Clean and lube the drive train, check the chain occasionally, bed brake pads in properly.

Other than that, ride stuff until it wears out or stops working.

In my mind I’m a pro race mechanic with the ability to fix any issue with my bikes using just my Allen key combo tool, a spanner and a can of lube.

However over the last few decades I’ve had mixed results mainly ranging from “it’ll do” to “hopefully that won’t break.” Regrettably I have had a few of the latter, usually in the middle of nowhere.

This summer I resigned myself to the fact I don’t have the time, energy, patience or ability to do a decent job of fixing my bikes. Same applies to scouring the Internet looking for the correct length cables or washer or some other thing.

So I took it to the lbs and they bled the brakes (never been bled in six-ish years), fitted new headset, swapped in the dropper post, cut the brake and post cables, replaced the tubeless tyres, sorted out the shifting, got rid of the screeching brakes sound and trued the front and rear wheels. Yes it cost a couple of hundred quid (parts and labour) but I got the bike back after just a few days and it rode like a dream.

The only things I’ll do now will be replacing the brake pads and chain and keeping the bike clean.

I’m more reactive than I used to be. Before kids I had time to strip the bike down and rebuild a couple of times a year and before I met Mrs g-d I could work on bikes in the house (what was I thinking? – tubeless sealant set up in the carpeted lounge was probably one of the lowest moments of common sense).

Now I send off the forks and shock as I don’t have time to do a proper job and they’re so dam expensive to mess it up with if I’m rushing against a deadline to go riding the next day.

I have just done both wheels with new tubeless valves and sealant top up. Really hoping they’ll still be up in the morning.  Early signs were good.

I love tinkering with / fixing bikes. So long as the workshop isn’t a complete tip it’s one of the more relaxing ways to spend a couple of hours .

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.

Its the service recommendations that do it for me.

Forks – 50 hour service, 200 hour full service

Rear Shock – 50 hour service, 200 hour full service

Dropper Post – 50 hour service, 200 hour full service

If you were to stick to those guidelines, lets say it costs £70 for all the combined 50 hour services, and  £180 for the combined 200 hour services, that’s £390 for 200 hours. On Suspension components alone.

Not mentioning Bottom brackets, freehubs, frame bearings, Brakes, the headset, and stuff that gets ‘written off’ because it gets hammered too hard beyond repair.

I think most things break or need repairs due to getting bashed about  so depends how aggressive the terrain is that your taking the bike to

Plus I’ve caused a fair amount of damage myself by attempting maintenance tasks, getting them wrong, then sending them off to the mechanic.

Then there’s Shimano Deore and SRAM Guide R breaks that are prone to problems in no time.

There are quite a few user errors I’ve done as well, ruined a few rims through hard hits or getting punctures, not getting tubeless setup, tubeless setup problems, catching the valve on the rear shock by accident and losing air which then caused excessive bottoming out and damaged the shock.

If you were to stick to those guidelines, lets say it costs £70 for all the combined 50 hour services, and  £180 for the combined 200 hour services, that’s £390 for 200 hours.

Yeah. but 200hrs actual riding (moving) time on a mountain bike is probably 2 years+ for a lot of folk on here.

Also what grease and oil are you using that it’s costing you £70 to do a few fork <span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>lower leg, air can and seatpost seal head services? It’s cost more like half that cost in lubes for ALL the servicing you’ve mentioned. ie. 2x litre containers of oil and 1x 500ml tub of grease.</span>

Not mentioning Bottom brackets, freehubs, frame bearings, Brakes, the headset, and stuff that gets ‘written off’ because it gets hammered too hard beyond repair.

Those components last for years without needing regular maintenance beyond consumables like brake pads. If they’re breaking regularly, that’s because of abuse or poor mechanicing.

I ride a fixed gear with no brakes so you would think I wouldn’t need to touch it but I have to spend a small amount of time keeping it perfect.

