So the good ol' chef and I were discussing how I wanted to get a new bike for winter because I love my Torpado more than most things in life and I can't imagine salting up her chipped paint spots to give her cancer. But then again, I don't see me getting any new bikes in the future. He said it should be fine as long as I kept her clean.

Are there any special solutions to use to make sure the salt is cleaned off good and proper that won't damage the paint over the winter if I'm wiping her off every day after my commute?

I'm planning on riding my new (this season anyways) Surly in the salt this winter. I'll be hosign it off with warm water several times a week as necessary. It helps to have an unfinished heated basement with a floor drain for that...

I think water is the key to getting the nasties off of your bike. You'll do some harm to the lubricants in their respective places, but at least there will not be a bunch of salt collecting everywhere.

If you have known bad paint areas, I would recommend hitting them with clear nail polish (while the frame is still clean and dry) to attempt to seal them up and keep the salt out. If you want to go all out, I wonder if wrapping parts of the frame carefully with electrical tape would keep salt out. It would probably leave goo in the spring or worse yet damage the decals or paint, so that wouldn't be the best idea on a frame you care a ton about.

Anyone have firsthand experience with the electrical tape idea?

Clear you say? All I had was something pinkish... oh well.

Thanks.

If by the spring I have the dough, I'm debating powder coating it to as close to the original color as possible and trying to order custom Torpado decals. There are quite a few chips in the paint already since it's been around since six years before the world welcomed Pinkzilla to it. The seller tried to match the color and patch those up but to no avail. The color is simply too awesomespectacular.

My favorite system last year was to just dump a bucket of hot water in the general vicinity of the drivetrain, wipe down what I could quick with a rag, then bring 'er inside and lube 'er up. Of course, this means getting a lot of water in some spots where that's maybe not the best idea, such as bottom bracket and rear hub. I figure as long as the water is not under pressure and is given a once-over to make sure there isn't pooling water sitting around, it should be okay. I found that some aluminum parts didn't like it when they were air-dried after a rinse, I think that the road salt + water + aluminum + possibly degreaser cause some sort of a reaction on the surface of the part. The reason I suggest degreaser as being a potential culprit in this phenomenon is because I have gotten a different kind of degreaser onto some extruded aluminum screenprinting tools and seen something similar. Its like scaling.

Yeah, a frame was stolen, and I found it the next day. It was wrapped in BET, and when I took it off, it took a lot of the paint. Probably not the best idea, unless you're wrapping a bike with good paint and clearcoat. I don't think an old italian paint job qualifys, PinkZilla.

I've heard some people say that actually letting the snow melt is a bad thing, as is water. The reasoning is that it helps the salt get into places it wouldn't get if it was still in the snow. I know I had a seatpost nearly get cemented together when the salt worked into the threads. It sucked to get it apart...

Other than that I got nothing this early in the morning.

I heard the same thing; it was suggested to me to leave my bike outside -- in the cold -- and to rinse it off before bringing it inside.