Home Chat General Chat

Bike maintenance - love your bike!

huwdhuwd Posts: 228
The reason I ask is that I was doing some circuits around regents park this morning and I heard no end of bikes creaking, clattering and whiring in a state of disrepair (and certainly not cheap kit either!) - I was shocked!

In particular there was one guy that really needs to reseat his BB and crank, the creaking was immense - another guy needs to do some urgent gear adjustments, clattering and shifting when accelerating is not correct and losing your chain off the big ring on a perfectly flat section of road certainly wouldnt make me happy!

So is your bike your pride and joy or is it just another thing to waste time looking after?

Bikes have feelings too!

Comments

  • ZacniciZacnici Posts: 1,385
    I was attending a residential course at Shrivenham and taking part in Sth Cerney Tri - arranged to keep my bike in my room. Clean it with kitchen towel, wipes and cotton buds for those hard to get to places. also get it serviced - touch wood the lbs report they haven't really had to do any serious alterations to settings etc and never had to touch rear derailleur.

    The creaking sounds are just my bones.

    (Focus Izalco SRAM Force, Fr & Rr derailleurs, FSA Gossamer Chainset/Mega Exo BB)
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    i spent far too much time yesterday cleaning the cassette and chainrings when i put on a new chain. wanted them to look as close to when i bought it as possible - no point in putting a fresh chain on only for the cassette to start wrecking it straight away.

    couldn't be bothered to give the frame a wipe though, which was a bit lazy.
  • TommiTriTommiTri Posts: 879
    I spent a good 1-2 hours earlier cleaning my baby, took the chain off for the first time and really cleaned it properly. Just went out on it and set a PB on my local tri course! So maybe it pays to keep it all ship shape!
  • huwdhuwd Posts: 228
    Zacnici wrote:
    The creaking sounds are just my bones.
    Maybe it was on the guys I saw today too. Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that spends way too long keeping things running smooth
  • Got back from a very muddy off-road ride this afternoon and spent an hour cleaning my bike! Both wheels and chain off to get to all the mud - was fun though (the ride, not the cleaning ) Must admit though that it was partially motivated by the fact that my bikes both live in the house so didn't really want mud dropping everywhere.

    Haven't needed to clean my road bike yet - it's only done about 300 miles and I have yet to take it out in the wet (chicken, I know), but I doubt it will get the same scrubbing as the mtb. More likely I'll be using soft cotton gloves and a chamois - couldn't bear to scratch it.
  • gingertrigingertri Posts: 277
    i re-indexed gears (never done it before - so took me ages) as mine was rattling and slipping a bit, now i don't even realise its changed and have confidence in changing on a hill, used one of those bike chain cleaner contraptions too (they're ace) then re-lubed. Its like a car, if you keep it serviced it looks after you, otherwise it may well be the death of you!
  • BootooBootoo Posts: 29
    I spent ages cleaning my bike yesterday. I am only just learning the basics like cleaning the cogs and chain etc but it makes me very happy when my baby is all sparking like new
  • aoneill69aoneill69 Posts: 206
    so being a newbie to road bikes i really am only comfortable cleaning/polishing at the moment...i find reading maintenance books very dry, so anyone ever done a bike maintenance course?..thinking couple of days messing around in workshop with someone who knows what they are doing and won't point and laugh
  • clv101clv101 Posts: 45
    i re-indexed gears (never done it before - so took me ages)
    Can anyone point me to a good tutorial on how exactly to do this on Shimano Ultegra equipment?
Sign In or Register to comment.