Imana proofing bikes

[TimCan]

I'm doing the Imana wild ride in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to minimize the damage caused by salt water and beach sand. The ride involves 4 days of beach riding with numerous river crossings. I was wondering if repacking all the bearings with marine grease before the ride and spraying the drive train with silicone spray during the ride would be of any benefit?

[RobbyB]

All I can offer is for you to build up your upperbody/arm strength to be able to hold your bike above your head through the rivers. I hope your bike isn't heavy. A bit of excess grease sounds good...

[milky4130]

28 minutes ago, TimCan said:

I'm doing the Imana wild ride in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to minimize the damage caused by salt water and beach sand. The ride involves 4 days of beach riding with numerous river crossings. I was wondering if repacking all the bearings with marine grease before the ride and spraying the drive train with silicone spray during the ride would be of any benefit?

Short of taking your own mechanic with for a daily strip & rebuild, that would be your alternative option, heard of people doing that for races before especially Imana & Trans Baviaans where riding through endless river crossings were guaranteed. 

[TimCan]

59 minutes ago, RobbyB said:

All I can offer is for you to build up your upperbody/arm strength to be able to hold your bike above your head through the rivers. I hope your bike isn't heavy. A bit of excess grease sounds good...

🤣🤣🤣 will start doing push-ups tonight 

[ChrisF]

So you carry the bike over the water crossings ....

 

What is the plan with the drenched shoes ....

[bergy]

borrow a friends bike,😁,seriously,not much helps,just repack all bearings before with quality marine grease,and afterwards strip bike,and soak everything in "salt away" used to get it from jet ski shops,but all bearings will go,and alluminium parts will corode,ie spoke nipples and clamps,

enjoy it,its an awesum race

[Delta Bikes]

10 hours ago, TimCan said:

I'm doing the Imana wild ride in a few weeks and was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to minimize the damage caused by salt water and beach sand. The ride involves 4 days of beach riding with numerous river crossings. I was wondering if repacking all the bearings with marine grease before the ride and spraying the drive train with silicone spray during the ride would be of any benefit?

Hey, we brought in some Juicelubes grease which has almost as good water protection as marine grease, which might be a bit too heavy for bike bearings, where the Juicelubes is Will alloy the bearings to spin with much lower resistance.

It’s R184/pot, so definitely worth it in my book👌, might be a chance that you’ll be able to save your bearings.

[Andrew64]

ACF 50 spray  and corrosion block grease, do not forget to lube your seat post before and after.

[dave303e]

I honestly don't know how much corrosion will happen in 3 days. I would give it all a spray with Castrol DWF each day(except brake rotors and pads) on top of regular maintenance. After the race ASAP strip everything, clean and regrease. 

[madmarc]

This might be a great event, but never in a million years would i ever hate my bike enough to expose it to this kind of environment  

[Schnavel]

4 hours ago, bergy said:

borrow a friends bike,😁,seriously,not much helps,just repack all bearings before with quality marine grease,and afterwards strip bike,and soak everything in "salt away" used to get it from jet ski shops,but all bearings will go,and alluminium parts will corode,ie spoke nipples and clamps,

enjoy it,its an awesum race

This!

Pack all bearings etc with grease and then strip everything after the event - this includes taking off rim tape etc. to ensure that all sand and salt is washed out.

[The Ouzo]

What we used to do in our boating days. Before the trip we would spray the engine and other bits and pieces that we didnt mind being slippery but wanted to protect from corrosion with a mix of petrol and 2-stroke oil. The idea was the petrol thinned the oil so you could spray it on, then the petrol would evaporate and leave the oil behind.

 

Things like trailer wheel bearings were stripped and regreased before and after. Propellors were removed, splines greased and put back before and after.

Everything, literally everything was rinsed off with fresh water when we got back from the trip.

 

So in essence, what everyone has said, before and after strip, plus I would see if there was a way to rinse off with fresh water between stages.

[PhilipV]

I'll take a singlespeed and a good attitude. Build it with cheap brakes, sans  dropper post and then rebuild and soak everything when I get back. Maybe even ride it into a pool at the finish in an attempt to flush out the salt water with some fresh water. 

 

[droo]

The main damage to bikes after Imana is because okes just rinse them off and lob them into the garage when the race is done.

 

Proper service before, full strip down after. Like take the whole thing apart. Seatpost, BB, pivots, rim tape. Rinse out anything that's a cavity. Inside the frame, bars and rims. Fork, shock and seatpost service. Reassemble. Job done.

 

Or, as Philip says, just get a rigid SS.

[DieselnDust]

Or get a cheapie at sportsman’s warehouse , ride it and donate it to a school kid after. I believe there are teachers who do some bike maintenance so it will at least have a purpose and life after. The post race service of my bike will cost more than the cheapie from SW

[gkp]

Best answer is: use a friend's bike (as long as you don't mind him not being your friend thereafter). We did this as a tour (I used my "old" bike)- afterwards, I took my bike for a thorough clean at a bike shop........a year later, I was still flushing sand out of all sorts of places. 

You should strip the entire bike and clean - pro tip: never wash your wheels under the (hot) shower - quickest way to snap spokes. 

Bike doesn't suffer on the ride that much - it's just after