Service intervals

[Deanj]

I'm happy to admit I must be one of the slackest people when it comes to maintenance of anything. Very much a "if its working, why touch it" person. So, I'm going to get into action. Whats the general rule of thumb (kms wise) that you should be re-greasing or looking to replace things?

[sogood]

When the drivetrain gets black.
When the chain looked and sounded dry.
When rusts appear.
When things no longer work smoothly.

Then for some, yearly rebuild can be a good idea.

[Deanj]

I'm happy with that, thats about my current standards. Reckon I only oil the chain about every 1000kms or more, depends how long it takes me to think about it.

[sogood]

Depending on the volume of your ride, weather condition, type of lube used, 300-400km sounded much more reasonable. The other magic is to wipe the chain and tyres down after each ride. The chain will stay clean for longer and you get a chance to examine tyres for embedded glass.

[mikesbytes]

It's individual to your situation

New chain when you change the rear tyre.

New cluster when you change the 2nd rear tyre

New chain rings when you change the 4th rear tyre

Disclaimer: I really have no idea, the above is a straight guess.

[Kalgrm]

Mountain bike or road?

For me, the MTB gets a little love more often than the road bike. The chain gets a wipe after every dirt ride, as do the stanchions of the fork and rear shock. The whole bike also gets a rinse with the garden hose if the ride has been dusty or muddy (followed by a chain lube). After about 4-6 rides, the drive train gets a lube anyway. I lube the stanchions with a spot of silicone grease to help keep the seal supple.

Every month or so, the chain and cassette comes off for a soaking in degreaser and a scrub, followed by a lube. The idler wheels on the rear derailleur get a clean at the sametime.

The Brooks saddle gets a reproofing every 8 -10 weeks or so. The wheels get a looking at, but rarely do they need a tuning (hand-built them myself ).

Aside from that, I don't do much else. I seem to upgrade before things get a chance to wear out ..... I have worn out cassettes and chains, but that takes about a year with my riding. I also wore out the middle chain ring on the MTB, but replaced the whole crankset when I built the Epic recently.

On the road bike (recumbent), the chain gets a wipe and lube every week or so (15 -20 rides) and gets a thorough cleaning every month or so. The cable brakes get an adjustment roughly monthly. The tyres get inspected daily for bad cuts or embedded glass.

Now that I've got new wheels on the 'bent, I'm going to need to keep an eye on the wheel bearing cones too (had cartridge bearings previously). I guess I'll check them when I do the chain lubes.

Cheers,
Graeme

[Deanj]

It will be for both MTB and road. I'll hopefully be a bit more thorough with the MTB as will be racing it. Thats a good idea with the silicone grease, I'll start that one.

[nimm]

road bike

chain: after every wet ride - i avoid wet rides
otherwise i just keep my eye on it and when it's dirty or a bit dry.

tyres: check them over before rides.

Everything else the lbs has been taking care of, although I plan to do more of it in the future.

[inaminit]

Tiny bit of oil on the chain and a few drops in the cassette every week. A bit more after a wet ride. A clean, degrease, and a lot of oil when it looks like it needs it. Quick check of brakes gears tyres etc before each ride.

[europa]

I rely on blackness, dryness, noisiness, operation and guilt feelings - basically I maintain my bikes frequently enough to prevent all of the above.

After rain or before a long ride I'll oil the chain. Otherwise, see above.

Richard

[Bnej]

Worth saying, worth saying twice?

[20 inch wheels]

4000km before I bothered to check for chain wear. By then chain, cluster and chainring needed replacing.

There is a lesson there.

[sogood]

4000km before I bothered to check for chain wear. By then chain, cluster and chainring needed replacing.

If it's a road bike, that's not much mileage out of a chain.

[20 inch wheels]

If it's a road bike, that's not much mileage out of a chain.

Bit of a surprise to me too. A folder, used mostly used on sealed roads but every ride starts and ends with a dirt road. Guess I'm picking up dirt on the chain regularly and it is working as an abrasive.

As a commuter I also ride in all weathers.

Lesson is, perhaps I should pay more attention to cleaning, lubrication and maintenance.

[Hawkeye]

Maybe buy a Park go/nogo chainwear gauge? Mine gets quite a lot of use as I ride rain hail or shine (but not gales ).

[20 inch wheels]

Maybe buy a Park go/nogo chainwear gauge?

I asked in the lbs about checking for chain wear. They didn't sell me a guage but recommended I measure the chain with a ruler. Sheldon Brown I think makes the same recommendation.

A little bit more fiddly, but works all the same I guess.

[Deanj]

I've got to start reading up on maintenance with regards to measuring chains and things like that. To find out how to do something in the past I've just taken things apart and put them back together, without reading up on it. Means I can do stuff, but, no real idea what I'm talking about

[Hawkeye]

Yair... Errrhm, I found rulers to be a bit iffy, even with a proper engineering steel rule. Eyeballing things is too subject to error.

The Park Tools go/no go chainwear indicator was twenty bucks and some change off eBay, I seem to recall.

It has two sides. At 0.75, if you change the chain straight away you can usually save the cassette. However, if you wait until your chain gets to 1.0 (percent, I think) you cassette will need replacing as well, otherwise the new chain will be incompatible and skip under load and/or self-destruct pretty fast.

This was the situation I found myself in using the eyeball and ruler method. If I'd had the Park indicator then it would have more than paid for itself immediately.

... Just a thought.