Chain gets cleaned and relubed every Sunday.  I cannot stand the sound of a gritty chain (especially obvious when the bike is so silent everywhere else)

During autumn and winter lower headset bearing gets cleaned/regreased once a month (gets attacked by water and dirt on every ride, my fault for not wanting mudguards I suppose)

Gear, brakes and suspension must take up loads of time that I wouldn’t want to waste.

Not mentioning Bottom brackets, freehubs, frame bearings, Brakes, the headset, and stuff that gets ‘written off’ because it gets hammered too hard beyond repair.

Those components last for years without needing regular maintenance beyond consumables like brake pads. If they’re breaking regularly, that’s because of abuse or poor mechanicing.

You’ve obviously never owned a GXP BB 🙂

The thing that always gets missed from these discussions are the conditions that bikes are ridden in and the amount of riding that people do. If you ride often in poor conditions, these components simply don’t last for years no matter how competent the mechanic is, or how gently they are ridden.

A good example is the upper frame bearings on my Tallboy. It doesn’t get pressure-washed, just a gentle hose and sponge when it’s filthy, but the upper bearings still rarely last more than a year. Fortunately, they are FoC from Jungle, so I don’t worry and just swap them when the bike gets its strip-down service in the spring. It must be said that I’ve seen a few bikes that are “running perfectly” yet when opened up, you find that half of the frame bearings are seized solid and just slipping on the axles…

@daern – partly true but I’ll ride my Solaris in all conditions and the BB gets dunked on a fairly regular basis (not this summer or autumn obviously) but the bearings have lasted four years.

Service intervals? Hmm. One trip around the HT550 is  around 80hrs riding for most. I built up my Spearfish early this year and it’s done 137hrs*. I’ve done 221hrs* on the Solaris this year.

*That’s the sum of my moving times according to Strava

@daern – partly true but I’ll ride my Solaris in all conditions and the BB gets dunked on a fairly regular basis (not this summer or autumn obviously) but the bearings have lasted four years.

@whitestone OOI, what sort of BB is that? I’ve had Shimano ones last that long (sometimes I feel they can run for ever!) but never a SRAM OEM one…

You’ve obviously never owned a GXP BB

This! They are shit beyond belief. **** off SRAM, hello Shimano. The Deore one I’ve had in my bike has done the last few winters over a few different frames and you just know that when GXP came out it was incompatible with Shimano BBs on purpose. ****s.

Whitestone’s BB is a Hope one (I know this as he mentioned it earlier and he’s recommended it, I have one for my own Solaris on the way)

Fully aware that this is about to jinx things…

but specifically on the bottom bracket thing 4 years ago on the stump jumper the shit press fit POS SRAM one was replaced under warranty by the LBS (at the same time as a snapped frame), and somehow he managed to fit a Chris King as a replacement – its been great since.

Even more amazing, on the ICT the original SRAM POS press fit BB again shat itself very quickly, warrantied, that one pretty much immediately also began shitting itself. So I went online and found those wheels manufacturing screw-together press-fit jobs. Bought that, and a spare, and the special spanner 3 years ago, and of course here spare is still sitting in the BB box awaiting a need for use.

I find that amazing as that bike gets ridden a lot, and usually in mingin conditions. I do occasionally take of the cranks and make sure things are nicely greased in there though.

Cue the BB bearing explosion gremlins! 😆

Hah! You are now cursed. I’d start checking it daily from now on.

I’ve made a mental note to not buy another OEM SRAM one (the last one I had to source in a hurry as I needed it the next day, so didn’t have any choice) and I’ll probably buy a decent one for stock for the next time it fails. At least I know I won’t need to wait too long….

Hardly ever touch my bikes. If I’ve fitted new cables I might need a slight tweak/tune after a short while if the cable stretches a bit, but after than perfect shifting every time for ages until something changes, wears or breaks. Shouldn’t have to continuously fettle. And even fettling due to cables might be a thing of the past soon now i’m fully hydraulic braked up on all my bikes once I get around to fitting electronic shifting to them too….a cable free bike…virtually maintenance free.

