Be honest… How ****ed is your bike?

I’m in the ‘if there isn’t something on your bike that needs attention then you’re not riding it enough’ camp 🙂

Main bike (old SX Trail) is pretty good. Forks need a service, but that’ll wait till next month and it needs repainting because the original paint is a bit shagged now. Bearings could probably do with replacing too. Other than that it rides fine and has just been cleaned (Cannock was a bit muddier than I expected today).

BFe is fine….well I think it is. It’s not been ridden since I built it up. But I’m taking it for a ride tomorrow in the local woods to session some jumps, so I’ll know what it’s like tomorrow.

Road bike is fine…although it wasn’t very happy last week after loads of riding and getting covered in road salt. The drive train was making a reet racket, but it got cleaned. This week and is back to normal.

I’m pretty anal about my bikes, so they’re generally in good fettle.

I just finished to build the new FS.
I manged to crack both side of the bloody press fit BB shit.

Mine was a total disaster today. I changed the wheels over but one of the wheels I put on had a really warped disc I didn’t notice until I got to the trail, no biggie. Then one of my shifters decides to pack it in as I’m riding away from the car park, so the whole ride today was done with just the 3 rings up front with the chain set in the middle on the back. And to top it off I pretty much had no front brake either!! Mess…

I like to keep them all in good working order to minimize failures on the trail so I spend several hours per week in the manshed keeping them running fine, however:

FS – Bike #1

Drive train is in a poor state of affairs, but still works. New block, chain, jockey wheels, cables, shifters and brake lines being replaced next week

Forks have also gone to manufacturer under warranty

The bike has been thrashed incredibly hard over the last 2 weeks without letting me down at all

HT – Bike #2

Currently without forks as they’re fitted to bike above – otherwise good

Rigid SS – Bike #3

Started making some funny noises today – but generally in good nick

I’m now really hoping my bike has stopped its ‘self destruct one component each week’ mission. In the last six weeks we have:

Brake pad split leading to brake boil and necessary bleed.
Rear hub pawl springs all broken.
Rear mech snapped off.
Headset grease completely degraded and resultant service needed.
Forks stopped working and worn through stanchion coating.

All now sorted, although the bottom bracket cups are suspect.

Today’s ride was awesome. Dusty (mostly) trails with a fully functional bike. Absolutely flying, and really ragged it down some Rocky and twisty stuff.

Hopefully only the BB and front mech are currently on their last legs!

BFe is fine….well I think it is. It’s not been ridden since I built it up. But I’m taking it for a ride tomorrow in the local woods to session some jumps, so I’ll know what it’s like tomorrow.

Jumps in Tamworth? Any good and where about?

As new. Err well it is one ride old. But it has a hub gear for low maintenance. But it does have some bouncy fork things, that I guess I will have to maintain.

Just returned to my spesh enduro after 6 weeks work overseas.

Need to treat it to a fork service and would do the rear shock too if I hadn’t rounded the bolt off trying to get the damn thing out. So should probably get that sorted at some point 🙂

at the moment, completely…..the freehub is just spinning and the hub seems to be a non shimano size carry on, and no money to fix it, couple that with a shagged back brake.

Thinking of giving up this bikey lark altogether to be honest, seem to be going through parts at a rate of knots these days and spend more time stripping, greasing and oiling that biking

Road bike is a bit ****. The front mech seized and the ball end seems to be stuck in the shifter which means it won’t shift/click down. I dunno how to fix the shifter. So at the minute it’s a 1×9 for the forseeable future as I cba with the hassle and don’t really need the gears. The back wheel is missing a spoke, so it’s horribly out of true.. the hub has play and needs tighteneing/re-greasing but I really can’t be bothered. And my back rim is a bit rusty (ooer). Not sure whether to just sack it off and buy a new back wheel.

Oh and mtb/bmx are fine, though my forks have a slight oil leak I think, and my brakes could do with a bleed.

