Fell right into a stream

[christopher94]

So I was going about doing my usual ride, I’ve done it dozens of times, and I suppose got complacent. There is a narrow bridge right after a tight corner for a stream crossing. Needless to say, I got it wrong today. Aside from a busted lip, and bruised ego, my entire bike was in the stream. It was devastating to see as it almost got away from me in the current. I was able to retrieve it, and with a few curse words later, I regained my composure and decided to head on back to the trail head.

 

Funny how the most mundane parts of a trail can be the ones that trip you up when you least expect it.

 

My question here is, what should I do with my bike? I’m worried I got water in places it’s not supposed to go. I’m half tempted to take it into my local LBS and have a full overhaul done on it, is that too overboard?

[Jeff Barber]

That sounds like a major stream if your bike nearly got swept away!

If it were me, I might remove the bottom bracket to get rid of any standing water. While it’s not ideal to submerge anything with bearings, they should be packed with grease which helps repel water (at least, short term exposure to it.) Wipe everything down with a dry cloth, store your bike in a dry place for several days (like indoors, not out in a humid shed) and you’ll probably be ok. If not, I would just have the shop deal with any specific problems you find down the road (say, a creaky bottom bracket).

[TheProletariat]

I agree with Jeff.  I don’t think you need to go crazy, since most things should be grease-packed… if you have like 3,000 pounds of rice, I’d say put the bike in a giant rice pit for a few days, but barring that, just let it dry and listen for any weirdness down the road.  I’ve submerged a few bikes over the years and never had a problem, but it sounds like you may have out-submerged me by a few orders of magnitude.

Glad you’re okay.  I have a small, tight corner above a little stream on a singletrack by my house and I figure it’s only a matter of time before I overconfidently plunge into that bad boy. Don’t be too hard on yourself.

[John Fisch]

Your bike spending a little time underwater is really no different than any time any of us ride our bikes through streams deeper than our bottom brackets.  Most likely you have nothing to fear.  Worst case scenario you may have to regrease something, but probably not even that.  Let the bike dry out and go for a ride–unless it behaves or sounds strange, treat it as you always would.

[stumpyfsr ✓ supporter]

I was riding my bike with bottom bracket and hubs submerged. After ride just let it dry and take for a spin. If anything sounds weird, take it apart, clean and repack with grease. Hubs and bottom bracket are most prone to water. However only one out of ten times you’d have to take it apart.

[irudkin]

The other place to empty water from is the free hub (that you mount the cassette onto).

[christopher94]

Thanks all for the advise. I cleaned it all up and relubed the chain, something it probably needed anyway. I had some water in the handlebars but that was about it. There is a nice little drain hole on the bottom bracket for any moisture to escape it looks like.

 

I still can’t believe that I even crashed where I did. I’ll be sure to not to repeat this next weekend when I go up for a redemption lap.

[Author]

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