I do most things, sometimes the lbs for odd things I can’t do. Mostly its all and when needed, but I am always a job or 2 behind. I try to plan stuff in advance as best as possible – there’s no fun in fixing stuff the night before because someone has not owned up to something not working. New kit has to be on at least 1 week before a race etc.

Well that’s the plan anyway. Never works in reality.

I will say that following the above comment I made about bollixing my brakes I no longer tinker for the sake of it.  Every ride tho the bike is checked and anything not 100% gets sorted before its ridden again.  any noises get investigated and sorted before its ridden again.  Tyres checked for pressure before every ride.

Putoline ( oh no – not that again they all cry) on the chains means they only need relubing occasionally and the rest of maintenance is done regularly – middleburn oilers on cables mean a regular squirt of lube to keep shifting perfect,   Wheels checked for dodgy bearings but not found any for years.  annual oil change in forks and brakes fluid changed annually  Annual relube of hub gears

As far as getting a Rohloff hub and belt drive. Job(s) done.

(The Co-Motion shifter eats through mitts though.)

Keep the chain clean and lubed, ideally not with a crud ingesting oil (wax lube, Squirt does me well).

Wipe off mud from key crud areas after ride. Wash if really really bad, and wipe dry.

Maintenance done.

Everything else is repair/replace when it needs it and mostly not that frequent. Though I do have 3 bikes to spread the wear.

Main issues I currently have are with Reverbs (got 4 and only 2 work and 1 not so good as the other), and one set of old version Guide RSC brakes that suffer from the hot weather lever piston stickiness.

You’ve obviously never owned a GXP BB

This! They are shit beyond belief.

Don’t know what people do with them myself. They’re fine for me. Yes they may need doing every couple of years. Bearings are wear and tear items. It’s £20 replacement and a 5 minute job. All I ever get is a bit of play in them eventually. No grinding death.

I do wonder if a lot of the problem is people not doing up the cranks tight enough. I hear a lot of (even from some LBS types), “oh that’s way too high torque”, and then hear cranks coming undone or complaints about crud in the BB. Another thing is the gutter seal used to work loose, though O-rings can fix that problem. Not had that issue for ages though.

Oh, and if they’re pressfit, then blame the frame manufacturer and get a frame with threaded BBs 😉

I love riding bikes, but don’t really like maintaining them beyond changing brake pads, lubricating the chain, cleaning, changing and setting up tyres tubeless and squirting a bit of GT85 where needed. The most mechanical thing I’ve done is fit a dropper. Anything beyond that I simply have neither the time or inclination and take to a shop.

MTB – rigid SS. Can do 8hrs+ off-road a week, year-round in the Chilterns. Fave bike, needs/gets almost no servicing and it can handle it. Runs silently at all times and I love it. Returns the tough love by half killing me most rides.

Bromton commuter – still fairly new but gets looked after as a clean bike that folds seems welcome in any shop and pub so far. Feels like keeping my shoes mostly clean, it’s more presentable.

Road-ish bike – can do a couple 100 miles a week. Servicing is somewhere in between the MTB and the Brompton. Looks well-used but is in good running order, clean chain etc. Has guards to minimise the impact of use in the wet.

Servicing based on needs then I guess. I do like a silent, efficient bike but they don’t need to look clean. That article from Santa Cruz about service level vs function etc was pretty much spot on.

Oh, and on BBs, the new M8000 XTs are great. Been using them long enough to be impressed. Better than both old Shimano POS BBs and the King that I stopped using as it got full of junk so fast – serviceable yes, but every weekend, no thanks. Served it’s purpose though, lasted a single trip of many miles w/o issues.

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.

That’s not over maintenance, that’s ham fistedly messing with stuff that shouldn’t be messed with.

