Maintenance tip and tricks for a beginner
Discussion
I have no problem fixing a bike, swap bits etc but i'm actually fairly clueless how to look after the thing!
Reason for starting this thread is because i'm unsure how often I should clean and lube the chain? This got me thinking are there other essential jobs I should be doing on a regular basis?
Reason for starting this thread is because i'm unsure how often I should clean and lube the chain? This got me thinking are there other essential jobs I should be doing on a regular basis?
Depends if MTB or road really - I clean my chain after every MTB ride as it massively prolongs its longevity and the cassette's / chain ring.
A basic car wheel brush and a degreaser spray take 5 minutes for both cassette and chain.
I guess every 3 rides or so should suffice for (dry) road use.
Apart from that, cleaning the forks' and the dropper's stanchions after every ride too and lube the cables once a month I guess. And bleed the brakes twice a year (PITA). Change the pads when 2/3rd worn (takes 5mn).
I try to strip the entire bike once a year though and clean / re-grease everything.
The rest of the maintenance only happens when something goes wrong !
A basic car wheel brush and a degreaser spray take 5 minutes for both cassette and chain.
I guess every 3 rides or so should suffice for (dry) road use.
Apart from that, cleaning the forks' and the dropper's stanchions after every ride too and lube the cables once a month I guess. And bleed the brakes twice a year (PITA). Change the pads when 2/3rd worn (takes 5mn).
I try to strip the entire bike once a year though and clean / re-grease everything.
The rest of the maintenance only happens when something goes wrong !
Edited by nickfrog on Tuesday 5th September 23:04
For me and my road bike
It gets cleaned/relubed every month in summer ~250-500miles and cleaned/relubed every couple of weeks in winter ~ 200miles
That's probably a bit overkill but I like having a clean bike, and the more you clean/degrease/relube the chain the longer it will last and the easier it is to clean.
As for replacing parts, when your shifting becomes bad I'd look into replacing parts or get a chain checker and use that to determine when. This could be anywhere from 1000miles to 5000miles.
It gets cleaned/relubed every month in summer ~250-500miles and cleaned/relubed every couple of weeks in winter ~ 200miles
That's probably a bit overkill but I like having a clean bike, and the more you clean/degrease/relube the chain the longer it will last and the easier it is to clean.
As for replacing parts, when your shifting becomes bad I'd look into replacing parts or get a chain checker and use that to determine when. This could be anywhere from 1000miles to 5000miles.
If you want to keep your chain as healthy as possible (which will cheap the rest of your drive train healthy) it's best have a more hands-off approach.
Get into the habit of keeping a dirty old towel wherever you store your bike. Wipe off the crud from it after a ride, re-lube and then more importantly after a few mins, wipe off the excess - 99% of chains I see in the wild have been over-lubed, collect crap and turn into grinding paste. Dry Lube is an awful lot easier to maintain than wet, but it's rarely practical in the UK.
As someone else said a chain wear is invaluable and costs pennies. If you chance your chain at the right point you can usually do just that - it's a cheap, easy fix, if you like me you've got short arms and deep pockets it saves you a lot in the long run. If you let the chain run until it starts giving you grief it's probably destroyed the cassette, chainrings and jockey wheels in the process.
As for the rest of it, proactive it ALWAYS better than reactive, they rarely break in the shed, it's always when you're miles from home, it's raining and you don't have your phone.
If you're an MTBer you've got a whole load more 'systems' to manage.
I personally leave brakes the hell alone until they're actually acting the arse, most "needs a bleed" issues are actually "calliper needs to be centred" or "I've got a sticky piston" issue. Don't run pads until they're on the metal, it ruins everything - keep some in stock, because again you won't notice on a Saturday morning at 10am when you've got all the time in the world to potter down the shops for a fresh pair. You'll notice on a Sunday 15 mins before you're due to leave, you'll chance it, you'll run out of them, or if you've got some of the newer shimano ones, you might just run out of piston reach and they'll stop working very well.
