse for a bike.

  • Rui

    Well well, not all of consider bruisers with profile drives beaters. Haha

  • nate sc

    there’s like 5 inches of snow in columbia, sc!!! most I can remember ever, and I’ve lived here my whole life.

    the thing is, since it never snows the city doesn’t have any plows/salters, so the roads are totallly retarded. bad for cars, but no salt on my bike.

  • Mattie, I use fenders….

    ;-)

  • i leave my bike in the back of my truck every day, and it gets rained on pretty bad so instead of salt mines is rust.

    :/

    ps. i’ve never seen snow in my life
    :(

  • phil

    who has time to overhaul their bb once a week?? you must have 34 hours in your day

  • If it is a beater you shouldn’t be overhauling the bb more than once a year.

  • guys, overhauling a BB on an alloy spindle with alloy cranks is one thing. Overhauling steel cranks like Profiles is easy and takes 10 minutes and keeps it rolling smoothely. It’s a beater as in it’s the bike I spend the most time on and that I care the least about. Doesn’t mean it’s a piece of shit rust bucket.

    Snark snark snark snark snark snark snark snark snark.

  • i just take my bike to one of those self service car washes at gas stations. $2.50 gets me 2 min of wax and rinse. yeah, i am with phil. How do you find time to overhaul once a week?

  • j

    when you “overhaul”, explain yourself specifically please. your not getting the crank tool out and removing the arms every time are you?

  • I’m not sure what would look better on a Tee. “That is my beater!” or “Snark, snark, snark…” This whole thread cracked me up. Online banter = awesome.

  • there’s no crank tool with profiles. There’s a hammer.

  • Jimbo

    I wonder if that guy on Dirty Jobs gets poop in his bb?

  • lol im with B. Taylor, this thread is awesome lol overhauling isnt that hard or time consuming. but some people dont have time to take care of there bikes, i understand . yes to awesome online banter. blah blah blah

  • Fuck that. It takes me 3 hours. I run my Euro BBs loose ball and pack the shell with Nutella. By the end of the week, ants have made nests in my bike and I have to boil it in Jameson Whiskey to kill them all.

  • im guessing thats not true…

  • andrew

    keep your bike outside if you can. in a porch or fire escape. that way that shit can melt into your bike over and over.

  • Sab, you can stop trying to comment. I use a fender. Get off your high-horse and get a life.

  • j

    thats what i meant prolly. so you can really remove profile crank arms AND re-pack bearings in 10 min.? please put up a how-to on TT. it takes me a full half hour of beating the “crank tool” with a 3 lb. hammer just to remove the arms.

  • wade

    just saw these on a FB ad:
    http://millipedechaincovers.com/
    gotta think that all they do is create a place for the shit to collect, not “protect”
    and look dorky ….

  • tim

  • I just use the crank bolt and a hammer

  • dwain

    Using a hammer and a crank bolt is as pointless as overhauling your bb once a week.

  • ugh. fuck it. comments closed.