bike freewheel disabled by the cold

Today was a good test - the freehub was fine @ -40 C. However, Jr's front wheel had a flat. I picked up the bike from the university, brought it home (I was NOT fixing a flat outside, even with the temperature having staggered up to -36 or whatever by then) and found that the valve stem (Presta) had completely separated from the tube. Time for a new tube. That was a first for me - I wonder if the failure was caused by the cold.
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I love how he talks about -40 like it's old hat. It was 5 degrees here on Long Island this morning and people were losing their minds. News was talking about the extreme cold. I guess they don't realize people live in it.
 
When we lived in New Zealand for a year, we met an older couple who had moved there from Norway. We asked them whether they'd acclimatized in reverse to the very temperate Northland climate. They said they'd found winter no problem for the first two years, and thereafter had found the winters cold. (A typical winter low was +4 C [c. 40 F], with highs in the teens [c. 60 F]. We saw frost one day only. We found it very mild by comparison to Winnipeg.)

So, I guess one gets used to anything. I'm sure if I lived on LI I'd find +5 F (c. -16 C) pretty cold too!

If it's sunny and there's no wind, a cold ambient temperature isn't bad, as long as you don't have to, for instance, work on your car.
 
The Tenacious oil is very sticky and sorta thick. I can't imagine it doing much seeping. All of my bikes have either Hope or Bike Hub Store (Bitex) hubs. The drivers come off relatively easily so no big deal cleaning and lubing them.

Probably a bit more work on Shimano and most other factory hubs.
I realize its been a while, but I have a Bitex hub and have been trying different lubes for the ratchets. All weather Bar and Chain oil (for chainsaws) seems to be working great. Have you switched from Phil's Tenacious?
 
I realize its been a while, but I have a Bitex hub and have been trying different lubes for the ratchets. All weather Bar and Chain oil (for chainsaws) seems to be working great. Have you switched from Phil's Tenacious?
Nope. I still use it. I stick with something when it works for me. Plus, I have a really big bottle of it.
 
This is on Jr's single-speed. It's been really cold here (-31 C overnight) and when he dropped over this morning he complained of the the crank spinning with chain rotating but intermittent forward movement.

My wife and I rode our fat bikes to church and back (round trip c. 10 km) without incident, before tackling the malfunctioning bike. Pedaling effort for our ride was high though - riding into thick air, tires soft, thick grease in the bearings ...

Jr's big brother (our oldest son, not an Orwellian sort) and family were over for lunch and I ran this past him - he's a much better bike mechanic than I am. He immediately diagnosed the problem as a frozen freehub. He'd encountered this a few years ago and had poured hot coffee over the hub to warm it up enough to function. (This was successful.)

I removed the rear wheel on Jr's bike and brought it into the house. (The garage was at -10 C - no fun for working on bikes.)

Removed the freehub and soaked it in PP 5W-30. (Wanting to standardize, I switched over to Mobil 1 exclusively a few years ago. I think the PP is just as good, but someone always seems to have M1 on sale, so I've got this spare jug for general-purpose use.) Reinstalled the freehub, and I think all's well. The oil would have thinned any thick grease, and displaced any water.

I guess this is not as unusual as I'd thought - I've just been lucky to not experience it myself. That may be in part to our garage never getting really really cold.

https://forums.mtbr.com/commuting/freewheel-fail-cold-942737.html
Anyone who rides in those temps. deserves a Medal.
My bikes collect dust till it gets above 0C/32F
Good tip with the hot coffee.
 
Anyone who rides in those temps. deserves a Medal.
My bikes collect dust till it gets above 0C/32F
Good tip with the hot coffee.
Fat studded tires, lots of layers, good LED lights, and heated mitts make it pretty tolerable.

I do better when I get out and do stuff - hibernating for the winter would not be good for me.
 
Going bicycling at -31C? Just wow. I spent a few months last year under what I thought were horribly cold conditions as low as -40C. Bicycling was not on my mind at any time, even at a balmy -15C but getting back indoors was.
 