CX bike has a seized jockey wheel ( I really do not like Sram 🙁 )
Others all fine, clean, lubed & ready to ride.
Nothing more frustrating that having chance for a ride at the last minute to find your bike doesn’t work!

hardtail 1 – front rim split ,forks a little leaky & stanchions (sic) worn,needs new cassette/chain , maybe chain ring(fingers crossed). new gear cables required – headset bearings to grease & new grips required.
one crossmark required.

hardtail 2 – fork stanchion showing light wear. grips required

cx bike – chain , new tyres & needs seatpost/saddle& stem, oh, and shallower drops……..

not to mention my winter boots are looking a bit sorry for themselves
and 2 pairs of lycra shorts are a disgrace to decency.
oh, There are holes in my 3/4 tights too.

Wanders off to count small change from back of sofa……….. 🙁

Just stripped the threads in the brake post on a newish set of forks
Waiting for helicoil set from ebay
Fingers crossed

My Soul got battered with 8 inch deep mud ruts and gloop about a month ago, even the centre of the hubs were coated. It needs a full drivetrain replacement, I had to lie the bike down in the stream half way round that ride so the drivetrain would stop chain sucking. I haven’t cleaned it since then. Every gear shift is a cadburys (click and a half) and when I last went out I met up with the kids in the park. I was pootling along with them on their bikes and people were stopping and pointing at my bike with astonishment. I think I might clean it today.

Couldn’t look after a full sus so went ht, then couldn’t look after a geared mtb so went permanent single speed. Front sus will probably go next. It’s all a bit of a faff.

Went for a localish ride Saturday, the bike having recently had new shock-bushes and frame bearing kit fitted, freshly bled brakes too. The bike felt great.

I couldn’t cope with having a knackered bike.

bottom jockey wheel on the soul is very pointy but gear change is still good and bb is a touch worn and rough sounding though spins nicely. Tthe worst is the warped rear tyre feels very weird at speed on the road.

Not me, forks serviced just before christmas, new wheels in october and new drivetrain last month. The only things that I should do is a quick rear shock service and to grease up the headset at some point. May need new frame bearings by the end of the summer though :/

All 3 bikes I own are in various stages of knackered.

I always say I’m going to fix them up (which, in reality, means pay someone who knows what they’re doing to fix them up, or go to Halfords), but I never actually do.

Mine’s fine apart from the fact that the rear suspension bearings are so knackered I have an extra or two of ‘travel’.

BB on the roadie is shagged out, as is the whole drivetrain really. Probably replace it sometime sooner rather than later. Mountain bike is pretty spot on, just replaced the drivetrain, and brakes though so it should be. Forks could do with a service though.

It’s endless isn’t it

The skip-salvage back-up road bike is utterly knacked. The last time out it painfully snapped both itself and me. So when I get use of my hand back it’ll be stripped of anything useful and taken back to that skip.

The other bikes haven’t been been used for six weeks so may have developed new issues in the meantime, but on last use the commuter was still in that carefully-balanced point of being just usable to look unattractive to scrotes, the mtb just needs the rear mech properly re-indexed, and the other road bike just needs the front mech properly re-indexed (gears annoy me).

I need new suspension bearings and am slightly concerned about the 22t chainring. Fork seals are a little dry.

not bad right now

bike 1- stumpjumper fsr – not long built so needs a longer gear cable and would like new rotors for it

bike 2- Curtis singlespeed – still dirty from last summer but have fitted a replacement fork, just need a clean and lube and a front brake bleed, maybe some new grips

bike 3- ancient garyfisher – needs chain, grips, front mech unseized, child seat bracket repaired

bike 4- road bike, currently in 4 boxes, disaster

bike 5- genesis core- frame went back for warranty in September……. may not be recommending anyone buys a genesis

bike 6- wife’s trek 29er- immaculate as it only ever goes to the park/shop (that’s what 29ers are for though isn’t it?)

bike 7- 12 inch giant animator- most used bike in the house, ridden daily, 3 year old spends a good hour a week cleaning it!

