MAINTENANCE How to increase the life of your bicycle investment without it being a chore! By Darrell McCulloch Australian Cycling Team Mechanic
PART
1
INTRODUCTION Maintaining your bike’s good looks and keeping it functioning trouble free requires some time spent on maintenance. We would all rather be riding or off doing other fun things. However, it is not at all difficult to go about a simple maintenance schedule using easy, quick techniques along with some simple tools. Looking after and prolonging your bike’s life begins with some regular and simple tasks. This saves your hard earned dollars and makes for hassle free kilometers on the road.
Cleaning a bike correctly and regularly is the most important maintenance task.
It removes damaging grime and allows easy regular inspection of the frame and components. Not only does it reduce wear and tear, but it is always a treat to ride
a clean, smooth running machine. Hands up if you dread cleaning your bike? We all love the feeling of a clean shiny bike with a spotless chain that is freshly oiled. However, we dread this chore and in just one year alone with the team, I have washed over 1,000 bikes. Hands up if you know the fastest and most efficient way to bring your trusty machine back to show room condition? Team mechanics clean the team bikes every day at stage races. This could be up to eight bikes and two to three spare bikes, not to mention the team cars and van every few days. Every rider should present his or her clean bike at a race in good working order. If you have sponsors it is essential to present yourself and equipment in a professional manner. Team mechanics use the most efficient method of cleaning bikes and that is washing them with a hose rather than wiping them. This removes the damaging grime and dirt without tearing away at the paintwork and stops components rusting. Dragging a rag over the frame to wipe off dirt quite quickly destroys the shine and does not remove the grit and grime from the chain, derailleur and hard to get out of places. So to do this quickly and with out fuss one needs to have a cleaning kit on hand.
PART
2
MAKING A CLEANING KIT KIT
First, we need to make up a cleaning kit. 1) Firstly, a trip to the supermarket for a few cheap purchases to put together a cleaning kit to have on hand in a plastic tidy box. A container, such as a tin or a cheap stainless dish from the supermarket is good. A one-inch paintbrush and a small stiff bristled brush. Old toothbrushes are pretty useless for cleaning speedily. A stiff bristled dish brush and a stiff bristled floor brush are also necessary tools. Old dish sponges can be relegated to bike washing duties. A soft brush such as a dustpan brush is also needed. A large soft bottlebrush and some barrier cream are also good additions. Don’t forget good hand cleaner. I have a favorite that is cheap and good for frequent use. A good tough bucket. Square ones pack better into the tidy box after use.
2) A biodegradable degreaser is needed. Good citrus degreasers are fantastic and smell great.
3) One needs some way of holding the bike without wheels, so a stand is needed. It could be as simple as hanging your bike on some loops of rope from a tree or a proper work stand purchased or home made. A stand that clamps the front fork and supports the frame under the bottom bracket shell are the best. These hold the bike securely and do not mark the paint or damage the shaped thin frame tubes bikes have today. They are good for other bike work as well. It amazes me that people will spend thousands of dollars on equipment and bikes to only baulk at purchasing a good work stand that will provide a life time of convenience for a couple of hundred dollars. Frame clamp stands are bad news even if you wrap rags around the tubes, they will mark good paint in quick time and/or crush shaped frame tubes. Next, the actual method of cleaning. A spot where the run off is not going to damage anything and a convenient water supply with hose are necessary. (Team mechanics have meters of hose and every tap fitting imaginable to seek out and conquer a source or water supply in European hotels. It’s not as easy as in Australia I can assure you and it is not unusual to see a dozen hoses split off a single water supply in a hotel car park.)
PART
3
DEGREASING There is a mistaken belief that to clean the drive train properly one has to dismantle parts and that removing the chain to clean is the only way to do it properly. This is very bad practice especially with the new types of chain construction, as damage and loss of reliability can result. It is totally unnecessary work if one uses the correct cleaning techniques. The chain and the remaining drive train can be cleaned to spotlessness on the bike. Some extras to have on hand when you set out to clean your bike is an old apron and a pair of cheap rubber boots to slip on so that when you start slopping degreaser and water around, good shoes are not spoiled and feet stay clean and dry. Most are reluctant to purchase a pair of rubber boots for washing bikes but it is a luxury you will never regret having on hand. Slip off shoes and on with the boots and away one goes. When done, slip off and you still have clean dry feet and socks. You will get ten years of life out of a pair of boots.
From start to finish, 30 minutes is all you need and if there are additional bikes in the family, each will only take another 10 minutes.
