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Today's satisfactory bicycle maintenance

(470 posts)
  • Started 6 years ago by Greenroofer
  • Latest reply from Arellcat

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1…789…16

  1. Baldcyclist
    Member

    New mech arrived this afternoon, ordered because of shifting woes (I also noticed I had a short cage and needed a long cage mech).

    I could have done with @cyclingmollie's quick link, and also didn't have a spare chain pin, so I just installed the mech by removing the jockey wheels rather than breaking the chain - apparently the interwebs finds this method controversial, though I've removed, and cleaned jockey wheels countless times without issue (cue jockey wheel failure on Monday ;) ).

    Process was completed quickly and easily without usual maintenance swearing, and I now have 20 accessible gears, and no horrible chain rub. :)

    Posted 4 years ago #

  2. crowriver
    Member

    Not today, but this week. Spent an afternoon in the garage checking over the stable of steeds. While pumping tyres, cleaning, etc. also managed to get not just one but two sets of RX-100 brifters working correctly so that both the Thorn Brevet and the Dawes Addax Giro are shifting gears flawlessly. If the weather calms down I might just have to take each of them out for a ride to celebrate. Especially the Dawes as I had previously assuming the right hand brifter was borked. WD40 is a wondrous thing if applied judiciously in the right places.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  3. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    @baldcyclist, I'm another jockey wheel remover. How else do you get them clean?

    I hunted down the last of the rattles on the Bargain Bianchi (aka the world's noisiest bike). These were, the contents of the bar-top bag which I wrapped in a Buff and a loose seat-post.

    The internal cable rattle which drove me crazy on the first few rides last year was fixed by attaching cable-ties to the top of the cables at the point they enter the frame. Weird tip from the Internet.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  4. wingpig
    Member

    Green flavour Finish Line helps collect all my chain's gunk in a handy matted arrangement at the side of the jockey wheels which can usually be peeled/scraped off quite quickly with a coffee stirrer or stick.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  5. Mandopicker101
    Member

    More of a question as to how to achieve satisfactory maintenance...

    Current road bike has a matt finish. Looks lovely but is utterly incompatible with sports drinks splashing on it, sweat, general road muck. Usual approaches to cleaning have not really worked. Anyone have any ideas? I'd prefer not to have to acquire a new round of special cleaner just for the roadie...

    Posted 4 years ago #

  6. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Baby wipes do a decent job of most things.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  7. Frenchy
    Member

    Not sure this counts as bicycle maintenance, but I had two broken Fly6 cameras lying around and figured I might as well try and make one working one out of them.

    One of them was taking out of focus videos ever since I dropped it, and on dismantling it was obvious that the drop had broken the lens attachment. Luckily, it was fairly simple to unscrew that and replace it with the one from the other camera.

    Won't be sure it's been completely successful until I've tried it on the bike, but it's definitely a lot better and will, at the very least, be a useful backup.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  8. urchaidh
    Member

    My Krypto U-lock was a bit 'sticky'. Lubricating it just seemed to attract a whole new layer of gunge and grit to the mechanisms.

    Took it to bits (just 5 moving parts in there), soaked in de-greaser, cleaned, re-lubed and assembled. Now smooth as new. Not sure how long it will last.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  9. Cyclingmollie
    Member

    Replaced an Octalink bottom bracket. No more play in the bearings.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  10. wingpig
    Member


    Fortunately my final last-straw gear change was only half a mile from the office this morning, and ten minutes in the afternoon repaired it.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  11. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Root cause analysis of this evening's incident properly belongs in this thread's counterpart, but my tale of woe may be recounted here; to wit, cycling home I'd done a couple of miles and reached Myreside Road, and for the heck of it and because I'd managed to leave work a bit earlier today I wasn't in a rush, I diverted to ride through the Royal Ed.

    The super smooth path soon revealed a regular but gently bump-bump-bump coming from the back of my bike. This was quickly joined by scuf-scuf-scuf. Thinking I'd ridden over a nail that was now impaled in my tyre and rubbing on my mudguard I stopped and inspected. No nail, just a huuuuuge bulge in the tread, like half a hazelnut around but as tall as my finger is thick. I realised that the main part of the bulge wasn't tyre but inner tube. As I thought, "she's gonna blow!" and "I'd better let some air out of the tyre", it went BANG!.

    And I wasn't carrying a pump, a tube, a tyre boot, or my repair kit.

    Fortunately Bike Morningside was but a relatively short and, on the face of it, really quite pleasant walk away. New tyre, new tube, and he let* me just do the work there and then with the shop tools.

    * BM looks earnestly and approvingly at the sparkly purple recumbent
    BM That's a mad bike. Do you have that trike? The...um...the
    BM makes universal gesture of 'this big'
    Me The big red thing?
    BM Yeah!

