Ask Bicycling

All your ride quandaries - solved.

MY STEELFRAME BIKE’S STEERER TUBE IS GETTING RUSTY, AND I DON’T UNDERSTAND. I LIVE INLAND – ISN’T THIS ONLY A PROBLEM FOR SEASIDE DWELLERS?

If you sweat a lot on your bike while you ride, that could be the problem. You need to rinse it off thoroughly, as frequently as is practical.

Salt deposits form in any kind of corner – especially underneath clamps – and continue the process of corrosion, even if the bike is dry. Unless the locknut on your headset has an O-ring seal, sweat can seep down the sides of your stem into the steerer tube.

If this happens, you may need a hacksaw to remove the stem from the steerer.

Clear silicone - rubber bathroom caulk can help keep sweat and water out of the inside of your bike’s frame. A thin bead of clear silicon around the base of the bike stem (wipe away the excess) will prevent the problem.

Since I started riding, I’ve lost a decent amount of weight. But recently that’s stopped – what happened?

You may be hitting a plateau in terms of your weight loss. As you become more efficient, you burn fewer kilojoules, so that 20km commute that helped you lose your first 5kg probably won’t help you lose your next five.

“If you’re riding at the same effort level all the time, your body isn’t having to adapt,” says cycling coach Nadia Sullivan. She recommends adding at least one day of speedwork a week, which will challenge you to work harder and burn more kilojoules.