[Closed] Mountain Bikes, Fit for Purpose?

I regularly strip and lubricate my bike

Massaging the bike while naked won't do much for it...

"Massaging the bike while naked won't do much for it."

Now we've started 🙂

There's your problem, stop faffing and ride the thing.

This.

Having done quite a few away trips over the years with a whole variety of people, I'm always amazed by the number of bikers who'll do a dry summer day ride, get a bit of dust on the bike, then spend 3 hours cleaning and fettling every night with all manner of chemicals and high pressure water. It's always the same people who's bike breaks out on the trail, or just doesn't quite work right so they're constantly faffing rather than riding.

If the chain isn't grindingly, disgustingly, filthy, then just wipe it down, stick some oil on it run a cloth over the fork stanchions and stick it back in the shed. A winter of riding in the Peaks in some bloody unpleasant weather, I've maybe had to wash the bike every 3 or 4 rides. The only thing I've had issues with is the BB, and that's only ever after I've washed it! (and not since I bought some really sticky grease and packed the bearings with that).

Think that most MTB stuff is pretty good these days. In the last year a Maxle has gone AWOl and I broke a Stans ZTR355 rim - but that was on Snowdon. The 2010 / 2011 Shimano SLX brake for me has been a very poor choice though as that seems unreliable. Broken myself more often though, so here the rider is not fit for purpose.

My point was that whenever someone brakes something on a mountain bike it's always because of something else.

Too much soap and water,
not enough soap and water
Riding too frequently,
riding too hard,
too much maintenance
not enough maintenance
wrong choice of bike.

Most mountain bikes have probably never seen a mountain (or never will). When the few ones do get used as they are marketed they inevitably fail it seems we would rather blame one of the above than accept that possibly-

Fox Forks aren't as good as they should be.
Shimano M525 Hubs don't seal very well
Chains and cassettes don't last as long as they could.
The design of a rear derailleur is pretty fragile.
DMR Magnesium pedals are a bit softer than some of the others.
The cable design on a Trek Remedy is not ideally suited to the British winter,
Maybe most rear shocks could feature top and bottom roller bearings instead of the DU bush
In 2011 Avid Elixir brakes are not the most reliable
The Mk1 Reverb was flawed.

This was not intended as a rant, just wondered if other people thought mountain bikers accept to much of this? 🙂

Its funny i hav eonly ever borken 1 chain and 1 rear mech in 30 years of proper cycling.

After getting into mountain biking last year i have broken nothing, replaced the forks and wheels but that was for performance reasons the old ones work just as well.

Breaking that much stuff seems a bit silly to me.

Its your money, but you should try and look after your bike better.

wagenwheel - Member
Most mountain bikes have probably never seen a mountain (or never will). When the few ones do get used as they are marketed they inevitably fail

wagenwheel - Member
I usually do between 2 and 3 trail centre type rides every week. average 12 miles per ride?

Lots of fatties around, thats why so many things get broken.

Druidh, I don't see your point 🙄

skywalker, I weigh 11 and 1/2 stone but i will add that to the list of reasons

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Judging from peoples reactions on here it seems like a lot of you "just take your bikes for a walk" 🙂
Genuinely surprised by people "hav eonly ever borken 1 chain and 1 rear mech in 30 years of proper cycling"

Can't believe you only used 4 sets of brake pads!

I hope your hope wheels last well for you, my hope pro 2 sp rear needs attention after 6 months of 2 hours a week riding, I'm gutted. My old hopes did 4-5 years before needing any maintenance.

Don't pressure wash or use chemicals, just rinse, brush, lube and ride

Marzocchi forks have an unlimited 3 year warranty no service required and are great

wagenwheel - Member
My karcher pressure washer died today at the age of 13 months

I have about £100.00 to spend on a new one. I use it for the car, the patio and my bike **hangs head in shame**

What happened to your hope wheels? bearings?

Druidh, I still don't get your 1st point?

I believe fox forks are not fit for purpose needing 15 hr service intervals.

OK - you try to make the point that most mountain bikes aren't/never will be used on mountains and that those that do somehow can't live up to that. Meanwhile, the person on here complaining that the stuff doesn't last just rides round trail centres.

There are folk on here taking bike up Munros FFS! I'm not hearing tales of regular breakages from them.

This tends to suggest that your hypothesis is incorrect and that there is some other factor (or factors) at play.

