Service Intervals..?

mudcow007

Do you all replace things like brake/ gear cables at a certain point after they were fitted or replace as an when?

i will be needing to retape my bars at some point - current stuff has been on since November '11 (when the bike was spankingly new)

EKE_38BPM

I keep an eye on them when cleaning the bike and if they look too frayed they get changed, but I've never changed them as preventative maintenance and I've never had any failures either.

The longest I've had a set of cables on a bike must be ~7 years and they only got changed then as the bike got repaired after a serious crash.

veronese68

I replace cables if they start to fray or if they get too stiff and a clean doesn't fix it. Other things also as wear dictates. Lube on a weekly basis if possible.
Bar tape has been on the bike fo 3 years and still looks fine. How on earth have you knackered yours in 4 months???

TheStone

Chain and brake pads when they're worn, cables every 18 months or so. New bar tape while changing cables.

I usually get about 2000 miles from a chain. More from front brake pads. Never need to change the rear pads. I try and make a cassette last 3 chains, but it's a bit hit and miss!

Buy the cables in bulk (not the packs) and it's really cheap.

mr_ribble

White bar tape doesnt last for years

veronese68

Mr_Ribble wrote:

White bar tape doesnt last for years

It can. There's a bloke here that got a white Trek 1.7 on Cyclescheme 3 years ago. Still has the original pristine white bar tape. Actually it's not that pristine, it's a bit dusty. The bike is under the stairs, I think he's only ridden it 3 times.
I am very definitely not a fan of black bar tape or saddles, too lazy.

rolf_f

Veronese68 wrote:

Bar tape has been on the bike fo 3 years and still looks fine. How on earth have you knackered yours in 4 months???

Either it's white or he is half reptile with knobbly, bar tape eroding skin!

roger_merriman

When things wear out, so I need new pedals as they seem to be shot, I seem to break the bearings...

chain well it's a SS so chuck a new one on when it gets worn, normally I look at it and think ooh thats bad.

brake pads as and when,

oil etc as and when/once a week.

rolf_f

Veronese68 wrote:

I am very definitely not a fan of black bar tape or saddles, too lazy.

Not about laziness - it's about realism. I once did a feed stop survey of about 15 bikes - roughly half had white tape, half black. All bikes were clean but all but one of the white taped bikes looked shabby - solely because of the bar tape!

I do have Fizik white on the Dawes - but even that is a bit of a pain to keep clean on a daily commuting bike.

mr_ribble

So its a bit OT but, got an email at work saying that a certain company that I wont name was offering a free check up if you booked your bike in advance. My front mech needs a tweak and as I never drop down on the commute, its stay unfixed for a month. So I booked it in, told them just to spend five mins on the front mech and the jobs a good un'.

When I return, it turns out that the spend the first day going over your bike and telling you what's wrong and then the second day fixing it. Its the latter bit that I have issues with.

£20 for new front brake blocks and inserting them
£39 for a new SRAM PC1051 Chain
£65 for a new SRAM PG1050 cassette
£50 labor to fit new drivetrain
£30 labour to investigate why the front mech doesn't work )
etc etc

Their total estimate for repairs is close to 300 notes. Of course I am not going to let them do the work, knowing that I could get the parts from Ribble for probably fifty quid and have it all fitted and fixed in an hour.

Spending a bit of time learning some basics on servicing the bike is definitely a good investment. Fitting new pads, cables, or even a cassette and chain shouldn't be beyond the realms of anyone really. Ok so you may have to fork out a fiver for a chain whip but it will be a cheaper option in the long run.

However, this is the real world and after I ride home tonight, chuck in some laps of the park, the last thing I will want to do is clean and service the bike. So it will be locked up and I will have another day of clunking and grinding into work. Commuter hacks .. gotta love em'

Drfabulous0

If you're going to replace the bar tape then you may as well change the cables as they are dirt cheap, I change my brake cable every year because I only have one and I have had one snap in the past. Also yearly I change sprocket and tyres, brake pads and chain I have to do more often, based on around 6000 miles a year.

rolf_f

Mr_Ribble wrote:

So its a bit OT but, got an email at work saying that a certain company that I wont name was offering a free check up if you booked your bike in advance. My front mech needs a tweak and as I never drop down on the commute, its stay unfixed for a month. So I booked it in, told them just to spend five mins on the front mech and the jobs a good un'.

When I return, it turns out that the spend the first day going over your bike and telling you what's wrong and then the second day fixing it. Its the latter bit that I have issues with.

£20 for new front brake blocks and inserting them
£39 for a new SRAM PC1051 Chain
£65 for a new SRAM PG1050 cassette
£50 labor to fit new drivetrain
£30 labour to investigate why the front mech doesn't work )
etc etc

Their total estimate for repairs is close to 300 notes. Of course I am not going to let them do the work, knowing that I could get the parts from Ribble for probably fifty quid and have it all fitted and fixed in an hour.

Spending a bit of time learning some basics on servicing the bike is definitely a good investment. Fitting new pads, cables, or even a cassette and chain shouldn't be beyond the realms of anyone really. Ok so you may have to fork out a fiver for a chain whip but it will be a cheaper option in the long run.

However, this is the real world and after I ride home tonight, chuck in some laps of the park, the last thing I will want to do is clean and service the bike. So it will be locked up and I will have another day of clunking and grinding into work. Commuter hacks .. gotta love em'

That's something of a piss take. I assume that they are quoting like for like but even then I'd think twice about spending £40 on a chain. Lets see what Ribble do charge:

The PG1050 cassette is £39.96
The PC1051 chain is £17.20

Brake blocks can't comment on without the specifics. The £50 to fix the drivetrain could be better spent buy taking £37.40 of it and buying this toolkit - http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/road-t ... 0000000000 which will enable you to replace the cassette and chain in about 20 minutes (on the basis you haven't done it before - it would take the shop about 5 minutes so they are charging you £50 for five minutes work = effectively £600 an hour which is probably more than Spen charges for his lawyerly advice )

That leaves you £12 up on the labour alone which you can spend on a well earned curry (starter and mains) and a pint of Cobra for a job well done!.

mudcow007

Veronese68 wrote:

Bar tape has been on the bike fo 3 years and still looks fine. How on earth have you knackered yours in 4 months???

god knows, its all saggy an lifting on the corners - if that makes sense, i suppose i could take it off an try to refit it.....

veronese68

mudcow007 wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Bar tape has been on the bike fo 3 years and still looks fine. How on earth have you knackered yours in 4 months???

god knows, its all saggy an lifting on the corners - if that makes sense, i suppose i could take it off an try to refit it.....

You do have hands rather than cloven hooves don't you? I suspect it may have been poorly fitted in the first place.

TheStone

mudcow007 wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

Bar tape has been on the bike fo 3 years and still looks fine. How on earth have you knackered yours in 4 months???

god knows, its all saggy an lifting on the corners - if that makes sense, i suppose i could take it off an try to refit it.....

You might have put it on the wrong way?
If you start at the top, you'll end up with the top edges exposed, which would fray much quicker.

iPete

Had the same bar tape for 14,000 miles, only changed it because I was installing a new groupset.

As for service intervals; when it stops shifting and the chain starts jumping I'll think about it. When it looks fithly or starts squeaking I tend to strip it down to the frame, clean and rebuild anyway.