    Posted 4 years ago #

  12. Greenroofer
    Member

    I enjoy going to Bike Morningside, as he is an enthusiast. I've not yet, as far as I recall, managed to get him to take any of my money for anything. I'm starting to feel a bit guilty about this.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  13. ARobComp
    Member

    Bike Morningside the best place to go for individual spoke purchases - he has good stock of your usual and garden variety spokes of all gauges.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  14. Harts Cyclery
    Member

    Just catching up with this thread re cleaning. I clean bikes on my Classic and Grand Tour services. And I'll happily clean a bike for anyone who wishes to pay for it. I have a number of customers who pay for a clean, degrease and relube in between services.

    Re cleaning, if you're taking more than 15 mins and taking the chain off, you're doing it wrong and/or too infrequently :-)

    Posted 4 years ago #

  15. neddie
    Member

    if you're taking more than 15 mins ..., you're doing it wrong

    Not everyone has access to a pressure washer.

    And if you don't have a pressure washer, then yes, it is time-consuming to get the rag into all the nooks and crannies to remove the dirt.

    Not sure that pressure washers are particularly good for the bearings in any case.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  16. Harts Cyclery
    Member

    Who said anything about pressure washers? I wash bikes by hand with: a bucket of water, dish soap, degreaser,a brush and a sponge, with a garden hose to rinse.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  17. Harts Cyclery
    Member

    Basically this, but with a garden hose at mains pressure. Although when not near a tap I use a bucket or 2 of clean water to rinse (like at races etc).

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    Of course, this is just for derailleur bikes, that I wash after every ride. I haven't washed my Gazelle (daily bike with hub gear, roller brakes, full chain case) since I bought it, just under 4 years ago...

    Posted 4 years ago #

  18. EdinburghCycleCam
    Member

    +1 for what Graeme said.

    I used to clean my hybrid once a month or so, and spent about an hour with muc-off chain cleaner and stuff.

    Much better to do it weekly / fortnightly with good degreaser applied with a paintbrush, and basically what's shown in the video above (Though I also use a hosepipe, and don't bother taking the wheels off). Takes about 15-30 mins for a thorough clean.

    Hosed down my shiney new Gazelle the other day after cycling in miserable weather at the weekend - I love that it takes about 2 minutes with the hose on jet to clean it back to good as new (though we'll see if that's still the case now I'm riding it ~100 miles a week). Yay, belt drives!

    Posted 4 years ago #

  19. amir
    Member

    At this time of year, I give the bike a wipe down most days (unless it's dry). Most attention is on the wheel rims and chain. Takes 5 mins. Usually a deeper clean at the weekend when it's not dark. Unless it's really mucky, I don't need to resort to the hose.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  20. Greenroofer
    Member

    I haven't done anything to my chain-drive, Alfine hub geared, hydraulic disc braked commuter bike for months except clean the chain once and pump up the tyres (once). Does this make me a bad person?

    It's covered in leaf splodge from a ride up the WoL path to Balerno some weeks ago, but I can't see that's doing any harm...

    Posted 4 years ago #

  21. threefromleith
    Member

    I live in a top-floor flat, and used to stand my bike in the bath, then stretch the shower hose out of the shower cabinet and use it plus a sponge and soapy water to wash my bikes.

    Now I clean the chain after every wet / mucky ride using baby wipes and reapply lube, and every so often I get the bike up on the workstand and brush off any dried-on muck / leaf-jam before cleaning everything with cheap baby wipes. After a quick check-over to make sure nothing is frayed / worn / no glass fragments in the tyres, I relube the necessary parts and put everything away.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  22. jonty
    Member

    I think the real privilege for bike washing is not a pressure washer but having outside space. It's a faff getting my bike out the back so I sometimes try to do mini-washes inside, but hard to really get much for done than a quick wipe/lube of the chain and maybe a wipe down of the frame/rims.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  23. amir
    Member

    I spent quite a big of today's commute declogging my mudguards. That's removed one excuse for being so slow

    Posted 4 years ago #

  24. Harts Cyclery
    Member

    @greenroofer, not at all! Like I say, 4 years and counting and I haven't washed my Gazelle. Your chain must be grim without a chain case, mind you.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  25. gembo
    Member

    @harts-cyclery, greenf=roofer's chain without a chain case, that is something I never thought I would hear

    Posted 4 years ago #

  26. Greenroofer
    Member

    I do clean my chain intermittently. I don't have a chain case. It's not too bad at present. That may partly be because it's a big fat cheap singlespeed chain that is a bit fat for the Alfine hub at the rear, but is not a high-precision piece of engineering and is quite tolerant of a bit of muck.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  27. wingpig
    Member

    My dynamo-to-headlight wire was looking a bit crimped at yesterday's lunchtime inspection and shortening it to avoid the crimped bits didn't much help. Replaced the wire in the evening and lights all worked again this morning. Suspected cause is being crushed by a few lengths of timber a month ago and only just getting round to starting to break.

    Posted 4 years ago #

  28. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    I cleaned the drive train and pumped the tyres up and the SUNLIT Uplander now seems to go about twice as fast?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  29. Frenchy
    Member

    A lack of headwinds might help too?

    Posted 4 years ago #

  30. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    @Frenchy

    Indeed. Many stars aligned.

    Posted 4 years ago #

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