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.

That’s ham fistedness.

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.

And this.

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.

This too. If you are stripping or wearing things you are over tightening them.

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!

And this is just utterly false. Unless you are ham fisted and tightening beyond its limit of elasticity (which, thanks to torque settings, should never happen) or the tolerances are well out. Also, which “alloy”? Presumably you mean some variation of aluminium which is also false, aluminium has similar behaviours to steel albeit with different limits, even carbon fibre has elastic properties.

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.

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.

If this applies to you either learn the skills to do it properly, buy the proper tools, take the time to do it properly or leave it to someone who has all of the above. Yes, I’ve made an arse of things and every time it’s because I’m trying to rush a job, do it with the wrong tool or don’t have the experience to know how to do it in the real world.

Personally I try to do as much as I can. Stuff gets stripped when it needs it but otherwise unless I absolutely need to know it will work it gets left alone. Preventative maintenance where applicable, run to destruction (sealed bearings) where not. I love tinkering with sthings, sometimes I wonder if I enjoy tinkering more than using.

Don’t know what people do with them myself. They’re fine for me. Yes they may need doing every couple of years.

Did you mean months rather than years there?  You seem to be an outlier as most people find they are crap.  Mine used to last about 3 months whereas a Shimano external BB lasts for 2 years.  And that is with higher torque than it would see due to having one gear.

I don’t seem to spend anywhere near the time fiddling with my bikes as I used to – the Scout just gets ridden and not much love. It needs a few jobs doing but they’re not annoying me enough to get of my butt to sort them out especially now its cold in the garage! I don’t even clean my bikes much these days – I just wait until the drivetrain is manky.

I don’t muck around changing chains – I just change both the chain and cassette when they’re shagged.

I do need to get off my butt and fiddle with my gears though because since a recent crash, they’ve not been as smooth as they should be and I seem to be riding around the gammy shifting.

GXP BB’s are utter garbage – I’ve always had good experiences with XT / Saint / XTR BB’s but the GXP’s take the piss at how bad the bearings / seals are.

I’ve heard that the new DUB BBs from SRAM are amazingly reliable which would be a remarkable leap from GXP awfulness if it’s true!

It’s as cheap as chips for me really as I do all my own maintenance,I just keep it functioning well and stuff moving and spinning.Bike gets jet washed 3 or 4 times a week during winter – it has a tough life..

Bike is just going into its 3rd winter,over that time I’ve changed 2 hope bearings one in the driveside BB and the other the outer in the freehub,changed the original ally chainring to steel sram one 2 years ago(at £1.70 each-I bought 5) ,I’ve got through multiple chains at £15 a pop(this is my main expense),reverb is pretty bombproof now as running on more resilient and  weatherproof bushings,pressed in new bearings in the SRAM 11 speed X sync jockey cost nowt as someone gave them to me,bike is on its last chain now and will take the steel  GX cassette(£25 2nd hand barely worn) and chainring with it-it’s had an amazingly good innings.Probably a few quid over that time in servicing lubes.I think I’ve changed gear cable once.Don’t get through too many brake pads where I ride ,as not sandy ,gritty or long steep  descents.

So its been great value maintenance wise.

After thirty years fettling I stay on top of it, but ride a bike that tries to reduce it to a minimum in the first place: mudguards autumn-to-spring, rigid, no dropper, based round a 1×11 XT drivetrain bought in last year’s Black Friday sales.

The strategy works well for me, aided by this year’s dry summer. Just a post-ride wipe down of the drivetrain with a rag and re-lube. Only washed it once, late spring; bucket and cloth job with warm water, no fancy liquids. No mechanicals to speak of, just keeps working, aside from the XT BB dying after 10 1/2 months (no, it wasn’t overtightened).

The drivetrain’s now looking a bit worn but still working well. The intention is to run it to destruction then fit something I might pick up this week if there are any deals about.