Horrendous mountain bike maintenance costs

mikewsmith – Member
Rigid Singlespeeds are just admitting defeat unless your a complete masochist or live somewhere really dull.

I don’t think that I’m a masochist, nor do I live somewhere completely dull.

As far as the whole maintenance thing goes – isn’t it sort of the norm that people who do any sort of off-road stuff (so mountain bikes, m/c trials and enduros, 4×4) also do their own maintenance?
Or am I (and others like me) a relic of a bygone age?

As far as the whole maintenance thing goes – isn’t it sort of the norm that people who do any sort of off-road stuff (so mountain bikes, m/c trials and enduros, 4×4) also do their own maintenance?
Or am I (and others like me) a relic of a bygone age?

I used to do all my own maintenance – in fact I worked as a mechanic in a bike shop for a while anyway so had access to tools and workstands and had the mechanical know-how to deal with most things.

But now I no longer work in a bike shop and with bikes becoming ever more specialist and technical, requiring some ever more proprietary parts or tools, it’s rarely worth my time doing anything more than basic cleaning and running repairs.

It’s got to the point now with things like internal cable routing, pressfit BB, hydraulic brakes etc where it’s simpler and easier to do what I can and then take the remainder to my LBS (who fortunately are excellent and very accommodating).

But even that is rare, it’s not like the bike needs a new BB or new brakes every other week like the OP’s bike seems to require!

crazy-legs – Member

But now I no longer work in a bike shop and with bikes becoming ever more specialist and technical, requiring some ever more proprietary parts or tools, it’s rarely worth my time doing anything more than basic cleaning and running repairs.

Like what tools? There’s some specific things like nonstandard BBs that have come along but they’re easily avoided. I think the only new tools I’ve bought for bikes in the last 5 years were a wee £5 doofer for reverb servicing. Though, I did have to dig out my old internal BB tool to do a cinch crank recently, that was kind of exactly the opposite problem, I hadn’t seen it this decade 😆

I have to say that I suspected some sort of trolling on first reading but the OPs previous posts back up much of the story. It’s easy to forget that we’re not all mechanical wizards or even that we all know enough about bike mechanics to know when we’re being bullshitted on STW every hour of every day.

FTFY

As far as the whole maintenance thing goes – isn’t it sort of the norm that people who do any sort of off-road stuff (so mountain bikes, m/c trials and enduros, 4×4) also do their own maintenance?
Or am I (and others like me) a relic of a bygone age?

I’m mechanically inept and, crucially, have no interest in learning. Have always used an lbs, the only thing I can do is change a tube or add some Stan’s to tubeless wheels.

Talk about letting down the sisterhood!

tomaso – Member

How a steel disc can get contaminated is beyond me. The pads are porous and if they get coated in brake fluid are dead, but a disc and just be cleaned with solvent.

Oil in dirt in all the cut outs etc, only comes out when it’s hot, contaminates pads again…

OTOH you probably have the nous to find a good mechanic/reliable way of getting the job done. The OP’s big issue isn’t so much that he’s got an untrustworthy mechanic; it’s that he’s got no defences against it. Getting more hands on would let him avoid the problem but equally it could just arm him better for dealing with it.

(like me and my dad’s car that I mentioned earlier- I don’t need to lift a spanner to stop the garage from taking the piss, I just need them to know that I’m not a good target. I do that by establishing that I know some car stuff, other people might be harder to scam in other ways, it’s all pretty much the same in the end)

Been reading through this thread with interest, sounds like a Golden Goose situation.

Out of interest can anyone recommend a bike maintenance course in Sussex/Surrey.

