Newbie (Kinda!) Hi, after some opinions!!

Boromedic

Hi all, I've been bitten again by the MTB bug after a long time away from the trails (Surprising how many similar posts are on here, I blame the Olympics!). I started off by servicing and riding my old Orange P7 and was soon lusting after new machinery and such witchcraft as disc brakes/suspension, although I'm currently nursing a shoulder injury due to thinking I'm still 18 again so riding has ceased for a bit! The pain has been eased somewhat by getting a new Ghost hardtail, which I'm currently drooling over waiting to ride it.

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I'm ok with spanners and DIY and with some guidance from the fine folk at Retrobike, I re-learnt my old skills and got the Orange back to A1 nick, but a clean up, new cables and some brute force on the BB is not the same as bleeding brakes and servicing shocks. So, opinion time!

How difficult/expensive/time consuming is it to service your own disc brakes and front suspension? Is it worth just taking it to a decent LBS for these things based on cost/time saving? I've noticed plenty of advice on Avid Elixir 1's but a bleed/service kit is over £30, if you add suspension service parts then obviously that's even more (plus the cost of any specialist tools, work stands etc..). A shop charges around £80 for a full check over and fettle (although I believe that suspension service costs aren't included in this...) which sounds like a reasonable cost in terms of time saved, plus they have all the tools and the Ghost has a pressfit BB, so if I want to service that myself, then that's more money on specialist tools!

What do you guys do, all your own, part yourself/part shop, or just leave it to the LBS?

Cheers all, much appreciated!!

Al

The Rookie

Disc brakes are easier enough taken step by step, the important thing is to be prepared, have all the kit you need and be well researched on whet you are doing so you can approach it with confidence, none of it is hard, but they are all subtley different, and unless you've worked on car/motorbike brakes nothing like anything you'll have done before, even if you've worked on car brakes they are different and you deal with them differently.

The Older Shimano, tektro and Hayes are the easiest to work on, I only need one syringe and a lngth of hose!

Forks basic maintenance is easy, its only as you get into the more expensive and exotic forks does it get hard, I've rebuilt Manitous with basic dampers no problem with just a normal tool kit, some fork oil and about 30 rolls of kitchen towel!

Boromedic

The Beginner wrote:

Disc brakes are easier enough taken step by step, the important thing is to be prepared, have all the kit you need and be well researched on whet you are doing so you can approach it with confidence, none of it is hard, but they are all subtley different, and unless you've worked on car/motorbike brakes nothing like anything you'll have done before, even if you've worked on car brakes they are different and you deal with them differently.

The Older Shimano, tektro and Hayes are the easiest to work on, I only need one syringe and a lngth of hose!

Forks basic maintenance is easy, its only as you get into the more expensive and exotic forks does it get hard, I've rebuilt Manitous with basic dampers no problem with just a normal tool kit, some fork oil and about 30 rolls of kitchen towel!

Cheers mate, yeah the brake servicing looks ok, bit wary of shock servicing though, although the vids for mine online make it seem relatively painless. Its the old cost vs time debate I suppose!! Dedicating a good few hours to do the job properly etc. against dropping the bike off and letting someone else do the work for a fee.

Also having spent a small fortune on bits and bobs already I was trying to avoid spending more because I've spent too much already, and i'd need a work stand + other bits and service kits which would cost more than 1 LBS service. That said, by the time I've paid for 2 services I suppose I would've covered it. Arggghhhh!!

Anymore thoughts from anyone!!

Cheers

cooldad

Bikes don't need 'services' as such, they need regular maintenence as and when required.
Some things I check every ride.

Boromedic

cooldad wrote:

Bikes don't need 'services' as such, they need regular maintenence as and when required.
Some things I check every ride.

Cheers mate,

Yeah I know saying service makes it sound like a car!! Not quite what I meant, but that's kinda how the LBS lists these things. It was a case of weighing up the outlay/time/difficulty of doing the brakes/forks myself or paying someone for the privilege. I just wondered what others did, and opinions on the actual difficulty of doing these things yourself.

I can pretty much do the other maintenance myself (not sure on the pressfit BB like, and I tend to leave wheels to the experts which I consider to be like tiling/plastering in that its a vocation and a true black art ) So in that sense the benefits of a shop doing it all for a fee, might actually not be worth it in the long run.

Thanks again,

Al

cooldad

None of my bikes have ever seen a bike shop - most things are really easy, the tools are generally a decent investment anyway as they'll get used over again, and I at least I know it's done right (and if not I know who to blame).
The only thing I would have done by a pro is a full shock or fork service, but aircan or seals just takes a few minutes.

Boromedic

cooldad wrote:

None of my bikes have ever seen a bike shop - most things are really easy, the tools are generally a decent investment anyway as they'll get used over again, and I at least I know it's done right (and if not I know who to blame).
The only thing I would have done by a pro is a full shock or fork service, but aircan or seals just takes a few minutes.