The Degreasing Process
1) Crank up the radio or the stereo with a good CD. Place your bike on the work stand or hang it from the saddle and handle bars with the wheels removed. This allows you to get at hard to access spots which the wheels normally cover and avoids degreaser getting on the tires. 2) Place an old hub or axle into the rear dropouts to hold the chain in place. Put the chain onto the large chain ring This way the chain will not slap about marking the paint or fall off the chain rings. 3) Pour about 200mls of degreaser into the stainless bowl and with the 1� paintbrush start brushing plenty onto the chain, chain rings and derailleur. Always start your cleaning by applying the degreaser to the chain rings and chain. This lets the degreaser start loosening up the grime. Some people prefer using rubber gloves to keep hands clean, but I always tear them in short time, rendering them useless. I start by rubbing in plenty of barrier cream on my hands. A tip here is to always keep your hands above the brush as you use it, that way the mess drips away from your hands and arms. 4) Brush the degreaser over the brake calipers with little dabs under and into the corners. The bristles of the brush remove grit and grime that wiping with rags will never achieve. Also brush over any parts of the frame that may be grimy. Don’t be concerned if every thing is looking pretty grimy with gunk dripping off everywhere. 5) With the small 25mm (1�) paintbrush, brush degreaser into the front gear changer. Again using the dabbing motion to get into the corners loosening up the grime. 6) With a small stiff bristle brush or the paintbrush, start cleaning the small chain ring.
If the grime has been caked on for some time this will take some effort at first, but if you degrease every few weeks, it will clean off in a minute. Take care to clean the inside of the chain rings and the bits between the rings around the chain wheel bolts. 7) Start cleaning the chain with the stiff bristle brush. You need to turn the pedals while running the brush over the top, bottom and both sides of the chain, scraping all build up of grime and grit. If cleaning has been neglected for some time, this may take several minutes. There are special chain cleaning tools that work an absolute treat. These work by pouring a small amount of degreaser into them and clipping the tool onto the chain and while turning the pedals the tool’s brushes rotate and scrub the chain. 8) Now brush and dab the rear gear changer with the 25mm brush, scraping the grime off the jockey wheels, especially on the inside. 9) With the cog side down, lean the rear wheel over and use the stiff dish brush to scrub the cogs, ensuring the brush goes across the cogs as well. Leaning the wheel over avoids degreaser running onto the tires. 10) If the hub flanges are dirty around the spoke heads, a light brush here with the 25mm brush will loosen any traces of dirt. The bike may look a dripping mess, but after the rinse it will look much better. 11) With a light to medium spray of water from the hose, rinse the whole bike from above. Lightly direct the spray at the gears and brakes. The degreaser and grime should be washed completely off, leaving a degreased bike 12) Direct a fairly strong jet of water directly into the chain from above while turning the pedals. This will remove all traces of degreaser and evil grime from the chain, leaving it spotless. Rinse the wheels as well and direct a spray at the cogs. If you have done the degreasing methodically then after the rinse there shall be no traces of dirt, grime or degreaser on the bike and wheels.
PART
4
BIKE WASHING The idea is to start at the top and wash down from front to back using soap suds and water to clean the grime away without damaging the paint and getting into the corners that rag wiping will never get to. It removes the salts and grime that damage the components and frame. Washing the bike does not cause rust problems, it is quite the opposite in fact. A regularly washed bike stays looking great and feeling great. Wiping the bike over with rags grinds the dirt and grime over the paint and the shine goes quickly.
The Suds Process
1) Into the bucket squirt a quantity of dishwashing fluid or car wash (don’t use the cheap nasty stuff, it is hopeless). Fill up the bucket with water making it quite sudsy.
2) With a stiff bristled floor brush and using the fresh clean unsoiled suds, start scrubbing the handle bar tape. Use plenty of suds. Take care to scrub down the tape from top to bottom so as not to pick up the edges of the tape. This removes the perspiration, sticky food residue and grime, leaving the tape clean and not as slippery in wet weather. Most people will never clean the tape during its time on the bike! Some pay so much attention to their wardrobe and yet never pay attention to their smelly handle bar tape. It is just like not changing their underwear for two weeks, yuck! Pay attention that this brush is used only for the handlebars. 3) Next is to attack the bike with the soft dustpan type brush, dipping frequently into the suds bucket and using the brush to lightly scrub the bike frame and components. Start at the bars and stem working down the fork and then back along the top tube, then down the seat tube and seat stays. Don’t forget to get under the frame’s bottom bracket and chain stays. Working from front to back and down washes grime away in the most efficiently way. Keep dabbing frequently into the suds and sloshing it onto the bike. There will be no harm done. The brushes should be staying clean and free of grease and oil because if you have degreased and rinsed the bike correctly there will be no trace of grease or oil on the chain or components to foul the brushes. If there is, before washing with suds repeat the degreasing procedure again and rinse. 4) Repeat the brush and suds washing process from the left side of the bike, working from front to back. Using the brush to get into the tricky corners. 5) Using the soft bottlebrush run it through the brake calipers where the rim would normally be. The bottlebrush is ideal to get into these difficult spots with ease. 6) Still using the bottlebrush, run it through the space between the frame and chain wheels, getting into this tricky area with ease. 7) Pay attention to running the brush through the bottle cages as some quite horrible bacteria can lurk here if you use sports drinks in your bottles. These bacteria can make one quite ill. 8) If the bike is particularly filthy from perhaps that horrible city road grime that wet city roads give your bike, it may be necessary to run the small soft sponge full of suds over the frame tubes as well. If you are not wearing rubber boots you may see the wisdom in doing so by now.
