So During the winter here it rains..alot and i just noticed today my chain has soe rust spots starting on it.

So what are my best options for this?

get a new chain?
buff and oil?

What are some normal day to day things i could be doing to keep everything running smoothly?

cheers

Store the bike indoors,
Pedro's ice wax for lube,
If it's a steel frame - take the seatpost off & leave it upside down for a while, after it gets seriously wet.

Bike is indoors, and its aluminum..

drop some pedros or triflow or whatever on the chain and run it through a rag to remove excess and ensure even coating.

then take rag and run across cables. add another drop of lube to cable/housing nexus.

smile and thank yourself with a beer.

perhaps check spoke tension if you're feeling up to it by squeezing them. perhaps just enjoy that beer.

what crackers said...

no worries about a tiny bit of rust on the chain...unless you leave it out in the rain and dont move it for days/weeks it'll be fine...drop some of that lube on it every few days.....and after it gets wet....

if you really want to do something good for the bike you could repack anything thats loose ball bearings....hubs, headset, bottom bracket....it you've got cartridge gear you're good to go....but right before winter (salt) is a good time to repack it all....last winter i think i rebuilt my hubs 3x...once at the beginning, once in the middle, once when spring showed up....

oh and drop a dab of that lube on the spoke nipples too....especially if you have alu nipples...

cool, thanks for the tips

salt really isn't an issue by me, even if we had snow i don't think they would allow road salt.

when you say repack everything what do you mean, i am really dumb when it comes to bike stuff,and don't really know how to do much but change a tire and chain

repack = open up bearings, clean off races and cones, check for pitting and cracks while you're in there, put in fresh grease, plenty of it, put in fresh bearings if you can (they're cheap), then put it all back together, adjust everything, wipe off all the excess grease on the outside of everything

repack ='s take your bike to the LBS, pay them $x to do a full tune-up (at least once/year).

Otherwise, just lube and wipe off the chain as suggested, a little cosmetic rust on the chain plates never hurt nuthin.

You could buy onea those $20 or so chain scrubbers and some degreaser, and clean the chain every so often too. It's a pretty cheap and painless way to do some good maintenance.


Take off the wheels, wipe down the rims to get the brake pad residue off.
If the pads are worn, replace 'em. If not, then use some sandpaper to take the glaze off, they'll work better than new once ya do that.

PS - Davis was voted one of the best bike cities in the US in the latest Bicycling rag. Congrats!