Gunnar's added a a new twist on an old friend. Take the Crosshairs, perhaps the most versatile bike around, add Gunnar's chainstay disc brakes and a more commuter friendly geometry. That's what the new Fastlane is all about. Disc brakes give you great stopping power no matter what the weather, and the chainstay location lets you mount standard racks and fenders. We also shortened the top tube by half a centimeter and increased the head tube length by 10mm to give you a better riding position for commuting, light touring and other uses. We're also introducing the matching Gunnar disc fork, a lightweight, straight-blade unicrown beauty. Learn more. . .

The Crosshairs this year gets some tweaks that many riders will find handy. The geometry has been modified to support Gunnar's new Uni-forks, exquisitely TIG-welded straight-blade uni-crown forks. Tested for durability, these designs passed with flying colors. It's not surprise, since Gunnar's had a decade of TIG welding its thin-wall, heat treated steels.

The new geometry makes the CrossHairs work with both the new fork and our crowned fork, whose height has been adjusted to match the Uni-fork. The new design also lets us shorten the top tube by 5mm, meaning that a larger number of riders can go to a larger size than before without getting too stretched out. Learn more . . .

With the growing number of cyclists riding in both good and bad weather, proper maintenance increasingly important. Road salt and dirt are tough on finishes and can lead to corrosion and ultimately structural damage. Likewise for the inside of your frame - brine can enter your frame and cause damage to bearings as well as the frame itself. What do you do?

A few basic preventive maintenance steps and regular practices will dramatically reduce damage from bad weather riding:

• Keep your bike clean and waxed: A good carnauba-based car wax like Meguiar's Tech Wax or Johnson's Turtle Wax not only keeps a great shine, it protects what's under the finish by sealing up molecular pores in the paint. Wax also helps prevent some damage to clearcoat from abrasion, reduces fading and keeps the paint supple and therefore more chip resistant. Pay special attention to the areas around water bottle bosses and cable guides.
• Apply internal corrosion preventative: By applying J.P. Weigle's Framesaver to the inside of your frame, you coat the surface with a wax that prevents moisture from coming into contact with the metal.
• Drain your bike: Water and brine can enter your frame through the seat tube as well as through Waterford's extensive network of drain holes. To drain it out, simply lift up the front wheel and hold it over the rear wheel until any water drains out of the drain holes (usually 10 seconds or less). The drain holes allow any residual moisture to evaporate.

If weather permits, rinse off the road salt and dirt. Of course, you'll want keep your components clean and lubricated. Check if your local bike shop has a bike spa service, where you can leave your bike for a day and it gets a cleaning, wax job and re-lube.

With the right preparation, bad weather doesn't have to keep you off your bike.