Hmmm, On my 'big' bike (2009 wolf ridge) in the 2yrs i've owned it i've had to replace the BB (last week) the front wheel bearings (last month) the headset (last month) the cassette (yesterday) and the chain about 8 times.
I am a bit obsessive about chains and change them about every 2/3 months but i've been pleasantly surpised that the Shimano SLX cassette lasted so long.
Apart from that i've had no trouble with it, and this bike has been ridden through the murk of 2 pennine winters, a trip to Andalucia and lots of weekend/midweek rides. Forks have had the dust seals lifted once a month and relubed etc.

Maybe some folk are just cack-handed!

Whatch this space, i've probably jinxed myself now...

druidh, Most mountain bikes don't see mountains, mine has FACT, still don't see you point?

Bearings need greasing, feel dry and gritty after less than 300 miles

Fronts are older and still perfect pro 3 xc6's

Muddydwarf,
I agree frequently replacing the chain, will save a lot of money on other more expensive transmission parts

wagenwheel - Member
druidh, Most mountain bikes don't see mountains, mine has FACT, still don't see you point?

It's not broken till you give me a go.

Thanks I will keep them greased up then 🙂 And plenty of alloy wheel acid and steam cleaning 😀

Had at week at Nevis Ranges last year if you want to be pedantic. check my forum activity 10 months ago 🙂

I agree frequently replacing the chain, will save a lot of money on other more expensive transmission parts

But does it really in the long run these days? I've just changed the chain and rear cassette; XTR chain £30, SLX cassette £45. Both were on my bike for two years until the chain started skipping slightly on the cassette. I too used to change my chain at three months, regardless, so as to save money on the other bits. But now I think that's an expensive way to save a few quid on a cassette that is probably tough as old boots anyway. May as well leave them until completely shagged then do it.

You can get chains for a lot less than £30 though.....

Chains seem to shagged after the first ride according to the Park wear meter thing. I'd pay £50 for a chain that lasted a couple of years.

I look at chains as being a disposable item. A cheapo £13.99 SRAM chain from CRC does the job and seems to last long enough.
It's not just the cassette though is it? Whilst a cassette can be only £29.99 a set of chainrings is considerably more, last time i looked at replacing the whole set on my XT crankset on my other bike it was about £85!
Each to their own and that, but i can get a good while out of my chainrings and cassettes by using a chain checker and replacing regularly.

flap_jack - Member
Chains seem to shagged after the first ride according to the Park wear meter thing.

"just take your bikes for a walk"
Genuinely surprised by people "hav eonly ever borken 1 chain and 1 rear mech in 30 years of proper cycling"

Ok ok you got me, i just buy bikes and look at them occasionally walking around the garden push it.

Im by no means the highest mileage user, but since Jan i have covers 800 miles on the road and mtb, last year covers about 1500 miles and at my peak about 20 yers ago!! Was riding over 4000 miles a year.

And yes only ever broke 1 chain.

After a year of trail center riding i havent even touched the gears on my Whyte and it works perfectly, its only Deore and SLX too, it works almost as good as the first day.

Funny thing is im not a light weight skinny either.

Genuinely surprised by people "hav eonly ever borken 1 chain and 1 rear mech in 30 years of proper cycling"

Never broken a chain or a rear mech either, and that in 20 years of mountain biking - and I spent two weeks on Snowdon last year, so do ride different stuff. Do I ride hard enough or push myself to break things? Well I ended up in A&E Monday doing something daft, yet the bike was undamaged. Each of the past two years I've broken a rib or bashed myself up trying something new, and each time the bike has been fine afterwards. Guess it depends where you ride - Surrey not being famous for its' rocks. I don't think breaking chains makes you rad or hardcore! My mate breaks a chain every three months or so simply because he shifts across the whole cog in one go whilst mashing the pedals uphill. Doesn't make him a nutter, hardcore try every gap jump rider.

As for cheaper than £30 chains, I know, I used to use £10 to £15 ones from Halfords and change them every three months or so. After ten years of this I tried a £40 Yumeya and it lasted over two years. Hence why I splashed out again on an XTR this month - for me it actually works out cheaper. And I love cheapness where mountain bikes are concerned.

25 years mountain biking and I've broken a seat post bolt.

I've saved a shed load of cash on drivetrain bits by switching to an Alfine hub. It just keeps working and I havent felt the need to change chain or chainring for 18 months now.

LOL at gear cables... i buy them on ebay for £2.50 a pair and they last me 6 months...

Hope Ceramic BB cured my final painpoint. Not had any BBs that lasrted as well as the good old UN52 (I don't hold with loose bearings :-))

Nokon cables are good too, a new inner every couple of years and they keep going strong.

