On Monday, November 19, 2018 at 3:31:13 PM UTC-5, Ned Mantei wrote:
I have an old bike fitted with "spike" winter tires. This is in action
only when there is ice and/or snow on the streets, so where I live about
2 to max. 8 weeks per year. Not much, but the salt solution the city
uses to deal with the ice causes so much rust that every couple of years
the chain needs to be replaced. Lots of oil on the chain doesn't seem to
help much if at all, and now I wonder whether it would pay to rinse off
the salt at the end of every day of use. The bike is stored in an
underground garage including a place with a hose for washing cars, so
icy water wouldn't be a problem. There is also enough heating that the
water should evaporate overnight. Worthwhile? Other possibilities? Just
let it be, and replace the chain every year or two? Advice welcome.

Ned

Washing the chain and then taking the bicycle out into deep cold can cause all sorts of problems if any water got into the cassette/freewheel body, cable housing for the derailleurs or cable housings for the brakes. Water in any of those can lead to them not functioning i.e. the freehub/freewheeel freewheels when you stop pedaling or the brakes/deralleurs don't work because the cable has frozen to the cable housing somewhere.

I just use an old chain and cassette during salt season and switch them out in springtime when I check the bicycle for other wear and tear.

Cheers