Maintenance on the road
jameses
Posts: 653
Planning my LeJoG effort, I was wondering how you guys deal with maintenance whilst on the road. I'm generally pretty anal about keeping clean drivetrain, but I don't really want to be lugging my usual cleaning paraphernalia the length of the country! Staying in B&Bs/hostels and trying to keep luggage to a minimum.
I was planning on taking something like the ProGold or Squirt lube, which supposedly does a decent job of keeping the drivetrain clean as it lubes, and a can of 3-in-1 for derailleurs/brake pivots etc. Does this seem reasonable? Any other suggestions?
Cheers in advance,
James
I was planning on taking something like the ProGold or Squirt lube, which supposedly does a decent job of keeping the drivetrain clean as it lubes, and a can of 3-in-1 for derailleurs/brake pivots etc. Does this seem reasonable? Any other suggestions?
Cheers in advance,
James
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Comments
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Surely cleaning isn't a big consideration unless you hit some truely foul weather and filthy road conditions? It's all very well being anal at home but it's far from necessary and surely it should be dispensed with on the road. I suspect you could do the whole cycle without ANY cleaning or lubrication and suffer no consequences of note. I wouldn't dream of bringing more than a teeny drop of lube at the very most. Worst case, should conditions require it, you could always drop into a shop, buy a nail brush, give the chain, cassette and derailleurs quick scrub and re-lube. It might not end up beautifully shiny but it'll do 90% of the job.0
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Carrying 2 different kind of lubes would be rather over the top.
It's only a week or whatever - your brake pivots and so on will be just fine. Shit, mine are lucky if they get lubed twice a year.
As you're not going into particularly sparse terrain, I'd probably not carry any lube at all - it's just weight.
You'll probably have bike shops marked on your maps already (if not, you should!), so drop into one halfway and buy something (an energy bar, a spare tube, something) and i am certain most bike shop owners will spare a few drops of lube. It's only about 1400km for LEJOG - so unless the weather is bad, I certainly wouldn't expect to have to lube my drivetrain more than once, if at all.
If you do hit hard weather and your lube is removed - olive oil works well and is available everywhere these days (only as an emergency lube, I wouldn't use it full time).0 -
A small pack of baby wipes and a small bottle of oil has sufficed to get me from home to the Alps, and from Paris to Rome. If you decide that your chain is shot after 900 miles, the cost of a brand new chain at £20 is surely better than the hassle of an Anal Cleaning Routine, as it were. In any case, I'm unconvinced than an ACR makes chains last any longer than a simple wipe-and-oil routine. But, that debate aside, an ACR won't make your ride any easier.0
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Ai_1 wrote:
I suspect extra virgin is less suitable than the cheaper stuff.marcusjb wrote:...If you do hit hard weather and your lube is removed - olive oil works well and is available everywhere these days (only as an emergency lube, I wouldn't use it full time).
Anything will do in a pinch - butter, margarine etc. will do the job until you can get to a bike shop. Will at least stop squeaks.0 -
Seems like I'm over-thinking this! I wasn't planning on a full strip-down and clean every night, just enough to keep things running smoothly. I went on a fully loaded trip this weekend (240 miles over two days) to get an idea of packed weight, average speed, etc. and after hitting some pretty foul weather towards the end of day two, my drivetrain was grinding horribly.
Seems like a bottle of lube should suffice for the journey. Although packing fairly light, I'm not being so weight-conscious that 100g or so is going to make much difference.
Marcus, what lube do you use that you can get away with 1400km without re-applying? Even the most durable stuff I have used only got me 300-400km in good weather!0 -
briantrumpet wrote:In any case, I'm unconvinced than an ACR makes chains last any longer than a simple wipe-and-oil routine. But, that debate aside, an ACR won't make your ride any easier.
It's not about making the chain last longer, it's more about keeping things running smoothly. I don't know about you, but I find it quite unpleasant to ride when my chain starts squeaking and grinding!0 -
JamesEs wrote:Marcus, what lube do you use that you can get away with 1400km without re-applying? Even the most durable stuff I have used only got me 300-400km in good weather!
Purple Extreme
On a geared bike, if the weather's decent, I'd expect to lube the drivetrain maybe once on a 1000km+ event. If it's wet, then, yes, every day (350km ish).
On fixed - no problem with not lubing it for a very, very long time.
Touring these days is with Carbon Drives - so no lube needed, occasional squirt of water if we're on sandy terrain.0 -
For a 2 week tour I take one of these filled with 1 ml of oil for my chain. It weighs about 2 g and is refillable.
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTAwWDUwMA==/ ... ~60_35.JPG0
