The main problem with winter is not snow, but salt. Slush gets street grime and salt in your parts, which can cause rust and wear and tear. Here are some tips for maintaining your bike in the winter:

• Use fenders. These will keep you and your bike clean.



• Lube your chain and moving parts once a week. The dampness and the salt can dry out the existing lubrication in the chain, causing the chain and the cogs to wear out much faster. If you keep the chain lubricated, then the chain is much less likely to suddenly break.



• If conditions are icy, lowering your seat may help. That way, you can drop your feet down to help maintain balance or to have your feet act as brakes.



• Brakes:
  
  
  • Check your brakes. You might get 11 months out of a pair during fair weather, but wear them down in one month of slush. If you let them go too long, they will wear down to expose metal, which will gouge your rim.
  
  
  
  • Wipe off your wheel rims if they have obvious gunk on them. The gunk will reduce the effectiveness of your brakes and possibly cause them to wear out more quickly.
  
  
  
• If possible, keep the keyholes of your bike locks covered, or keep them pointed away from the direction of downpouring sleet/snow. Having the lock freeze shut is no fun. Lock de-icer used for cars can help unfreeze a frozen keyhole, but this stuff can dry out your lock more rapidly. If you use de-icer, put some lube or oil in the keyhole later.



• Tires and Inner Tubes:
  
  
  • Knobby mountain-bike tires provide better traction when there's snow accumulation that hasn't been ploughed, but these same knobby tires will slow you down when there's no snow on the street.
  
  
  
  • Even if you normally patch your flats, carry a spare inner tube with you. When it's sleeting out, it's much easier to just change an inner tube than to try to use the patch kit.
  
  
  
• Consider using a beater bike in the winter. You might consider an older model that has fenders and fewer parts. Bikes with many gears require thinner chains which tend to wear faster. A three or single speed might be better for this season.



• Cleaning your bike regularly is especially important in the salt and grime-soaked days of winter. However, cleaning can lead to problems:
  
  
  • Make sure that when washing your bike, you don't spray high- pressure water horizontally into the cassette (gears) area on your rear wheel. This can cause water to enter the cassette or freewheel mechanism, making it freeze up or slip and throwing you from the bike in the process.
  
  
  
  • When washing, make sure the section of cable housing that meets the back of the rear derailluer is dry on the inside. If water is trapped there, it can cause the cable to freeze and prevent shifting. A good way to do this is by shifting the chain onto the smallest gear in back and lifting it by hand onto the largest gear. This should add enough play to the cable so that the housing can be removed from the back of the derailleur. Dry the cable with a rag, lube it thouroughly with chain lube, and replace it. Ask a mechanic to do this for you if you have trouble.
  
  
  
  • Make sure that no water remains on the bike before riding it in freezing temperatures. Water can cause parts to freeze to each other. Example: after cleaning my drivetrain some water remained on the rear derailleur. One of the jockey wheels froze to the cage of the derailleur, causing the chain to skip violently and shift poorly -- and in the process damaging the derailleur.
  
  The type of problems caused by freezing water are especially vexing. They manifest themselves only outdoors in freezing weather and may quickly vanish as soon as you being your bike inside to "repair" the problem