All working very well thanks for asking. Provided they keep going forwards and slow down when required that’s all I ask

got a f/s am bike which i’ve just built up…everything seems to be running right except the rear shock is a bit naff…i’m sure the previous owner has fitted the shock back to front but looking at the fitting i dont think it will go back on the frame the other way round…another reason for an upgrade i suppose but it’s working so i’ll leave it for the time being, front wheel bearings are dying and i’ve still not got round to replacing them yet, fork is dying as one of the lower pinch bolts for the 20mm axle has stripped its thread…currently secured using a larger diameter bolt which is a bit of a bodge…but again another excuse to go shopping at some point
dh bike had a sticky gear cable that wouldnt let the chain climb up the cassette…got sorted on saturday..

one word

f*&%ed

It has some wierd freehub thing going on
rear shock mounts need replacing
Missing teeth on largest chain ring
Needs new front and rear cables
Needs a was as it still has last summers mud on it.

Geared HT, running fine but the forks could do with a service soon, everything else is ticked y boo.

Rigid SS, EBB wants stripping and regresasing, brakes need a bleed but I really can’t be arsed as it barely gets ridden.

Road bike, front hub kanckered, gears need cleaning, needs a new mech hanger too. Not ridden it for about 18 months though.

Ferrule on the shifter cable has split, needs replacing. Chain and cassette needs a proper clean. BB has started to creak a bit, think it needs bearings. Whole frame is probably due new bearings, which are ordered. Brakes need pads and a bleed.

Am quite looking forward to it all.

Raises hand sheepishly.

My appalling maintenance regime means that matters came to a head on Saturday.

Top shock bush gone.
Shock pissed oil out and was squeaking like a canary.
First three rings on the cassette detached and wobbling around. This one is the killer as I;ve had this drivetrain since I got the bike and will therefore no doubt mean the replacement cassette will need a new chain and chainrings also.

A well maintained and fully working bike, operating as it was intended is a joy. I can’t recall the last mechanical I had as a result of being too rubbish to look after my bike properly.

I can’t believe there are so many people happy to degrade the joy of mtb’ing by running heaps of Ill maintained junk. All my riding buddies have graduated to this way of thinking over the years. Perhaps as work and family commitments become more demanding, I want to maximise the time I spend riding, rather than walking back to the car park grumbling about how my bike constantly breaks down because I haven’t maintained it.

I won’t ride with people like that anymore either. Why should I allow my free time to be spoiled by some bike maintenance truant?

Ugh!

^I always mean to sort my bike out on my days off but end up just riding instead, then I cant be arsed with the maintenance, always feels like I’m wasting the rest of my day off! Whenever my bike goes wrong I always long for an ss hardtail 😆

Edit, double post.

A clean bike is a safe bike!

take note.

For a change they are all sorted and running correctly.

Main road bike has new front mech after last one snapped (Italian quality engineering) and new summer wheels to go on when it brightens up.

SS road bike is all sorted and set up with new bars and mudguards.

CX bike just rebuilt with new bearings in headset and BB and new cables and brake blocks.

BMX is all dialled in just incase i want it.

Inbred is fully sorted but on eBay and classifieds as i never use it.

All the gears have stopped working on the Hemlock and the back wheel went Horrible Wrong at Antur Stiniog at the weekend, and now takes less effort to move sideways than to spin. So there’s that. Otherwise I think I’m doing ok. Dropper post on the Ragley needs some TLC, think the cable’s tired.

Oh yeah and the 224 is in a million pieces and spread evenly across the garage floor, but that hardly counts does it?

In ranking order of most used :

1 ) needs new brake pads but otherwise never run better having just spent a fortune having Hope stuff fitted.

2 ) needs a front derailleur, chainrings, new fork but still works.

3 ) is the shopping / pub bike – just give £40 for it with a full service and 3 months guarantee. Looks rough as but that’s what I wanted as I want people to feel sorry for me and not nick it.

4 ) is my first ever mountain bike from 1989 and it could do with a new headset apart from that its perfect.