traveling in the rain with a chain?

Message

dean owens · Fri May 08, 2009 1:12 am

so my father-in-law, brother-in-law and i are taking a trip to the mountains tomorrow (saturday) and coming back monday. there's a pretty good chance that we could encounter some rain along the way. never had a chain driven bike so i'm unsure of what to do. it has recently had the chain cleaned and lubed. so being that it's just for the weekend and the trip is less than 500 miles should i just not worry about the chain until i get back?

my other option is to take a can of lube with me. i won't really be able to clean the chain, but i could spray it down once we got to our destination.

any thoughts on the matter?

HYPERR · #2 Unread post by **HYPERR** » Fri May 08, 2009 2:14 am

I wouldn't worry about it at all. Lube it the night before and be done with it.

jstark47 · #3 Unread post by **jstark47** » Fri May 08, 2009 2:53 am

Agreed. For a weekend trip, don't worry about it. If you get rained on, lube it when you get back.

On longer trips, I've been known to throw a can of chain lube in the luggage. Both our touring bikes have center stands, so it's simple to pop the bike up on the stand and spray the chain.

#4 Unread post by **Wrider** » Sat May 09, 2009 8:48 am

Lube and go! Just like... erm yeah... we'll leave that alone. Have fun on the trip!

High_Side · Sat May 09, 2009 10:52 am

Throw the lube in a plstic bag under the seat for trips. Whether it's raining or not, if you are putting in big days lube the chain at the end of the day. If I am riding a whole lot of rain, I'll even give it a shot at lunch time.

PacificShot327 · Sat May 09, 2009 5:20 pm

Thanks for sparing us, Wrider.

dean owens · Tue May 12, 2009 1:44 am

well, i took a can of lube with me but it turns out it didn't rain on the way there or the day we did all our riding. but yesterday when we came back it was raining (and COLD). i went about 500 miles so it's due a cleaning and lube anyway.

this leads to another question. when i got back i was so cold and wet that i just wanted to get in, get a shower and put some warm clothes on. so i didn't do anything with my bike. should i have lubed it right then? is there any damage to letting it sit over night?

question two... unless someone gets on here in the next hour or so and tells me not to, i plan on riding it to work today (with out a clean and lube). i have heard that it's best to clean and lube when it's warm. so i figured i'd do that when i got home from work today. anything wrong with that?

thanks y'all for the help.

#8 Unread post by **fireguzzi** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:28 am

I think it would be ok until you got home from work.

But then again it only takes a few minutes to wipe it down and spray some lube. About the same amount of time it takes to surf around TMW and ask a question.

dean owens · Tue May 12, 2009 3:01 am

fireguzzi wrote:I think it would be ok until you got home from work.

But then again it only takes a few minutes to wipe it down and spray some lube. About the same amount of time it takes to surf around TMW and ask a question.

yeah, i know wise guy.

i'm just new at the whole chain deal. i had read that it should be done with the chain "warm" and wasn't sure if it would do any good/hurt anything to do it while the chain was "cold".

cycleman3763 · Tue May 19, 2009 3:49 am

lube and go lol...wise words