[Barkleyfan]

I've been looking for a little while now, but I'm having trouble answering a few questions.

I live in Iowa. Normally I put my bike up for the year around October. This year, I decided to try the winter thing. I don't have a snow bike, and it's not in the budget this year. I've ridden my bikes in the snow plenty of times. What's new this year is the sub-zero conditions.

I'm not a stud, I need my gears. At 40 degrees, I still have my gears. At 0, my derailer is almost useless. Is there a maintenence recommendation for this? We had a 40 drgree swing the other day and it's playing hell with my adjustment.
Another issue I noticed is my fork was almost useless. I don't know if it was actuallt frozen, or the fork oil was just too thick from the temps. Is there a recommendation on fork oil? My other bike is rigid, but I'd prefer to avoid exposing that bike to road salt if I can because it's steel. I notice the snow bikes are rigid, and if that's because suspension forks don't do well in the snow, I might have to switch bikes. But the rigid is rim brakes, and I don't think it will handle 2.4's well. So my issues are basically suspension and drivetrain experience in sub-zero temps. Is air suspension better than coil? I'm actually shooting for a softtail build if I can swing one, which is part of the reason a dedicated snow bike is not an option.

 

[Bearbait]

it's pretty common for suspension forks to die in the cold, its just the cold effecting the seals. Just get a second cheap rigid fork like a 1x1 fork and swap it out each winter.

For the rear deraillier it sounds like a freezing cable issue. Clean out your cables of all lube and just keep your bike cold once it is cold. Condensation from temp swings will freeze inside the housing causing the lock up you describe.

 

[Barkleyfan]

Thanks Bear. So you would recomment against a softtail in these temps then? Something like the Siren Song.