I have learnt how to do a fair amount through youtube and got an ok set of tools, but would like some personal guidance on more complicated things like suspension servicing, linkage/wheel bearings, bottom brackets, etc.

in the past ive always gone for custom self builds…that way i pick out the parts i need and fit them myself…so i know how each part works etc.
i’ve also tried to source parts that i know have a good reliability record so in the long run i requires less maintenance.
the marzocchi forks on my old bike came with a 3 year no service warranty…which ran out last year….the forks are still running smoothly with no issues
the wheels on that bike are over 12 year old…front bearings on the WTB lazer dh hub got changed 4 years ago and are starting to grumble a little
the rear atomlab trailpimp hub is still running perfectly smoothly on its original bearings and grease…even the freehub is the original one (i have to admit that i’ve never serviced it either…just made the usual checks on it)
the wheels were built by a shimano mechanic who was in the uk on their worldwide exchange programme…best wheel build ever!! front has not needed to be trued yet…rear was re-trued and 2 broken spokes replaced 4 years ago after a broken rear mech caused damage. no matter how much abuse the wheels have been given they still beg for more

so really its a case of pay for good quality parts…plenty of companies out there such as Hope etc and spend more time tinkering on your bike to get to know it better OP…that way you wont get bumrushed by a mechanic eager to make a fast buck out of you

also i do most of my maintenance before a ride as part of my pre ride check…if following the ride there is a need for work to be done i will store the job until before the next ride or make the time to do the work especially if it means factoring in time to order new parts etc.

The pads are porous and if they get coated in brake fluid are dead

Brake fluid can be washed out with lots of hot soapy water, or a long soak in it.

The brakes need repairs, they are Shimano Deores. I’m suffering from contaminated brakes, Apparently the Olive insert is leaking mineral oil all over the pads and discs. The mechanic says it needs a new olive insert, assume re-bleeding, a new rotor (as the contamination is so bad it’s beyond cleaning – apparently)

I smell mechanic B.S.

contaminated rotors? wipe clean with Isopropyl Alcohol £15 a litre from Maplin or RS

why is the olive leaking oil…is this a previous repair by the same guy?

Find a new mechanic (its worth paying proper labour rates at an established dealer, as they won’t take the piss like this guy)

as the contamination is so bad it’s beyond cleaning

That ^^ is bolx.

molgrips – Member

Brake fluid can be washed out with lots of hot soapy water, or a long soak in it.

While that’s true, some things you’ll do as an owner but you wouldn’t do as a professional mechanic and this crosses that line for a lot of spannerists. Never had a pad that I could fix with isopropyl and some 80 grit but I’d not do it for, say, my brother’s bike because he’d not know if it worked properly or not.

Oh, he would. Soon enough……

How a steel disc can get contaminated is beyond me.

Mine did. I fixed them with abrasive cleaner, boiling water and a bake in the oven.

as someone who usually does all my own work I was apprehensive about taking my bike to my LBS recently to get all the bearings looked at as I don’t have the time or tools atm if any needed replacing. also sent off my suspension to tf tuned as I blew a seal and wanted the new internals for my ccdb inline. This thread made me feel so much better about having it all done! 😛

My Tripster’s brakes were honking – LBS blokey said to spray brake cleaner on the rotors and put a match to it. (Wheel off bike, of course). I did. Not only was it fun, but it worked too.

I said

Never had a pad that I could fix

Dur, should have said “couldn’t”

Ive read and thought about and reread this, and what I’m still not clear about is that theres a lot of “constant fork problems” and “on-going brake problems” without it ever really being clear what the symptoms that led to that conclusion are.

Whats actually wrong with the forks? not going bouncy bouncy? going bouncy bouncy too much? too much sag, not enough sag?

Similar question with the brakes – Whats the actual problem? Not stopping very well? wheel not spinning properly?

I don’t want to sound too harsh, but from everything thats been written so far, Its hard to know if there is even an actual problem for the mechanic to fix.

Oil in dirt in all the cut outs etc, only comes out when it’s hot, contaminates pads again…

Blowtorch sorts this out. Certainly clean/blowtorch/sandpaper will sort a contaminated disc. But it can be worth replacing pads, you have to heat them up for ages sometimes, and can cause other issues.

