I’ll admit to loving fettling my bikes. Few greater pleasures, YMMV, than riding out on a machine who’s drivetrain, suspension and brakes are running ‘just so’ – feels great, vastly reduces mechanicals, and lets the ride become the focus.

However…

I only really have 2 proper bikes (discounting the commuter which gets no love at all and just keeps on trucking), both about 3-4 years old now, and there really is a never ending list of things which require doing. As they get on a bit, that list becomes more serious – e.g. headsets, hub bearings, suspension seals etc etc

LBS, whilst generally excellent, has more of a policy of replace rather than fix, and of course can be rather pricey.

As a fat lad, I seem to go through free hubs/rear hubs at a terrifying rate, and have in the last year thought “**** it” and made sure that all rear hubs are Hope, so that tools can be bought and things serviced consistently and easily.

Do you just leave things until they eat themselves? A constant tinkerer like me? A take-it-to-the-LBS for them to sort kinda person?

LBS does the vast majority of my bike maintenance. Fine by me as they are very good, and I have multiple bikes.

Drivetrain is basically left until it eats itself. Gets a clean now and again but only really the forks that get any maintenance. Used to maintain my Shimano hubs as they were cup and cone but cartridge bearings just get replaced now and again. I think I’ve cleaned a freehub once when it started getting sticky.

Constant tinkering so everything is perfect for me.  All my bikes are silent running, easy shifting, smooth turning .  I can’t stand anything to be not 100%.  No one but me fixes my bikes unless there is welding or machining needed

I like to tinker so I keep both bikes running nicely and haven’t used a bike shop for maintenance for as long as I can remember. I used to be a bit obsessive about keeping everything perfect but much less so these days – but still hate a mystery click or creak.

I find they need very very little work to keep bikes running, i can never work out why people seem to think they’re expensive.

Like you op, I enjoy the tinkering so generally keep ontop of stuff.

Apart from bleeding the brakes. I hate bleeding brakes.

I like to keep everything working properly, but it’s certainly the having a bike that works properly that’s the reward, not the tinkering itself. Maybe if I had more free time I’d be able to enjoy tinkering!

Keep the drivetrain clean and lubed, but to hell with all that chain rotating nonsense. Run my drivetrains until the die then replace the lot.

Bottom bracket bearings get the seals popped and refilled with grease if the cranks are off, otherwise they’re run until they die.

Headset gets done if the forks or stem are off. Last upper bearing was completely shot when I replaced it but had never felt it while riding.

Rear hub gets a clean and basic lube once a year, but hope hub bearings seem to last me ages. Only ones I’ve had to change were the fat bike ones after 4 years use.

Full sus bike has grease nipple and gets a squeeze of grease once a year and the pivots checked when the bike gets cleaned.

Keeping the chain cleaning up after a ride is a good habit. Makes you look at stuff and gives the bike a regular look over. Anything needing done gets sorted then so bike is ready to go next time.

I do all my own work and they all run the best they can. Really hate my bikes not being “right”.

the commuter which gets no love at all and just keeps on trucking.

Maybe you should take this as a clue and do less on the other bikes. Theres definately a thing called overmaintenace when you induce faults by tinkering unnecessarily.

Good cleaning and lubrication is my policy, including suspension air can and fork lowers occasionally. By doing this you tend to spot early wear indications and can deal with it before it get to the stage of failure.

when you induce faults by tinkering unnecessarily.

Give me an example ? Unless you’ve done something badly, why would this happen ?

I change brake pads, lube the chain and sometimes remember to replace a worn chain. Occasional power hose wash.

I used to tinker but never have time now. In fact I am so time poor if the bike does need anything else doing, even if I can do it myself, I’ll just take it into the LBS. Recent example, broken spoke on rear wheel requiring cassette removal. I didn’t have right size spoke, didn’t have time, quite happy to support LBS with £20 for them to do it for me. Dropped off in morning, picked up in afternoon, rode that evening.

I make sure that I do the odd bit of daily housework (that my wife hates doing) so I can use that when the accusations of being in the garage all the time come my way.

