Bike care/maintanence

chris_bass

Hi

I've been riding bikes on and off all my life (i'm 26 now) mainly as a mode of transport but more recently for pleasure and fitness. I have always had relatively cheap bikes so care and maintanence wasnt really high on my agenda, just cleaned it when it needed, oil here and there and that was that.
But I am getting a new bike, my last one was stolen and I am now getting one thats worth a bit more, not huge amounts but significantly better than the last one.

What are the vital things to do to make it last and keep it in good working order? and what do you use, ie cleaning products etc.

Any advise would be welcome

.blitz

Someone will be along in a moment to tell you all about jet washers/degreasers/polishing but the only water my bikes see is rain. I use dry lube/wax all-year round on the drivetrains so they rarely get dirty and just a little wet lube on the suspension sliders now and then.

I firmly believe that the excessive cleaning is not good for your bike.

abarth_1200

yeah you should only really clean it whens its dirty, spend more time keeping the drivetrain clean and it will last a lot longer.

Dont use jet washes, the water will be forced past bearing seals and wreck them.

Go into halfords and get a bucket, a soft narrow brush (I use a paint brush) a scrubbing brush for the chain and cassette and a few cotton rags. Also pick up a bottle of muc off bike cleaner and a can of degreaser and a can of brake disc cleaner.

Should cost around 30 quid.

Get some Squirt chain lube (because its the best imo). Dont use WD40 or anything like that on your drivetrain unless you are specifically dispersing water, its not a lube.

What ever you do dont get any oil or grease on the rotors or brake pads, you will wreck them.

Chunkers1980

.blitz wrote:

I firmly believe that the excessive cleaning is not good for your bike.

Take it you mean with water? If so I'd agree, but if you wipe with dry cloths then you'd have to have pretty thin paint for it to make any difference...!

cooldad

Clean after every ride, serious clean if it's muddy. Keep the drivetrain clean and lubed, and a spritz of silicone spray on the fork sliders.

Regular check of nuts bolts and anything that moves.

NDawn

Ah, I don't do anything with the forks on my bike, something I'll have to look at. Any basic silicon spray would suffice I assume? then I wipe the forks and give it a good push up and down a couple of times to lubricate beneath the seal?

cooldad

NDawn wrote:

Ah, I don't do anything with the forks on my bike, something I'll have to look at. Any basic silicon spray would suffice I assume? then I wipe the forks and give it a good push up and down a couple of times to lubricate beneath the seal?

I just use 3 in 1 silicone spray, but I think most people on here would suggest various fork slime, fork gunk, fork whotsit. All silicone sprays afaik.

I do my own maintenance, and most parts are easy and pretty cheap to replace, but forks and shocks cost an arm and a leg so I treat them nice.

Mainly a gentle clean to get the stanchions and top of the seals clean (scratched stanchions are bad news) and the lube to keep the seals supple so no gunk gets in the workings.

chris_bass

excellent, thanks for all the advice!
will clean when dirty and keep the drive chain clean at all times and that should hopefully keep it ticking over!

bentes

Chris Bass wrote:

just cleaned it when it needed, oil here and there and that was that.

That's what i do, served me fine until now.

fredy

i find dunking the chain in white spirit works wonders.