Once upon a time I was touring central Portugal and heard a 'funny' (the meaning in this case was not that I was about to have fun, but quite possibly the opposite) noise kind of back behind and below me. When I stopped to take a look, lo and behold I had left a string of rear derailleur parts along the margin of the road. One might ask why this had happened, and one might assume it was because for the previous 4700 km I had done no preventative maintenance or even cursory glances over the mechanical bits and bobs. That assumption would be correct. Luckily, I found all of the parts and within minutes had the derailleur fully reassembled and functional. Yes, there is a Santa Claus.
From that point forward I swore I would do pilot-like walk-arounds and pre-rolling checks to make sure everything is secure. And to this day, if I remember, I do them. But sometimes I forget. At home, I am less 'forgetty' and keep things tuned up fairly regularly.
I do a tire check for slivers etc. and wipe down the chain after every ride, day ride or on tour. The former definitely has cut down on my flat rate, the latter extends the time before needing to lube the chain.
I tend to be a low gear grinder, though I've driven my RPM and rear cog choice up over the years. I've learned to periodically check the small cog in the back - on my Trek 520 and my road bike I broke some teeth off that cog and wore the other ones down to shark's teeth and didn't even notice until it started skipping.
With all that, I finished a week long tour years ago on the 520 with no bike problems. The next weekend hopped on it for a day ride. Three miles out the seat rail clamp bolt (10 years old at the time) broke as I stood to do a steep bit and the seat and the top of the clamp rolled down the hill behind me. Had to ride standing up holding the seat in my armpit to get back to my car. Would have been really annoying on a tour - it is always something.
When I had just the one bike I did a lot of careful maintenance. When I got another bike I did probably 75 percent as much maintenance, total. I now have six bikes, mostly badly neglected.
I did show my Bike Friday, which is what I will ride on this summer's tour as well as on most if not all of the prep rides leading up to it, some love a couple weeks ago by cleaning the drive train. And I've accumulated a collection of fresh chain rings, cassette, and chain to be installed a couple weeks before I disassemble the bike and pack it for travel. During disassembly I'll check the cables but, unless one or more show signs of wear and fraying, they're unlikely to be replaced preemptively.
It's not clear to me that I'll do the wheel bearings before leaving, although that is possibly the maintenance item that provides the greatest overall benefit by reducing the friction in the wheels and therefore easing and improving the ride.
Thank you Keith, John and Brent for your input. The sample group is smaller than I had hoped for, but, as a guy who once took a freshman-level statistics class in college, I think I can draw a few conclusions about the cycle touring population in general.
Anyway, I appreciate your responses. They all helped to give me an extra little kick in the ass to take better care of my bike. I sure don't want to be riding along on a tour someday and look behind me, only to see my derailleur falling apart.
A late entry to the thread, but I think I need to challenge your claim to being the least diligent cyclist here. I’m pretty sure I can claim that slot, though I don’t have metrics to prove it. I’ve pretty much given up doing any bike maintenance other than fixing flats, making half-assed attempts at adjusting my brakes, and on very rare occasions lubing the chains. I long ago realized it was cheaper and more effective to have the LBS work their magic than mess things up myself and make the situation worse. As someone who was lucky enough to stumble into a fairly lucrative career, I feel like it’s my responsibility to help keep the bike mechanics in business.
The new Diligent Bike Maintainer rankings are out:
Scott deserves credit for his support of the local bike mechanics though. I also have a trusted bike mechanic--my brother who is a Park Tool executive. I bring my bike to him after every other tour and give him free reign. He only charges me for parts--thank goodness--because my career wasn't quite so lucrative.
Really, I should have ranked ME below Scott because I neglect my bike even after riding in snowy, salty, wintertime conditions. But I thought it would be more fun to give the top ranking to Cycleblaze's most respected blogger.
Late to the party, as usual, but here goes. I have three bikes. I ride them each about 3,000 miles per year, more if I'm doing a big tour, of course.
Each winter I take each bike to a bike shop. They replace the chain and cassette and any chainrings that are worn. (For my long wheel base recumbent, the chain usually lasts a couple of years because it's so long.) Same with brake pads. If anything squeaks or rubs, I have it looked at. I put on new tires. Schwalbe Marathon Plus for tours.
Basically, by March, I have three new bikes.
Every 200 miles or so, I use some degreaser, wax lube, and a rag, and clean the chain and pulleys. (I use wax lube because it's not as messy as oil.)
Every ride, I check the tire pressure using my finger gauge. (If it feels soft, pump it up.) I spin the wheels to make sure they aren't rubbing.
Hope that helps.
Late to the party, as usual, but here goes. I have three bikes. I ride them each about 3,000 miles per year, more if I'm doing a big tour, of course.
Each winter I take each bike to a bike shop. They replace the chain and cassette and any chainrings that are worn. (For my long wheel base recumbent, the chain usually lasts a couple of years because it's so long.) Same with brake pads. If anything squeaks or rubs, I have it looked at. I put on new tires. Schwalbe Marathon Plus for tours.
Basically, by March, I have three new bikes.
Every 200 miles or so, I use some degreaser, wax lube, and a rag, and clean the chain and pulleys. (I use wax lube because it's not as messy as oil.)
Every ride, I check the tire pressure using my finger gauge. (If it feels soft, pump it up.) I spin the wheels to make sure they aren't rubbing.
Hope that helps.
The other day I went out to deliver a small package and I started hearing a regular ka-chunk sound. There was nothing on the tyres nothing stuck in the spokes The Rohloff was behaving yet the sound continued to get louder. Then I realised. In our suburb the electricity is carried on overhead wires down one side of the street and the connection to houses on the other side runs over the street. However when a house is knocked down and rebuilt the power must now go under the street and terminates in a small Manhole on the edge of the premises and is carried underground into the new house. Rather than digging a trench across the street they tunnel below using compressed air which gives rise to the ka-chunk sound.
Other than that I change the oil in the Rohloff annually, replace chains as necessary, replace brakes pads and tyres when necessary. I use Squirt dry lube which means that the chain stays quite clean and does not require much attention.
When I had a derailleur bike I had the LBS replace cassettes and chains as necessary and tweak the shifting but it is quite a while since I went inside a bike shop for regular maintenance.
When I'm not touring, I post some stuff on another cycling website oriented toward day rides. Today I wrote an essay regarding bike maintenance. In that essay I admitted to being pretty (extremely) lax about everyday care of my bike.
https://cycle365.life/bike-maintenance-day-an-essay/
Even when I'm on a tour I don't pay much attention to maintenance unless I see or hear something irregular. I'm amazed at how my bike keeps running no matter how infrequently I lube the chain, pump up the tires, inspect the chainring cogs, wash the crud off the frame, or change the brake pads.
Do you perform regularly scheduled maintenance, or are you more like me?
2 years ago