I have  about 12 to 15 bikes to maintain- when ever I get asked how many bikes I have – I always reply “why – do you have some autistic counting symdrome?” that usually shuts them up.

Then theres the car collection……no excuse for that!

weeksy – I can give you one.  Decided to do a fluid change on my brakes and get the pistons sliding easily and equally both sides ( they were 99% but “preventive maintenence”).  I chipped a piston pushing it in and out, had to replace pistons and seals.

So you did it badly ?

Tend to keep on top of most things. Although  not to change things like frame bearings as 1. I have nowhere to do it, and 2. I don’t have the tools. Both things that my lbs has , so they do that. Everything else from brake bleeding to fork servicing, I’m happy to do myself (although it does still end up at the lbs sinetimes as I’m often time poor.)

Regular maintenance is important, but depending  how things are fixed together, not everything likes repeated dismantling.  Component design and material is an important factor, but I’d generally agree there’s a balance to be found between stripping and leaving alone before you start on possibility of slipping and breaking something.

Except for things explicitly designed to be stripped for maintenance every use – only real examples I can think of for that might be military kit – firearms etc?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

If the drivetrain isn’t grinding, the bikes don’t get washed post ride. Over zealous use of cleaning products and hoses is about the best way to knacker bearings up IME. This summer’s been great  – I’ve barely had to do anything

Likewise I’m sure we’ve all met the obsessive fettler “I’m just going to strip the…” who’s bike never, ever, works properly, who’s always late for rides because his bike is still in bits, and who’s bike spontaneously dismantles itself mid trail because he rushed rebuilding it after not needing to take it to bits, having knackered all the threads by consistently overtightening things.

Personally – can’t remember the last time I needed to service a headset (all are Hope). BBs maybe need a look at once a year (again Hope). Suspension bearings when they start to knock (maybe 18 months). Gear cables when the change quality goes – maybe once a year after winter. My Hope brakes haven’t been touched since I fitted them (OK only 11 months), my Shimano ones need bleeding before every ride as they’re oldish XTRs and the master cylinders leak like sieves, but I can’t currently afford to replace them. Fork lowers service every 4 months or before a big event, rear shock (sent away) once a year.

This is all year, all weather, riding in the Peaks and similar locales.

Short of a Reverb that puked it’s guts down my seat tube, I can’t ever remember having a mid-ride gear failure that’s not been crash related. <<touches wood>>

Summer – cold lager in the workshop, Radio 4 on, sparkling bike.

Winter – drive train and slidey bits lubed, frame can wear it’s ‘Winter coat’.

Give me an example ? Unless you’ve done something badly, why would this happen ?

Constantly loosening and tightening bolts, screwing things in and out is a way of wearing the threads out, getting dirt into them and generally making the tolerances a bit sloppier.

A couple of times a year strip, clean and rebuild is fine but doing it every week is just wearing out bolt heads or threads unnecessarily.

Basically all the @vincienup said ^^

As little as possible. I try to keep one bike in good condition with new parts, another as a hack with used parts from Bike 1, plus a third running as a spare. About once or twice a year I do serious maintenance to get one bike into tip-top shape and keep the others rideable.

I definitely like to be self-sufficient. With a pile of bikes and a busy schedule, it would be hard not to be.

A good example was last week when I noticed that my son’s BB was feeling a little gritty when checking the bikes the day before a ride. As always, it was fine when it was washed and put away the week before, but the garage gremlins had come out and buggered it up! Quick run to the LBS (who certainly wouldn’t have been able to do it there and then), and it took about 30 minutes to get the crank off, remove the old BB and press the new one in. I also took the opportunity to drill a small drain hole in the bottom of the BB shell to try to prevent it from filling up in future, something that I’m sure was why the old one had failed in a relatively short time frame. Obviously, the LBS could have done all of this, but not at 4.30pm the day before a ride. Same thing goes for stuff like broken spokes, bearing adjustments, gear tweaks, swapping cassettes, tyres, wheels and all of the other stuff that goes on before rides or races. Being honest, I’d be pretty certain that 90% of the parents supporting junior racing are probably pretty handy with the spanners in the garage.

