Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly maintenance

OK, what should be done and when?

I already know I need to check my tires for debris when I get back from a ride and I need to check the pressure before I go out. I figure I should regularly clean the frame from road grime. But how often should the chain be lubricated / cleaned? What about the shifters and derailleurs?

Anything else?

 

The following link is a pretty good maintenance schedule. There are others out there but they are all pretty similar. As usual, you may need to tweek it a little depending upon the conditions where you live.

http://www.seattlebicycleclub.org/members/effective_cycling/bike_maintenance.html

 

Perfect... many thanks

 

Bicycles get along perfectly well with almost no maintenance.

When your tires are soft, fill them up. When something makes a noise, fix it. If something breaks or sticks, fix it. Once a year make sure the seat post and stem can be adjusted.

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The more you play at fixing the bike; the more apt it is to have problems.

 

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Basically agree with you on this one OG. Lubing shifters and cables, checking torque on fasterners, replacing bearings every year, really? I don't think any of that stuff is necessary or recommended by the component mfg's. Does Shimano specify lube for their shfiters and cables, or routine replacement of BB bearings?
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Bearings are generally good until they get contaminated by moisture or grit, when that occurs replace them. Just replacing good bearings because they have run X months or X thousand miles doesn't improve anything.

Believe it's better to just ride the bike, pay attention to noises and issues and fix them as they occur. Most everything on the bike can be maintained on an "as needed" basis much more effectively than on any kind of fixed time schedules. Wrenching on fasteners to "make sure they are tight" can do damage too, and set up a failure. The old adage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is worth remembering. .

 

I can tell you from personal experience that cleaning and lubing everything after a long ride in the rain is a good idea. It's about like going to the beach--you'll have grit in nooks and crannies you didn't know you had.

Myself, I wipe off and lube my chain about every 100-200 miles. I clean and lube my bike after I ride in the rain. Once a year (in the winter) I'll disassemble it most of the way to clean and lube things and replace whatever needs to be replaced (not likely to be much).

I like my bike to run quiet (it's VERY quiet). That makes it very easy for me to pinpoint any odd noises and address their cause. A month ago I did my first century, and it rained for the first 75 miles. For the last 10 miles (of the 105 total due to a construction detour), I had a grinding noise in the crank that I eventually figured was just a piece of grit between the crank arm and the bearing cap.

I'd say the list linked to is a bit overkill, but the pre-ride check is good--check tires, brakes and shifters (especially if there are hills) before every ride. My normal rides include a short jaunt around the neighborhood in part to warm up, but also to double check general function. If there's a problem, I haven't hammered for 10 minutes and have to walk 3-4 miles home, I'm within a half mile.

 

If you look at the long distance forum, you will find people who do rather long rides - 1200K (700 miles). You might inquire if they do any cleaning, lubing, or adjusting during those rides.

I suspect your winter work benefits you more than your bicycle. I think the same might be true of your day to day maintenance.

 

Might also want to ask how their bike runs after 700 miles versus how it ran prior. Is it shifting as smoothly? Drivetrain running as silently?

Yeah, I didn't think so...

 

Yup. That noise that the chain starts making after those epic, lubeless rides? That's the sound of the chain wearing prematurely. Comparing the maintenance schedule of what someone doing a long a ride like, say, Paris-Brest, to that of a typical cyclist is a bit stupid, especially since the typical cyclist would like his or chain and other components to last as long as possible.

 

I'm all for minimal routine maintenance, but the chain really shouldn't be neglected. It's easy to take a bottle of lube along on extended trips, and only takes a few minutes to wipe down the chain and lube every 100-200 miles, or after riding in the rain. If you're really in a hurry, ie, the group is leaving or the clock is ticking, just squirt the chain while spinning the crank backwards and go. Excess chain lube might be messy, but it can't really hurt anything; an over-lubed, wet chain works better and lasts longer than a shiny dry one.

 

My chain seldom makes noise. Even after a 1000 miles or more of non-maintenance. In the movie Days of Thunder there is a nice sequence about tire maintenance. The crew chief shows the driver that being smoother not only makes the tires last a lot longer but also produces faster lap times. The same lesson can be used to demonstrate that it is not lubrication that prolongs chain/cassette life. It is smoothness of the rider. A side effect of smoothness is faster rides.

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I has a bad weekend. On Saturday someone broke into all the cars in the parking lot. No damage to the cars. Nothing taken. On Sunday someone else tried again. Damaged my car lock a bit, but it seems to have worked itself back into reasonable condition.

I did a long ride on Saturday. A longer one on Sunday.

Today I had chores and with the fatigue from the weekend and my disgust with the break ins I only did a short ride. After the ride I spent a couple minutes lubing my drive train. A bit of Teflon spray on the rear derailleur cable just before the rear housing. Wipe off the grit that caused sluggish shifting. Ride around the parking lot shifting one gear at a time up and down. All fixed for another month or so.

 

Actually, no. Curious that you use a crappy movie as proof and not actual science. There is this thing called "friction". It is the friction between the metal bits in a chain as well as between contaminants and the metal bits in the chain that generates friction and degrades the metal contact surfaces, wearing away the metal. The "lubricant" ("oil" in bad movie parlance) provides a film on each surface which reduces the friction between the surfaces. It's a simple idea, really. If have a hard time wrapping your head around this idea and/or are upset that such an idea wouldn't have been represented in such a paragon of ignorance and ego as "Days of Thunder", you can use a "search engine" (it's a web application, in this case, that will search the web for pages that include or seem to be about a word or phrase you enter into the "search box" of the "search engine". In this case, the word you should type in that box (you can get to that box by moving your screen cursor to the box and left clicking with your "mouse") is "tribology." Typing in "lubricant" will also. Press "enter" or "return" on your keyboard, and the search engine will go to work and eventually return with a list of sites that match one or more of the search parameters. Popular "search engines" are Google, Bing, Dogpile, Yahoo, and many others.

Even more stupid is comparing tire wear to chain wear. Such a comparison shows a complete lack of knowledge of both. Please don't lubricate your tires, no matter what a character in a movie tells you. Oddly enough, especially since they didn't mention this in your movie, the goal with a race tire is to provide a high level of friction between the tire and track surface, balanced with acceptable tire wear. The goal with a chain is to minimize friction between metal parts. If you'd like, I can draw you a picture.

I once saw the movie "The Final Countdown." I guess since it was shown in the movie and following your "Days of Chunder" movie theory, aircraft carriers really are time travel machines, and time travel is real.

It's too bad that your Special Edition copy of "Days of Thunder" wasn't stolen.

 

Got to find another forum...

 

Air tires, go ride. Lube chain when it sounds like you have a bird in your pocket(chirp, chirp, squeak, squeak). Lube AFTER you ride, not just before the next ride.

Adjust ders when they dont' shift well. True wheels samo.

If ya ride in the wet, OVH hubs, BB, HS about once every 6 months. If in the dry, about once every year.