Suspension needs some skill to service properly, well if you've got RS anyway, if you've got pretty much any other brand you'll need a few grands worth of specialist tools and nitrogen tanks so it'll be a trip to Mojo or TFT, but you can minimise the pain by learning to do part / aircan / lower services. It doesn't require any fancy tools other than a set of allen keys and some syringes. With a bit of practice it takes about 20 mins to do a lower service on a set of forks, it takes longer to get them off the bike usually. 99% of the damage caused to MTB suspension can be avoided with a 6 monthly (more if you ride a lot through winter) lower service. It only costs a couple of quid for some fluid and seals and makes them feel great again. The more involved services you have to pay for deals with the deep internals which will only ever see dirt if something breaks or you don't maintain the lowers / can, if that happens expect big bills. I really enjoy suspension servicing now - I'll looking to replace my Float X with a Monarch RTC3 shock so I can DIY it.
There's a couple of other little jobs you pick up along the way.
It's dead easy to strip, clean and regrease a Shimano Clutch mech - 5 mins, you don't even have to take it off the bike - I binned the last mech when the clutch failed, I feel a bit silly now.
Remove and grease the seat post on MTBs if you use a dropper or on any bike you don't move the seat every ride like a road bike, or face the panic of a stuck post a year later.
3M Mastic tape oddly costs £20 a roll, but it's enough the make the best chainstay protector in the world for about 10 bikes.
Get into the habit of keeping a dirty old towel wherever you store your bike. Wipe off the crud from it after a ride, re-lube and then more importantly after a few mins, wipe off the excess - 99% of chains I see in the wild have been over-lubed, collect crap and turn into grinding paste. Dry Lube is an awful lot easier to maintain than wet, but it's rarely practical in the UK.
As someone else said a chain wear is invaluable and costs pennies. If you chance your chain at the right point you can usually do just that - it's a cheap, easy fix, if you like me you've got short arms and deep pockets it saves you a lot in the long run. If you let the chain run until it starts giving you grief it's probably destroyed the cassette, chainrings and jockey wheels in the process.
As for the rest of it, proactive it ALWAYS better than reactive, they rarely break in the shed, it's always when you're miles from home, it's raining and you don't have your phone.
If you're an MTBer you've got a whole load more 'systems' to manage.
I personally leave brakes the hell alone until they're actually acting the arse, most "needs a bleed" issues are actually "calliper needs to be centred" or "I've got a sticky piston" issue. Don't run pads until they're on the metal, it ruins everything - keep some in stock, because again you won't notice on a Saturday morning at 10am when you've got all the time in the world to potter down the shops for a fresh pair. You'll notice on a Sunday 15 mins before you're due to leave, you'll chance it, you'll run out of them, or if you've got some of the newer shimano ones, you might just run out of piston reach and they'll stop working very well.
Suspension needs some skill to service properly, well if you've got RS anyway, if you've got pretty much any other brand you'll need a few grands worth of specialist tools and nitrogen tanks so it'll be a trip to Mojo or TFT, but you can minimise the pain by learning to do part / aircan / lower services. It doesn't require any fancy tools other than a set of allen keys and some syringes. With a bit of practice it takes about 20 mins to do a lower service on a set of forks, it takes longer to get them off the bike usually. 99% of the damage caused to MTB suspension can be avoided with a 6 monthly (more if you ride a lot through winter) lower service. It only costs a couple of quid for some fluid and seals and makes them feel great again. The more involved services you have to pay for deals with the deep internals which will only ever see dirt if something breaks or you don't maintain the lowers / can, if that happens expect big bills. I really enjoy suspension servicing now - I'll looking to replace my Float X with a Monarch RTC3 shock so I can DIY it.
There's a couple of other little jobs you pick up along the way.
It's dead easy to strip, clean and regrease a Shimano Clutch mech - 5 mins, you don't even have to take it off the bike - I binned the last mech when the clutch failed, I feel a bit silly now.
Remove and grease the seat post on MTBs if you use a dropper or on any bike you don't move the seat every ride like a road bike, or face the panic of a stuck post a year later.
3M Mastic tape oddly costs £20 a roll, but it's enough the make the best chainstay protector in the world for about 10 bikes.
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