Prepping bike for medium term storage

[wintershade]

I just built up a Ritchey Road Logic to keep at a vacation home in Peaks Island, Maine, a rather harsh climate. I visit a few times a year (1x in winter, 1-2x in spring/summer) for a week or so at a time and ride daily in all weather exceptnheavybsnow. I’m sick of schlepping my nicer bikes back and forth and tending bikes that don’t fit.

Any tips for keep the bike in good shape for the 5-6 months at a time it will sit in the garage? Would wet or dry lube be better for storage. Assuming I give the bike a good wash and spray it down with something like Muc Off “Bike Protect” before leaving, will it stay in decent shape?

[TobinHatesYou]

Bike Protect is basically WD-40 in function. I’d rather just use a combination of T-9 and Dumonde Tech depending on the component.

chain: Dumonde Tech or T-9
fasteners: T-9
pulleys: Dumonde Tech
headset/bottom bracket: marine grease
cables: Dumonde Tech
other metal surfaces: T-9

[nemeseri]

I adore the fact how much you care about your bike! I have a secondary bike at home I only use for a few weeks every year. I only grease the chains, clean the bike with a rag, pump up the tires and ride. This is one of the many things why I find bicycles amazing. You can store the bike in a garage for years, and ride on it after a 10-15 minute tune-up / maintanance.

Because of the bad weather, I'd just make sure that the bike is fairly clean and dry before I leave.

[mattr]

If the garage is heated/integral to the house, just clean it, oil the oily bits and pump up the tyres.
If it's external/unheated you'll need to basically do what Tobin suggests.
I do this several times every year. Putting seasonal bikes into storage.

[AJS914]

Can the bike live in a heated area? During winters in Spokane I moved my bikes into the basement which was heated rather than let them sit in the frozen garage all winter. The tires may fare better if the bikes are hung on hooks.

[mattr]

Yeah, tyres/tubes can take a hammering with repeated (daily) freeze/thaw cycles. I've had a couple fall apart on me after a winter in the garage (coldest is about -15 out there).

If the house is empty when you aren't there, just roll the bike into the kitchen and leave it. If it is occupied (seasonal lets?) i guess you have a storeroom for personal effects, see if you can get it in there (hung up even if you are short of space).

[Frankie - B]

You might want to prep the frame tubes with vaseline or frame saver to prevent rust from the inside.

[wintershade]

Thanks all. This is very helpful.

I know, it’s kind of silly. This is the first bike I’ve build up myself from a bare frameset so I’m oddly attached to it.

I was planning to keep it in an attached garage which does experience fairly extememe heat swings, but I could store it in the mudroom which we keep heated to 55 degrees in winter when house is empty, so that will keep the tires from going through freeze cycles. Good idea there.

I’ll also get a hook so I don’t get flat spots on tires. Good idea there as well.

I think prepping inside of tubes might be too much work, at least until a full overhaul of the bike is due.

Any thoughts on whether wet or dry lube will hold up better to long stretches of sitting idle?

[mattr]

I think prepping inside of tubes might be too much work, at least until a full overhaul of the bike is due.

It's a high quality frame, the inside of the tubes should be fairly well sorted anyway. If you did want to use something inside the eubes, do it as early as possible, i.e. when it's new. Or you'll need to completely dismantle it to do the job. Might be worth a quick mail to the manufacturer to ask what frame prep they have done.

Any thoughts on whether wet or dry lube will hold up better to long stretches of sitting idle?

It'll make no odds, anything will either dry out or get covered in dust. You'll need to give it a wipe down and a fresh dribble of oil anyway.

[NickJHP]

My wife and I keep a couple of our older bikes permanently at my sister's house in Perth, across the other side of the continent, and another couple at my brother's house in Switzerland, across the other side of the world, so that when we visit we don't have to bother with the inconvenience of transporting bikes. The bikes in Perth get ridden 1-2x per year, the ones in Switzerland we go touring on every second or third year. The bikes are stored on hooks in attics between visits. When the time comes to wave them goodbye I just give them a clean and lube the chains, and when we turn up to ride them, I check the tyres and gears and brakes and replace anything that needs replacing. We've had this arrangement in place for almost 20 years.