I think rear shocks have bushings rather than bearings is that the bushings are doing exactly what they are supposed to do - wear out, so something simple & cheap is replaced. Takes about 20 minutes to do on my superlight and most of that is finding something to listen to on the radio.

I'd love to give Alfine a shot someday.

Look on the bright side OP, least you haven't had the change your pivot bearings yet 🙂

So to summarise some people break stuff, some people don't, some have stuff wear out, others have stuff last forever. I guess the lesson is that there is no such thing as a typical mountain biker. I know that my idea of mountain biking is probably substantially different to the majority. It doesn't mean it's right or wrong, just different. For me, maps and mountains are where it's at and I'd expect that to be harder on kit than gentle pootles along a canal or spins round trail centres.

In the last few months, I've worn out two bottom brackets, had to replace the bushings twice on my Turner in a five to six month period (though Greg at Turner very kindly sent me a bushing kit FOC so two big thumbs up for Greg!), snapped two 10 speed chains repeatedly to the point of them being too short to use, torn a tyre sidewall, bent two hangers, had my left hand XTR shifter seize then mysteriously start working several days later, broken two helmets, bent an XTR rear mech though I do not recall actually hitting anything to cause it, lost a significant number of studs off my properly bedded in ice tyres, broken my front rim, worn out a saddle down to the foam inner when the stitching has worn out, had my seven week old 105 STI lever seize solid on my Fargo, worn out jockey wheels etc etc etc. Come to think of it, the metal covers on my Time pedals have fallen off and my Gravity Dropper needs a factory rebuild after the cable mount detached from the post. It's a mixture of crashes and general wearing out through use.

For me, that's a fairly typical level of wear. The more you ride, the more things wear out.

It's an expensive game this mountain biking malarky! 😀

I regularly strip and lubricate my bike

It's much safer with your clothes on.

All the bottom brackets in our house have simultaneously exploded. It could be as a result of winter just ending I'm not sure, I've still got one left to sort and I think we're good again. It's generally just that and brake pads/bleeding every now and then.

We don't really fall off or push it enough to break things.

I'd say buy more bikes, you'll split your riding and comparatively you'll feel like they're lasting longer!

if you use any thing hard it'll break sooner or later ,used to go on an odd car track day ,could soon kill the brakes and destroy tyres that would last months under normal use.
motocross bikes nearly as bad lucky not to blow up a motor during a season ,at the end of the day make an item more performance orientated ,lighter ,faster etc it will break/wear out a whole lot faster especially if it's not looked after,i think mtb kits pretty good in general ,mechs ,hangers breaking is just bad luck.

I'm not a fanatical bike cleaner, as a general rule of thumb if it moves lube it (I'm talking bicycles here). Cleaning is good because it means that you are looking the bike over. Shimano hubs aren't great but keep 'em clean and greased and they will last. I had a run on pro II hub bearings when the sun came out, jetwash/high pressure hose + degrease + winter storage = fail.

My 2p worth...

1 . Shimano hubs aren't the best
2. As above
3. As above
4. Good move
5. I trust you bought a Hope BB too?
6. Chains break, which is why you should carry a chaintool, but they also benefit from a little care. Keep it clean, lubed and the gears adjusted. Buy a wear indicator tool to change your chain before you need to change the whole drivetrain.
7 . It happens, but see above.
6 . Mechs only bend if you hit them, if the wheel is very flexy, or if your gears aren't set up. I've broken week old mechs, but also have others which have lasted more than 15yrs.
7. See above
8. See above
9. Tell me about it. this is why I ride a hardtail.
10. Learn to service your own bits if you can afford the time.
11. Pedal pins break if you hit them. If you smash your pedals a lot, they will fail. This is why people spend >£100 on pedals. If you are smashing your pedals, it's a fair chance that the rest of the bike is taking a pasting too...
12. Have you told NASA or sold it to the Chinese?
13. Not a fan of Avid brakes, but not a big fan of Hope either, unless the new ones are better.
14. Make sure you bed them in properly. Don't drag your brakes.
15. Meh.
16. Not a fan of this Fox issue... it sucks. It's not the case for other manufacturers...
17 Good move. I'd rate Bonty hubs slightly below Shimano...
18. If you have slit outers (ie not continuous, full length outer) you can lube your cables without undoing a bolt everytime you wash your bike, which you do once a week right?

Don't think I've ever broken a mech or anything like that. in 2 months of riding at Whistler bike park ansd th e surrounding area the only damage to my bike was a snapped spoke. Fork did need new seals halfway through but think they may have been on their way out anyway..