Flood-deposited river mud attacks chains with true grit
Posted on Monday, April 7, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Style/222132/
Floods have taken lives and wrecked so many Arkansans’ homes that sensible people hesitate to complain when they can’t ride their bikes because a swollen river has sprawled across their route. Things could be much worse, and they are for many.
But finally the river leaks back where it belongs. The rain slackens. You’re able to get out and ride, wheee !
Whoa. Look at all this red stuff on your street, on your trail.
This is not just any old mud. This is river silt. It clings to tires, cakes brakes and shoots a skunk stripe up your backside. And it is hazardous.
“You can fall... like about 14 people who have called and told us,” Richard Machycek, owner of Arkansas Cycling & Fitness, said last week. “One of the guys that works here fell yesterday [on North Little Rock’s River Trail ]. I’ve fallen out there on the mud, and a real good buddy of mine that rides, he crashed too.
“ That stuff is slippery-er than greased moose poop.”
Mud interferes with stability, with braking, with shifting gears, and in the long run, it encourages rust. Road bikes become much more likely to slip, but mud’s not great for mountain bikes, either, and riding on muddy trails tears up the trails.
Better to stay home, Machycek says. But sometimes you run into mud in the middle of an otherwise clear route. Sometimes you get caught out in the rain.
If you can’t brake efficiently, it would be smart to stop and clear your brakes. This river gunk doesn’t fly off by itself after your wheels hit dry pavement. Riding through clear puddles might clean the center of your tires, but it won’t wipe your brake pads, and it will throw more water up onto your frame.
“When you ride in water and that streak gets up your back, it is also coming into the back of the frame,” Machycek said. “A lot of bikes have a little slot back where you raise and lower the seat post. Water goes into your frame there. This can be devastating to some materials, like a steel bike.”
Cleaning mud off brake pads requires a direct jet of water and probably some wiping, too.
Riders who carry their water in Camelbak-style hydration packs have an emergency water hose at their disposal — just aim the drinking tube at that muddy brake pad and squeeze the bite valve.
Some riders carry a shop rag for emergency cleanup, or they’ll take their spare inner tube out of the old sock they store it in for protection and use the sock as a rag. Some might sacrifice a washable jacket to get mud off brake pads — because you have to be able to brake a bike. Brakes aren’t optional gear.
Less bright ideas for an emergency pit stop include clambering down the bank to the river and immersing your wheels. Water could seep into your hubs or the little holes where your spokes attach to the rims.
Survive your ride and then clean that bicycle right away, Machycek said. “You’re really best off, if you can, to get mud off while the bike is still wet. When mud is wet, it’s most easy to take off and less likely to harm your paint. There’s little rocks in it that can scratch your paint.”
Wet mud rinses away in a stream of water from the hose, but avoid aiming a power-spray at your cranks, hubs and seat post because you don’t want water inside your frame.
Once mud dries, you’ll probably need to brush or scrub. “You can use an old toothbrush,” he said. Bike shops also sell brush kits with soft and hard bristles for working on different parts of the bike. His shops carry a set of four special brushes for about $ 20.
If your brakes squeak after you’ve cleaned them, try wiping them with sandpaper. “Sometimes just taking your wheels out, having easier access to your brake pad will make it easier to clean those brake pads,” he said. Of course, there are people who’d rather buy a new bike than try to take off their rear wheel. But the mud must go, he said. Leaving it in place leads to rust. “A chain will rust overnight,” he said.
“Once it starts corroding, it’s going to corrode easier and be a worse hazard for your chain quicker from now on.”
Chains aren’t instantly worthless the minute rust appears. You can oil a lightly rusted chain and get more service from it. But the chain won’t last nearly so long as a solid one would. Rust also grinds down gear teeth.
“And I’ve seen chains you couldn’t fix because of how much rust had happened,” he said. Rusty chains with stiff links that don’t improve when you oil and wiggle them are probably too far gone to be salvaged.
Setting aside the mud, is there any real harm from letting your bike get wet ?
“It depends on the level of your bike,” he said. “The higherend the bike, the better sealed the bearings are. A little $ 300 bike, yeah, [rain ] can be real bad for your bike because there’s just little plastic dust covers, there’s not an actual seal [over the bearings ].
You have to take your cranks out to get all the water out.
Frames made of steel suffer more than bikes made of noncorroding materials like aluminum or carbon fiber, but plenty of rust-proof bike frames are outfitted with attachments that will rust.
Rain washes lubricant off, and lube protects the moving parts from wear and tear. Add that to the increased risk of falling.
“ So I choose not to ride in the rain unless I just have to,” Machycek said.