Nov 06 2008
Bike Maintenance
So when can maintenance be considered excessive or worst yet obsessive? Last night I rode home from work in the drizzly rain, which by the way was the same thing I rode to work in. Upon arriving home instead of washing my bike down and cleaning my chain I decided to go in, shower, and go to bed.
This morning I went in my garage and found what is normally a relatively clean bike, now a grit covered beast. So with my coffee by my side, I began cleaning the bike to be taken out again today to ride in the drizzle and rain to only end up being covered in the road grime and grit again. This brought me to thinking about whether I am being obsessive about maintenance?
Near the door in my garage I have set up a wash/maintenance station for my bikes. This station consist of a bike stand, hose, bucket with fresh mild soapy water, brushes, chain cleaner, and chain lube. When I arrive home and the weather has been the typical Northwest variety (rain) the first thing I do after taking off the panniers is wash my bike. I wash the wheels, frame, and fenders, towel it off, which is followed by a quick chain/gear cleaning and lube.
I know this extends the life of the chain, but is doing every time I ride in inclement weather being obsessive? A friend who stopped by this morning laughed when she drove up and saw me with my bike and coffee. She mentioned I was obsessive, but rides a bike too and appreciates my bike maintenance skills, because her bike is well maintained by me.
However, it makes me wonder about being a little obsessive when the first thing I do when I wake up is remember I did not clean and lube my bike.
Thats my bicycle thoughts for the day. Bikes are fun!
What you need is a chain guard. Ideally one like that fitted to the bike in the photo here: http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2008/11/lonely-bicycle.html
There is then no need to ever do anything to your chain. Don’t wash it, don’t oil it, don’t replace it. They last for many years of high mileage, and help to make your bike very much more reliable. That’s why it’s ideal for a commuting bike. After all, it _might_ make you very slightly slower, but it’s unlikely to extend your journey time by as long as it takes to clean the bike.
A full length front mudguard, as also seen in that photo, is another essential thing. Without it, your bottom bracket gets covered in muck, not to mention your feet and legs. Plastic mudguards are almost always much too short, but adding a home-made mudflap at the bottom (the type of soft plastic that milk bottles are made from works well) helps a lot.
Do you ever read Uncle Al at Roadbikerider.com? He has routine he encourages every rider to do after a ride to prolong the life of the bike. He has one routine for dry rides and another when the ride has been in the rain. His routine only takes about five minutes. I think yours sounds a little more obsessed than his.
I of course intend to but never take up his routine.
I think your routine is due to one of two reasons.
1-You really are obsessive/compulsive.
2-It really is “Not About the Bike”. It is therapueutic for you. I can understand sitting there with a cup of coffee and cleaning and admiring your bike.
David: One of the first things I did was add fenders of adequate length to the front and rear my bike. A chain guard is a good idea, but I have not seen any at the LBS. Also how would a chain guard work with the derailleurs?
Cyclingred: I have not read Uncle Al, but I think I should check it out. When I do maintenance on days I don’t ride, that is therapy maintenance. My friend who mentioned to me about my obsessiveness had to call this morning with a giggle in her voice to tell me about your comment.
My friend also said both of your web sites are excellent and has reminded me to add them to the resources list I am working on for this site. I told her you guys were already on it.
Bob, unfortunately, derailleurs and chainguards aren’t really a happy combination. I’ve never seen a completely enclosed chain with a derailleur. Hub gears are the answer for this as you can then have a fully enclosed chain and that’s when the real difference in life and lack of hassle becomes real.
However, you can get partial chainguards which will work with derailleurs in any bike shop (or hardware store) here. They are simply a bit larger to allow everything to fit underneath. You can find some examples here (look under “Hybride” as “Stad” (city) and “AllAround” are where you find the daily use bikes which all have full chainguards): http://batavus.nl/collectie2009.aspx
Mike Burrows once made some carbon fibre track bikes with fully enclosed chains. However, that was a different thing. They were enclosed in order to be more aerodynamic, and the “chaincase” on those bikes was structural and held the back wheel onto the frame. Very neat. I’ve got a photo somewhere.
FWIW, I rode a bike without chaincase myself yesterday and as the local farmers had been out and spread a lot of mud (and worse) around I also ended up having to clean my bike (and trailer). You’re not alone in this, but I think you probably did a better job of cleaning your bike than I did of mine !
Nice to hear I’m on your resources list.
The amount of cleaning/maintenance that I do to my bike is almost zero. As others have commented, mudguards and chainguards keep things clean. Where I live and where I work both have zero car parking, but indoor bicycle parking. This is in Toronto, where people usually don’t have a lot of spare time to do things with their bikes.
Actually, I think that most people here don’t have a clue about what to do for maintenance. A bike is just something that we get on to go to work, church, shopping, etc. We put about as much thought and effort into the bike as into our shoes.
When was the last time that I put a layer of shoe polish on my shoes? About the last time I did maintenance on my bike.
I went out for a long ride, partly on unpaved tracks, in the rain 2 weeks ago now and have been promising myself to clean off the mud ever since. But I haven’t yet done it (I’m just about to, honest I am!) and still the bike has taken me to work for the 2 weeks following that ride without complaint or breakdown or even sulking at me. So, careless I am, obsessive I ain’t! But so far the bike forgives me. I don’t deserve it!