There are a few things that make sense – the mechanic has suggested new wheels which if they’re always needing truing (depending on the hubs) isn’t a bad plan. If spares are available for the hubs, you could re-rim (and possibly re-spoke) it. Whatever’s going on with forks sounds like a bad service (from 2 places), seals are needing replacement, or a warranty issue.

But really a lot of this stuff depends on how much you’re riding, and how fussy you are over having a shiny bike. Also it’s £686 for 5 months, most of those activities I wouldn’t expect to have to repeat over the rest of the year – if those represented a typical moderately bad year it’s not all that bad. It’s a pricey bike, things go wrong.

While that’s true, some things you’ll do as an owner but you wouldn’t do as a professional mechanic and this crosses that line for a lot of spannerists.

Agreed.

For other home mechanics – if you do take emery cloth or similar to your discs, they will need re-bedding in, otherwise they’ll feel terrible.

Also – I think brake cleaner is awful stuff. Whenever I’ve used it, it leaves something coated on there that perhaps car brakes can burn off, but MTB brakes don’t seem to be able to. I avoid it like the plague. Clutch cleaner otoh seems to work, but even then it’s expensive. Best thing I’ve found as I said is Halfords bike cleaner followed by a hosepipe.

As has already been pointed out, you’ve spend around 200 quid on fixing deore brakes that cost 40 quid each new.

Your fork has had to be fixed 3 times..

As for drivetrain, are you replacing mechs and shifters, or is this just rings, cassette and chain. If its the latter then you’ve been royally had (unless you are running Srams x1 cassettes I suppose)

or is this just rings, cassette and chain. If its the latter then you’ve been royally had

Not really, the price he quoted looked pretty normal for chainrings, cassette and chain @ RRP + labour

As has already been pointed out, you’ve spend around 200 quid on fixing deore brakes that cost 40 quid each new.

true…but they should have just been sent back to shimano under warranty.

as for contaminated discs and pads…i had this a few months back….i cleaned the rotor with isopropyl alcohol and a bit of light sanding on the rotor. the pads i left on top of the electric hob for 10 minutes….the contaminant got baked out…i could see it smoking out. i then sanded the surface down to clear the glaze and then put them in my bag to be used as emergency spares.
the new pads in the caliper work spot on wiht the newly cleaned rotors.

Shimano brakes leaking oil is a known problem that’s been going on a good few years.

Send back under warranty if less than 2 years old.

Can probably replace the caliper with deore ones (not tried myself but should be fine).

I finally fixed this by replacing with Hope.

The longer the op is absent, the more I’m convinced of shenanigans…

He’s stuck in his garage, trying to operate a set of allen keys….

Send back under warranty

I’d have sent the whole bike back tbh.
The big list was only July-December repairs that has been going on all year. A 2015 bike with that many failures in 2016 is a lemon.

Or the OP is a DH pro without the sponsorship and a team mechanic?

That camber sound like triggers broom!

I like fixing bike nearly as much as riding them, but as said by others, not everyone is wired this way. IMO time=money, if your time is better earning than fixing then just pay the man. I would suggest you pay a different man though.

Shimano brakes leaking oil is a known problem that’s been going on a good few years.

Pretty sure that’s XT, maybe XTR, but not Deore.

The OP gas been royally bummed by the mechanic there! His bike has cost more to run in a year than my other half’s car use to!

Spanking that much on a Deore brakes is mad given how cheap they are. Th fork situation sounds like a total joke.

Most little jobs don’t take long and aren’t hard, especially for the sake of £1,600!

@DezB

Unfortunately we’ve seen it on the hydro road calipers, deore and sub-deore hydro calipers

I’ve just built a 2017 bike for store display, and the rear caliper has leaked all over the rotor

or is this just rings, cassette and chain. If its the latter then you’ve been royally had

The £240 for new drive train/bottom bracket was broken down to:
FSA BBPF 30 £24
SRAM Rear Mech £42
Blackspire 30T chain ring £35
Sunrace Cassette £60
SRAM 10speed chain £20
Inner and outer gear cable £15
Fitting £45

I’ll reply to some of the other replies individually when I get the time. Hopefully tomorrow. I don’t have the time at the moment.