Last night’s midnight fun was installing a Works Components angle-adjust headset on my XC bike:

This is one of those jobs that’s easy if you know what you are doing and, more importantly, have the right tools. If you don’t. or try to bodge it, you’re going to be in a world of pain. These are interesting to install anyway as they are intentionally “wonky” so it took a little bit of thinking to work out the best way to press them in evenly and, of course, aligned properly left to right.

(For those interested, the solution was to press the upper cup in first and sit the lower cup on top of it, turned upside down. Then the two angles cancel out and you can press it in straight without a problem. Once the upper was in, the lower could be installed normally using the wonky upper as a guide for the press. Oddly, this isn’t how they tell you to do it, but I couldn’t really see it being done any other way.)

I never wash bikes, I think a lot of the problems people have with bearings is because they force grit into bearings when they wash the bike. I just let them dry and brush the dirt off.

You alluded to but missed out “build bikes from bits that don’t go wrong in the first place”.

Suspension is great, but not as great as that ride you miss out on while it’s being serviced.

Gears are great, but singlespeeds don’t need indexing (or cleaning really).

Droppers are great, except when they don’t work.

I dont mind a bit of tinkering, but prefer it to be at 500-1000mile intervals rather than every bloody ride.

Having serviced a fleet or hire bikes for a few years I’m going with “less is more” . If things are working well, not rumbling, not sloppy, then leave them be. Check pads, chains, rings and jockey wheels for wear regularly.

Washing my own bikes only really happens when I’m riding somewhere different and is more about disease control than anything else.

Winter is great as the bikes come back clean and dry.

I mostly ride full-suspension with 2×9 drivetrains and dropper posts. They run for months or years without needing constant maintenance.

when you induce faults by tinkering unnecessarily.

Give me an example ? Unless you’ve done something badly, why would this happen ?

Was going to respond, but it seems others got in there before me! It is easy to do something ‘badly’ (although I’d be a bit more charitable and term it a mistake) that’s just human nature.

I’d also add, someone up there talked about popping seals to re-grease bearings. Something I’d be wary of unless I was also installing a new seal. The rubber lips are easy to damage, then subsequently the seal isn’t doing it’s job.

I don’t tinker, especially when it’s not warm in the garage, I hate the cold, but I like to do things myself. I find it a great way to work out how things work and understanding that gives me a bit more mechanical sympathy.

I actually choose things now based on how serviceable they are, as well as the usually performance/coolness/cost thing.

I:

Home service suspension, which pretty much rules out Fox stuff for me, although I’ve still got a Float X CTD.

Home service dropper.

Home replace bearings. (I’ve got a nice press, but it’s still a pig of a job) I don’t ike.

Drivetrain is a tricky one, I can index, but for some reason I hate it so generally live with shit shifting. I was also a sod for using way too much wet lube, letting it eat itself covered in a grinding paste of old lube and grit, degreasing it come spring only to realise everything is knackered and buying all new. Smoove lube, is as least at this stage of Autumn. It only took me a a decade to work out, that if you have to choose a slightly rust chain is better than a black, tar coated one.

I seem to be very lucky with wheels, I usually get them trued before an Alps trip or something, I’ve cracked a few Superstar freebodies (who hasn’t) but never really destroyed anything. Lots of people like hope, but I don’t think there’s anything special to them at all, they work in the same sort of way any a million other cartridge bearing hubs that cost a lot less, they also seem to wear bearings fairly quickly compared to other brands. Some of the DT Swiss hubs look interesting and seem to offer something a bit non-standard, but I really like my Nukeproof wheels, come in any configuration you like, strong, cost-effective and no, not light, but not other worldly heavy either.

I do a full strip down, service and rebuild twice per year and keep things running smoothly enough in between. Do everything myself except for wheel builds and full service of rear shock.

Ride, wipe, spay, lube and carry on, replace pads when needed, service suspension as required and check tyre pressure.