Fat studded tires, lots of layers, good LED lights, and heated mitts make it pretty tolerable.

I do better when I get out and do stuff - hibernating for the winter would not be good for me.
Did you at least wear a cold weather face covering? Goggles?
 
Did you at least wear a cold weather face covering? Goggles?
On very cold days, a neoprene mask. Goggles rarely, but I have used them on occasion. Took this selfie during walk on the river on a very cold day in February. Cycling attire would be similar, but with a helmet on top. For me, it's always been the hands that get cold when cycling, so the electric gloves are a must for me below -20 C.

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I'm fortunate that although I use glasses for driving, they're not a must for winter walking or cycling.
 
On very cold days, a neoprene mask. Goggles rarely, but I have used them on occasion. Took this selfie during walk on the river on a very cold day in February. Cycling attire would be similar, but with a helmet on top. For me, it's always been the hands that get cold when cycling, so the electric gloves are a must for me below -20 C.

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I'm fortunate that although I use glasses for driving, they're not a must for winter walking or cycling.
My polar helmet is off to you. When my nose hair freezes I tap out.
 
I've heard you guys in Manitoba get bitter cold Winters. You are a tough cookie!
Here in Toronto we get some of the milder US air masses.

I've seen some winter riders use ski googles.
 
On very cold days, a neoprene mask. Goggles rarely, but I have used them on occasion. Took this selfie during walk on the river on a very cold day in February. Cycling attire would be similar, but with a helmet on top. For me, it's always been the hands that get cold when cycling, so the electric gloves are a must for me below -20 C.

View attachment 55955
I'm fortunate that although I use glasses for driving, they're not a must for winter walking or cycling.
Nice, this was my first year fatbiking in the winter and I found I liked it alot. -10C was as cold as I got out in and I was just doing trails out of the wind in the woods so overheating was more of an issue.... I got away with my mechanix gloves as I found my regular winter gloves were a bit bulky and the fingers were short for biking. Up here there was a bit of a breeze but by the time I got up there I wanted to cool down a bit.
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Nice, this was my first year fatbiking in the winter and I found I liked it alot. -10C was as cold as I got out in and I was just doing trails out of the wind in the woods so overheating was more of an issue.... I got away with my mechanix gloves as I found my regular winter gloves were a bit bulky and the fingers were short for biking. Up here there was a bit of a breeze but by the time I got up there I wanted to cool down a bit.
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That is gorgeous! Where in Ontario are you? What kind of bike? Are those tires both close to 5"?
 
That is gorgeous! Where in Ontario are you? What kind of bike? Are those tires both close to 5"?
Thanks, we are east of Toronto in Northumberland County, lots of hills in the 50-60m range from the valleys. The bike is a Fluid Grizzly from Australia, I bought it there on our trip as a cheap bike($300 Can) to throw on the back of the camper van and I liked it so much we brought it back. Its interesting as its got modern geometry and quite low and long but they put a 170mm rear hub spacing so its limited on rear tire clearance with the chain. Its got 4" wide rims which don't help the rear tire clearance and just 4" tires, but I think I'll put a decent 4.5" front on sometime. It also came with a 36t front ring and 28-14 thread on cassette, but I got a chinese 30t front ring and a 34-14 cassette which makes it pretty descent for xc in the summer but I still need some lower gears for winter trail riding, so I think I'm going to get some quanta fat bike hubs off aliexpress so I can use a 46-11 8 spd cassette and get my low gears!
My parents are from Morris so I spend many summers there as a kid and have been a few times in the winter. Its a perfect climate for fat bike trails though, cold and sunny with not too much snow. I did some grooming at our place with some tires behind the atv which worked well until we got too much snow. Styroloam!
 