9) Now it is time to give the wheels the wash and scrub. Use the other stiff bristle floor type brush (not the bar tape brush), to scrub the sides of the wheels. This stiff brush is the only method to remove that black road grime from the rain off the tires and rims. Then, with the soft dustpan brush and suds, run over the rim and down the spokes, sloshing suds and removing dirt from around the spoke nipples. 10) Run the bottlebrush between the hub flanges and spokes. The brush and suds work a treat in this difficult area amongst the spokes. 11) Its rinse cycle time now. With a light spray from the hose wash all the suds off the bike on the stand, directing the spray from above so all the suds and residue washes down. Repeat the process on the wheels. If you have completed the washing procedure correctly, you will have a clean bike with no trace of grime and grease. With practice, you will do this whole process from the time you pull out the cleaning kit to packing up in about 20 minutes. Leave the bike to dry for a while or return overnight to give the bike its oiling, check over and polish.
PART
5
CHECKING THE BIKE OVER OVER AND OILING
By now you should have a clean bike and drive train, free of damaging grit and grime. Correct oiling is now required and also a check of tires and the wheels is important. Punctures are the most frequent break down as every cyclist knows, however, many punctures can be avoided with 2 minutes of your time to check the tire treads. It is an absolute must to check race wheels for flints and cuts after EVERY time they are used. The best procedure is to mount the training wheels first in your bike and give them a spin, looking for trueness first. Then peruse the tread of each tire, checking its health, looking for cuts through the tread, casing and wear. Then look for small sharp grit or glass lodged in the tread. Every now and then you will find small grit/glass so remove this with a sharp pointy tool, a scriber is excellent. Grit is common after riding on wet roads.
Repeat this for your race wheels. You must check your race wheels after every time they are used, not doing this is foolish. Take care to transport your race wheels so the tires do not suffer abrasion when traveling. Both training and race wheels should interchange without gear adjustment and have equal brake clearance. There are many claims from manufactures of oils that their product does this and that. The pedals would have perpetual motion if you believed them. The fact is that a medium to heavy synthetic wet lube on chains works the best for wear, for lower friction and coping with changing weather conditions. Dry lubes are woeful, they barely lube the chain enough to stop it squeaking and you have to pour it on regularly. It is not very economical at all. It is a waste of time in wet weather. Dry lubes are a grub’s method of bike care. All the team mechanics I know only use a wet lube and we have proven it by lubing half the team with one type and the other half with another oil and it shows what works side by side in the same wash frequency and weather conditions and kilometers. Regular cleaning and correct lubrication ensure longevity of the chain and cassette. This can make a four-fold difference but that’s up to how much trouble you want to take. Once a week, clean and oil before the race is great. To apply the chain lube use a squeeze bottle as sprays are wasteful and messy. Use your left hand to hold the bottle and steady it against the rear derailleur while turning the pedals on the work stand slowly backwards. Wipe a drop of oil off the nozzle which just touches the chain onto each and every chain link on the inside of the chain as it feeds into the bottom jockey wheel of the derailleur. The chain should show no traces of black grimy oil if it has been cleaned properly. After rotating the pedals for a few moments use an old rag and wrap it around the chain and rotate the pedals again to wipe off the excess that should it be there. You cannot wipe too much off as it is the oil that is inside the links that does the job and enough will work out to keep the exterior oily enough. After riding, there should never be oil flicking over the spokes and rim. If so, ease up on the oil and wipe off excess before use. If you start a race in the rain, then smear a thin layer of grease on the chain and it will remain fairly well lubed for 4 to 5 hours. Next, oil the pivot points of the derailleurs and brakes. An oil bottle with a thin tube is terrific for this as it easy to put one drop directly where needed and you can refill it with good lube as required. Wipe over with a rag to remove the excess so as to avoid attracting grime.