Stuff lasts a lot better these days in my experience so it’s all good, just time to chill out.

Any more and it’s just taking something apart for something to do.

I’m no mechanic ..so anything major is done by someone who is ..

I also prefer “dry”cleaning to actually washing the bike and only do so if it is absolutely neccessary ..after years of being an avid washer and I do believe it prolongs the life of bearings ..

I keep everything that needs lubrication ..lubricated.

Change pads as necessary ..have just bled my dropper for the first time ..and have changed my jockey wheels recently ..but as far as other consumables go will just run them until they die .

The only time I have tried to get more than one chain out of a cassette it skipped all over the place ( even though the chain checker was telling me it was within tolerance )..so now just change chain & cassette together when it “tells ” me to..

Would I like to do more ?

Naaah ..it’s keeping other folk in jobs ..ain’t it ?

In the winter I clean and lube the chain, occasionally check to see if the brake pads have any meat left on them. Springtime it gets an overhaul. I ride the local trails 2-3 times a week in all weathers.

I’m sure if I had a nice full-suss i’d do a bit more, but time is short and it’s cold in the shed, so i’m reaping the low maintenance benefits of hardtail ownership.

I’m sure if I had a nice full-suss i’d do a bit more, but time is short and it’s cold in the shed, so i’m reaping the low maintenance benefits of hardtail ownership.

I don’t do much more with my full sus, I’m reaping the rewards of doing what is needed.

Simple is nice 🙂

I don’t mind fixing/fettling stuff if I have to but I’d prefer not to which is why my hardtail’s singlespeed most of the time. It occasionally gets a drop of oil on the chain and wipe down if it’s been especially wet and manky on a ride but it mainly just gets slung back under the stairs until next time. The forks are dead easy to service but I’ve yet to delve into a dropper…

Any thread or press fit into alloy only has a finite number of times it can be serviced before it’ll become permanently loose. If it ain’t starting to break, don’t start fixing it!

Fettle when it is required.

Service my hubs when the wheels get all baggy and loose and start to rattle about a bit, and I start to think it’s going to snap the axle (it’s happened before). After it’s been like that for 6 months, I get round to doing it.

I’m the type of person who will put it off for months, or years. Sometimes bikes go more than a year without a wash. Squeaking drivetrains are common. Brake pads half way through the metal. Then out of nowhere, one day, I’ll strip it down completely, clean everything, grease and lube, build again… It’s like getting a new bike.

Main bearings on my bikes are Hope, despite what the haters say, they just work with minimal attention – the bottom bracket on my Solaris has been butter smooth for some 12,000km over four years. Bikes get a pre or post winter full check depend on which bike it is – i.e. the fat bike gets more use in winter so will get a pre-winter check to make sure it’s ready to go.

Most of the rest is along the lines of “ooh! That doesn’t sound/feel right, better have a look at it.”. I’ll have a small set of spares at home so I don’t have to wait for a CRC/Wiggle order to come through, I then replace what I’ve used on my next order.

There are some jobs I’ll get the LBS to do, fitting a headset for example, mainly because I don’t have the tools and it’s such a rare job unless you are either building a frame from scratch or the headset is fubarred.

I regularly wash and dry my bikes. it causes zero issues and actually heloh keep everything looking and running sweet.

My bearings last for ages.

Last thing you want is a build of crap anywhere. My bikes look great even after several thousand miles. My last frame and forks did 12000 miles, as did my brakes and suspension. Keeping it clean played a big part.

Cost of clothes and having ways of cleaning stuff pays dividends. Drying is cruicial.

I do it myself.  Not yet done the suspension, but It’s yet to need it.  Just re-greased all the frame bearings on my FS. Having 5 bikes of my own and 4 other bikes in the family, it would be way too expensive.  More used to road bikes and ‘vintage’ MTB’s so the more recent move to a good FS bike with proper suspension, dropper post and hydraulic brakes has been new stuff to learn.

I hate a filthy drive train, so that get’s well looked after.