I'm in agreement with you there, I can be a bit wary of leaving others to do work and possibly bodge it, and like you say only yourself to blame then!! As for the shocks I think what you advise is probably best, I can't find a service dealer for RST forks though, I shall be ringing Claud Butler to see who they recommend.

cooldad

A full fork service will cost the thick end of £100. You'd be better off chucking them when they're dead and sticking some RS Recon Silvers or similar on.

Boromedic

cooldad wrote:

A full fork service will cost the thick end of £100. You'd be better off chucking them when they're dead and sticking some RS Recon Silvers or similar on.

Lol, not much love for RST's on here I noticed!! The bike is a Ghost HTX Actinum 29'er, the 7000 model which has RST First Air 29's on. They had sold out of the 9000's in my size (fortunately, otherwise I would have spent more!!), so as the frame is the same and the spec decent I knew I could upgrade a few bits as and when they wear out or annoy me. That said the fork gets reasonable reviews/opinions online, I know its not as plush as some but I should be ok in the short term. The guy who owns the shop I got them from said they are actually a very good fork (and he does ride so he has some valid experience to draw on!).

Watching the online service videos RST have, it looks somewhat simple to keep maintained but I'm still wary! If it comes to £100 for a service or get some new forks I will probably follow your advice and upgrade.

:-)

The Rookie

Most RST's are basic, you won't need a manual (although they have them on their webby) , just undo the bottom bolts, tap with a hammer before you removing the bolts completely to free the fitment and pull the top from the bottom, clean and grease and refitting is the reverse of removal, you don't even need to take them off the bike.

No need for a workstand, I've not used one and all my bikes have been built not bought (7 to date).

Timing is good, get the Aldi toolkit on sale in Aldi TODAY!

bluechair84

Even servicing more expensive forks is relatively striaght forward. It can be a real PITA to get the seals out and you shouldn't ever need to do bushes. So, seals and an oil change. Simple, just needs the odd application of brute force.

Boromedic

The Beginner wrote:

Most RST's are basic, you won't need a manual (although they have them on their webby) , just undo the bottom bolts, tap with a hammer before you removing the bolts completely to free the fitment and pull the top from the bottom, clean and grease and refitting is the reverse of removal, you don't even need to take them off the bike.

No need for a workstand, I've not used one and all my bikes have been built not bought (7 to date).

Timing is good, get the Aldi toolkit on sale in Aldi TODAY!

Cheers bud, been checking out the maintenance vids on their website and it looks relatively straightforward to clean and re-grease. The OCR maintenance seems a little more difficult, but mainly due to re-torque-ing the caps as there is no 24mm fitment for my 1/4" drive torque wrench. Could probably tighten them up by hand without too many problems though tbh. I also struggled without a work stand when I spruced up my P7, so I do think I may need one eventually, we'll have to see!

As for the toolkit, cheers for the heads up but I have quite a few tools that are in there already so wouldn't really need it, thanks though!

Boromedic

bluechair84 wrote:

Even servicing more expensive forks is relatively striaght forward. It can be a real PITA to get the seals out and you shouldn't ever need to do bushes. So, seals and an oil change. Simple, just needs the odd application of brute force.

Cheers dude, glad to have some opinions, I'm not afraid of trying stuff and getting my hands dirty so to speak, I just wanted some input on how much hassle it can be! Nice to hear that it should be relatively straightforward, once they've had some use I shall crack on and try and service them.

Anyone got any recommendations on fork lube/grease for use after cleaning down post ride? I noticed a lot of advice on placing lube/grease round the wipers and cycling the forks a few times to remove gunge in the seal. Thanks

The Rookie

A little wet chain lube above the seals works well post ride to clean up, for lubing the bushes below the seals I like red rubber grease as its nice and sticky and survives any water ingress very well.

bluechair84

Boromedic wrote:

I also struggled without a work stand when I spruced up my P7, so I do think I may need one eventually, we'll have to see!

Nail some wood together This has lasted me three years, three bike builds and regular maintenance but it's now just about had it. So umm... I'm buying a proper one when one comes up in the classifieds...

Boromedic

Cheers guys!

That stand looks kinda cool tbh!! Is your bike strapped to that or just kinda balancing there, might be somewhat of a solution for me anyway in the meantime.

bluechair84

Just balanced. I did add a couple of uprights either side to support the frame around the top and down tubes.

Boromedic

Cheers dude ;-)

The Rookie

May be less useful with a BB routed gear cables....

Nice to see some Manitou forks there BC!

bluechair84

Yeah they were crackin' forks! No problems with the way they worked at all. They've been sold on to Super now and the hardtail is mostly gone. After I sold the forks though I was kickin' myself as I realised I had all the parts to make myself a neat little dirt/street bike, just needed to pick up a little jump frame.

The Rookie

We have two pairs of Manitous in the Family, both circa 2004, both in perfect working order, bith very light, although stiffness isn't the best.

Darn, can't tempt you with an Onza T-raptor frameset then?

bloghog

Although I have built up many bikes from scratch there are two jobs that I don't like doing - brakes and fork servicing. I have a bleed kit and can bleed brakes but find it a bit of a faff as for forks, I have riding buddies that do their own shock and fork servicing, for me I would rather leave that to the LBS.

The Rookie

Most forks are dead easy to service!