Then it is time to spray/wipe some polish on the frame, with a clean rag to bring up the shine. This not only keeps your machine looking sharp by giving surfaces a protective layer, it also helps it wash off easier next time. While you do the clean and check over, keep an eye out for cracks or problems that may be there. If the bike has been assembled with meticulous care and knowledge such as greasing of all bolt threads and correct lubrication of cables, then it should not be necessary to check bolt tightness or correct things that should have been built out of the bike during its assembly. Run through the gears to ensure all is sweet and gear cable and brake adjustments are occasionally required. Hub and bottom bracket regreasing every 6 to 12 months is recommended to keep all shipshape for a long life. Removing the stem and seat post to wipe clean and smear grease every 3 months is recommended to avoid seizure of these in your frame. (Don’t forget to mark their heights before removal). An occasional rub of some leather preservative on the saddle helps keep it in good shape. This check, oil and polish will only take 5 to ten minutes to do and it is really very simple.
PART
6
WHAT LUBRICATION? Some common question are when to, how to and what lubrication should I use? Do you wait until the chain is squeaking and grinding itself to a premature end before you oil it? The poor thing is being tortured as it moans under your pedaling. Every month there seems to be a new whiz bang lubricant released on the market. Usually with a sales pitch of “Technological breakthrough, NASA designed, laboratory testing show blah blah blah.” or “By using this product you will have ever lasting chains with no cleaning.” If only it was all-true! A cycle lubricant has to cope with exterior conditions unlike engine motor oil. What can make a greater difference then all the claims is regular cleaning and correct application of lubricant on a regular basis. The truth is there are many chain lubes and some good, and some not so good.
A magic lubricant does not exist. If they are good in one aspect they suffer in another aspect. There are two basic types of lubricants Dry and wet. Each has its virtues and pitfalls. A good medium to heavy wet lube is best for all conditions. Wet lubes have superior water resistance for extended periods of wet riding conditions. It has superior load carrying capacity, thereby reducing wear. It does needs careful application to avoid big glugy mess on the bike. However, this is avoided by some simple techniques. It will require regular removal, as dirt will adhere to any parts that are oily. Dry lubes have poor lubrication qualities, but cleaning frequency is reduced. It does not handle wet conditions as well. There have been some new improvements with the working characteristics of some dry lubes, which helps them in wet weather It also has to be applied a lot more often than a wet lube so it is not as economical. Its real forte is its excellence in dry dusty and/or sandy conditions. This is where dry lubes shine. Oils come in spray cans and squeeze drip bottles. Spray cans waste 50% of the lube as it goes everywhere, point roughly in the direction and flood. Most of it has to be wiped off the components to avoid a filthy mess in quick time. A squeeze bottle is better with a thin tube so one can precisely apply the required amount of oil in the right place. When the bottle is empty, a top up from a bulk bottle is economical and saves waste.
When to Oil
Do not wait till you hear the drive train squealing or grating until the suffering chain receives lubrication, as then huge amounts of wear has taken place. Oiling the bike is always done after degreasing and washing your bike. If a bike is used daily, one will have to oil the chain weekly.
After wet rides If you are unsure if the chain needs oiling between washing and cleaning then it is best to oil it and wipe the excess off so this way adequate lubrication is maintained. 1) Use the squeeze bottle of oil to apply one drop of oil to each of the pivot points of the derailleurs and brakes. One only needs enough to wet the pivot area to ensure it stays free from moisture and corrosion
2) Oiling the chain. Do not think the chain has to be dripping wet to be well lubed. The oil that goes into the pivots and under the rollers is what does the job so any excess is not only wasteful but soon creates a glugy and gritty mess that is unsightly and damaging 3) Apply the lubricant to the chain. 4) Wipe around the brakes and gears to remove all excess oil, which will attract dirt. It is what is in the pivots and around the seals that does the job, not what is on the outside. 5) Wipe the excess off the chain by wrapping an old rag around the chain and turning the pedals backwards. It is impossible to remove too much as the oil is in the rollers and pivots. All that is needed is a thin oily smear on the outside of the chain. Oil will work its way out again when riding. If oil ends up in spots on the spokes and rim, then too much oil is being applied and not enough is being wiped off.
PART
7
TIRE TIRE INFLATION Tire inflation. A lot of grief can be avoided by correct, regular tire inflation. Correct tire pressure reduces pinch flats (when the tire bottoms onto the rim when the wheel hits a bad bump) and minimizes possible rim damage. The big plus is that correct tire pressure lowers rolling resistance while keeping good handing and traction. Also, premature tire wear is avoided. A good floor/track pump is an essential requirement to inflate high pressure tires with ease and assurance of correct pressure being obtained and maintained. The pump has a pressure gauge that without it makes it impossible to keep correct pressure. Plus or minus 10 pounds of pressure makes a noticeable difference. A good pump will last decades with a change of hose seals every few years. My own (famous Italian brand) is now fifteen years old. For the pressure amount follow the tire manufactures recommendations and your bike shop advice with regard to your weight and riding conditions.