One reason I always go to a mechanic is that it takes me ages to do a job on a bike. Most of the stuff, I’ve never done before, such as fitting a new bottom bracket or pivot bearings for example (I wouldn’t know where to start, what to order that is compatible, what tools to get that are compatible, etc and even if I got hold of them, I probably couldn’t do the job unless it went smoothly with no problems encountered(when does that ever happen?)).

My most recent job on the bike, which was replacing the Shimano brakes myself (changing caliper/lever and bleeding), took ages and numerous problems were encountered, and its still not fixed.

I will try and slowly learn each job one by one, until I eventually won’t need the mechanic for anything but the more complex jobs. That is the aim anyway.

BTW I don’t pay a mechanic for changing tires, brake pads or discs anymore and haven’t done for months.

The mechanic I used for all those jobs in 2016 was always available, would usually fix the bike on the day or 2nd day (successfully or not), and he lived a quarter of a mile away. There was (almost) no bike downtime, there was no driving to and from bike shops. That’s why I kept going back to him. All the other alternatives (Bike shops) were only in driving distance and they often had waiting lists of a week or more. So I’m sure you can see why I kept using this mechanic. There just wasn’t any other viable alternative. But now that I’ve recently moved house it is not likely I will go back to him now though.

The £240 for new drive train/bottom bracket was broken down to:
FSA BBPF 30 £24
SRAM Rear Mech £42
Blackspire 30T chain ring £35
Sunrace Cassette £60
SRAM 10speed chain £20
Inner and outer gear cable £15
Fitting £45

That’s not unreasonable for that …. Whether it’s all required is open to debate…

But so you know.. You could have taken some money off them prices buying yourself.
Cassette, 50%, Chain £5 less, Cables £10 less, But overall, it’s not a rip off that’s for sure.

The mechanic I used for all those jobs in 2016 was always available, would usually fix the bike on the day or 2nd day (successfully or not), and he lived a quarter of a mile away. There was (almost) no bike downtime, there was no driving to and from bike shops. That’s why I kept going back to him. All the other alternatives (Bike shops) were only in driving distance and they often had waiting lists of a week or more. So I’m sure you can see why I kept using this mechanic. There just wasn’t any other viable alternative. But now that I’ve recently moved house it is not likely I will go back to him now though.

Sorry, but this guy doesn’t sound like a proper mechanic who had any other work, he sound like an incompetent who happened to live close to you.

I use a local, mobile mechanic from time to time and it can be 2-3 days before he can collect the bike and another few days before i get it back, because he knows his stuff and gets repeat business.

I’m just going to leave this here….

I feel sorry for the OP, but he’s only going through what most of us have at one time or another – learning.

It’s ok for me (and others) to have a pop and say, “why didn’t you just stick it on your workstand and get out your tools and replace/repair X”.

If he doesn’t know, and would prefer riding to not – then he will just take it to the mechanic.

Stuff costs, and doing stuff costs more. When you are in business there is no such thing as a 5 minute job, and time costs money (even a mechanic working out of his back-garden shed has to be charging +£20ph to cover costs, even if flat-out busy).

And even the best of us have been defeated by brakes. How much time and money did I spend trying to get my Avid Juicys working properly after their first winter, and they never did…

I don’t mean to pick up on this, but you used to have your mechanic change tyres for you..?

I don’t mean to pick up on this, but you used to have your mechanic change tyres for you..?

Erm….

When I was riding regularly (3-6hrs per week) the bike was costing more to maintain than my car, eg £400pa. That was ignoring the ridiculous Fox fork servicing schedule too

As for DIY, I am useless at that (do pads and keeping nuts and bolts snug, change tyres etc, bit of gear indexing) amd also have no space for a workstand etc

I don’t mean to pick up on this, but you used to have your mechanic change tyres for you..?

Never used him to change tyres but did use him for discs once when he said they needed replacing as they were worn down. When I saw how to do this myself I couldn’t believe what he was charging for such an easy job.