Winter bike storage tips and tricks?

[Swoofty]

There's no real winter in LA and keeping things dry is no problem, but I have a bike that lives in a cellar for 11 months of the year in Hamburg, Germany. This year I happen to be in Hamburg over the winter and I'm noticing the effects of winter storage on my bike fittings. The bike is aluminium (Crewkerz Guilty) and about 4 years old now. Most all the bolts are titanium so no problem there, but my banjo fittings (Magura MT5) aren't looking so good. Most of the Magura bits I can get in titanium, but I haven't found any ti banjos. I've found some supposedly higher quality stainless banjos that I'll try when I return in June. 

Anything in particular I should do to lay up the bike for long periods? I plan on pulling the through axles front and rear so they don't seize in place. Other than that I just clean the bike, lube the chain and hope for the best.

[Fat dwarf]

Either seal the bike up with some silica gel bags, find a drier storage location or apply a mild heater (expensive) to remove the moisture from the air. 
whereabouts in LA are you? 

[La Bourde]

Hi,

First, let me introduce the terms:

- oxidation is just a change in aspect and has no impact on strength.

- corrosion means the part strength is potentially affected.

Now, we have to distinguish two phenomena:

- oxidation / corrosion through air/cold temperature/moisture/salt exposition

- galvanic corrosion due to different metal combined together

The first one occurs more or less when some conditions are met in the environment.

The other one may not be visible, it can occurs for example with seat tube and seat post.

Important to know:

1. Temperature plays a role indirectly: the warmer the air, the wetter the air can be, so the more oxidation can occur. 

It is quite counter intuitive because we often use heat to dry things.

2. Oxidation depends on:

- the humidity

- salt concentration

As soon as there is a little salt, the required amount of humidity is really low, maybe 30% for steel to oxide (sorry I don't know the precise values). But if the air is not salty at all, the humidity has to be quite high to start the oxidation (for steel, maybe 60%) - it is the same for other metals afaik.

I.e. exposition to salty air or water is just a mess! And sweat or riding on salty roads in winter can be enough.

Hamburg is quite a bad city in this respect (Baltic sea)

 

In addition, mixing metal can lead to galvanic corrosion, which is also a big mess.

Aluminium/titanium is really a bad combo.

Metals that are further from each other have the highest rate of corrosion when combined

 

Aluminium exposed to the environment can only oxide, because oxidation creates a thin protective layer.

But galvanic corrosion can attack the whole aluminium part...

To prevent oxidation/corrosion:

- prevent mix of materials with different potential (see chart)

- Lubricate to isolate (Teflon or copper based grease for parts in contact, sticky oil/wax for parts exposed to environment), regularly

- paint or anodize surfaces to isolate

- Wash the bike with tap water after riding and dry it, lubricate again

- Store it in a dry location (at best cold, to prevent high humidity)

- Prevent salty environment and try not to sweat 🙂

Edited 19 hours ago by La Bourde