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Thanks, we are east of Toronto in Northumberland County, lots of hills in the 50-60m range from the valleys. The bike is a Fluid Grizzly from Australia, I bought it there on our trip as a cheap bike($300 Can) to throw on the back of the camper van and I liked it so much we brought it back. Its interesting as its got modern geometry and quite low and long but they put a 170mm rear hub spacing so its limited on rear tire clearance with the chain. Its got 4" wide rims which don't help the rear tire clearance and just 4" tires, but I think I'll put a decent 4.5" front on sometime. It also came with a 36t front ring and 28-14 thread on cassette, but I got a chinese 30t front ring and a 34-14 cassette which makes it pretty descent for xc in the summer but I still need some lower gears for winter trail riding, so I think I'm going to get some quanta fat bike hubs off aliexpress so I can use a 46-11 8 spd cassette and get my low gears!
My parents are from Morris so I spend many summers there as a kid and have been a few times in the winter. Its a perfect climate for fat bike trails though, cold and sunny with not too much snow. I did some grooming at our place with some tires behind the atv which worked well until we got too much snow. Styroloam!
Nice terrain - I would love to cycle rolling hills like that.

My Surly Pugsley came with a 4.0" tire up front. I changed it out for a 4.8"er on the recommendation of one of the experienced fat bikers here in the 'Peg.

The clearance at the back limits me to a 4.0" there.

Agreed, 36 × 28 would be way too high for me for hills or snow - your present 30 × 34 is a lot better.

Are you running a single front chain-ring?
 
Nice terrain - I would love to cycle rolling hills like that.

My Surly Pugsley came with a 4.0" tire up front. I changed it out for a 4.8"er on the recommendation of one of the experienced fat bikers here in the 'Peg.

The clearance at the back limits me to a 4.0" there.

Agreed, 36 × 28 would be way too high for me for hills or snow - your present 30 × 34 is a lot better.

Are you running a single front chain-ring?

Some flats would be nice too! Its funny I did the 7500m April climbing challenge in Strava and it only took me 322km mostly on the roads, so almost a 2.5% climb on average for the whole months worth of riding...
The Pugsley is single ring too I guess? On my bike the crank arm has the untapped holes for a small ring but the chain would never get around the back tire. My buddy bought an old KHS1000 that has two front rings and it makes so much sense as for biking on snow but the frame has to be designed for it.
I'd like to get studded tires for the ice but last winter was not the time to get them... At my place with no walkers on the trails I didn't need them at all, but on public trails there's always some patches of ice or solid ice if we get a thaw.
Have you tried yours in the sand? The bike was fun on the beaches too.
 
Some flats would be nice too! Its funny I did the 7500m April climbing challenge in Strava and it only took me 322km mostly on the roads, so almost a 2.5% climb on average for the whole months worth of riding...
The Pugsley is single ring too I guess? On my bike the crank arm has the untapped holes for a small ring but the chain would never get around the back tire. My buddy bought an old KHS1000 that has two front rings and it makes so much sense as for biking on snow but the frame has to be designed for it.
I'd like to get studded tires for the ice but last winter was not the time to get them... At my place with no walkers on the trails I didn't need them at all, but on public trails there's always some patches of ice or solid ice if we get a thaw.
Have you tried yours in the sand? The bike was fun on the beaches too.
That's an awesome bit of riding!

My Pugs is 2 x 9, as is my wife's Charge Cooker Max, but the newer bikes have gone to 1x drivetrains.

The Pugs has an interesting bend in the one chainstay to allow the chain to clear the tire. As well, the Surly Mr Whirly crank/chain-ring assembly has an interesting configuration which basically pushes the inner (22T) ring out to where the middle one would normally be, and the outer (32T?) ring out to where the outer ring would be on a 3x drivetrain. Works well, but the unit is discontinued, so at some point I'll replace the whole thing with a 1x.

We went over to studded tires for winter riding a few years ago, and they are great! Highly recommended!

@NYEngineer is BITOG's fat bike authority - he will give you some great advice on getting the most bang for your buck with upgrades.
 
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