Need some advice on bike maintenance! Few questions...

evansuk2000

I'm trying to self educate and teach myself the basics, and just had a couple of questions...

Apart from cleaning your wheels, and generally looking after them - should I be re-greasing them or doing any other kind of maintenance work on them? And if so how often? also what about the pedals/shifters also (I have 105s)

I clean and lube the chain and other moving parts (rear/front derail etc) is there anything else I should be doing?

I just don't want to be missing anything!

Thanks

craker

Alot of maintenance depends on the kind of riding you do, wet weather riding for example will wash grit into any moving parts the rain can get into. I would check your wheels for play every few weeks; bearings are usually well sealed though.

Headset bearings could be checked for play monthly or so and regreased once a year. Bottom brackets are disposable so check them away when they're done. Shifters are pretty well beyond maintenance apart from an infrequent squirt with GT85 or similar.

wishitwasallflat

evansuk2000 wrote:

Apart from cleaning your wheels, and generally looking after them - should I be re-greasing them or doing any other kind of maintenance work on them? And if so how often? also what about the pedals/shifters also (I have 105s)

Depends on the wheels - if they are cartridge bearings then AFAIK there is no user maintenance and they are dispoable once worn. If they are cup and cone (e.g. Shimano) then you should learn to clean and re-grease them - I think every 1k miles is the usual reccomended.

Pedals - again some have servicable bearings some don't - mine are Speedplays and I grease them regularily but have never and wouldn;t expect to dismantel them unless something went way wrong (touch wood!).

Shifters I would be wary of spraying stuff into them as they are greased in the factory and most sprays like GT will wash that away. Mine got a little sticky once though and I could see some dirt so I just picked it out with a cocktail stick and all was well.

I just serviced my headset after two years and it was way overdue (crappy Spesh Mindset with cages of balls though so happy to get it changed to sealed cartridges). Most are sealed cartridges as sold and its good to clean and regrease them periodcally.

Again from bitter experience I have learned to remove and Copper Slip all bolts at least every six months (I ride all weathers all year though).

Maintenance schedules depend on riding and weather so its hard to be definitive.

MichaelW

Service interval for Shimano hubs is a bit longer than 1000 miles. I do mine once/year which is about 5000miles of all-weather riding.
Some new Shimano hubs are under-greased and really need an extra dab. I prefer to over-pack with grease when I service. It oozes out through the seal over the first ride then it is fine.