Comments on: Repair Tips : Long Term Maintenance

By: Ned

Ned — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 14:48:24 +0000

Thanks for the great info!

By: dukiebiddle

dukiebiddle — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 13:33:13 +0000

Paul in Minneapolis, why would you need ~3 to 4 thousand miles more miles out of a chain that only costs $20? Removing, soaking, drying, lubing on a weekly basis seems unusual to preserve such an inexpensive item, especially when you consider the hours spent annually preserving one chain.

By: Kevin Love

Kevin Love — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 23:03:00 +0000

Paul wrote:
“My chain case if fully enclosed and I should be able to make an oil bath. This would eliminate all chain maintenance till the chain wore out.”

Kevin’s comment:
I presume this is the Trek bike you referred to previously. Did Trek email you back and say that this would eliminate all chain maintenance?

This reminds me: My Pashley is due for its annual maintenance on January 28. Notice how this date was cleverly chosen to avoid when the recreational riders are in the shop. I’ll have to make arrangements to bring it in.

The shop is Curbside Cycle in Toronto. A wonderful place that I highly recommend. One of the particular delights that I am looking forward to is riding a Batavus loaner while they work on my Pashley.

By: jdc

jdc — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:37:40 +0000

I just thought of something else. Do any of you know someone who’s using Shimano’s new beltdrive system on a commuter? I sold a beltdrive bike to a customer in the summer, but it isn’t being used for commuting.

By: jdc

jdc — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:25:26 +0000

Question for all of you. We just started carrying the White Lightning brand of lubricants at our shop, due to numerous requests for the line. Do any of you use or have you used their wax based chain lube in the past? How was it? The theory behind it sounds interesting. I might test it by using it exclusively on the fixie that I’m building.

By: Paul in Minneapolis

Paul in Minneapolis — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:07:57 +0000

@ Kevin Love or anyone, My chain case if fully enclosed and I should be able to make an oil bath. This would eliminate all chain maintenance till the chain wore out. Also, with an oil-bath how long would a very good chain last? And last, what would be the best oil to use – in temperature ranges down to minus 30f and up to 100f? My winter riding is below 30f.

By: Paul in Minneapolis

Paul in Minneapolis — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:59:23 +0000

@ JDC
I agree, when I say re-oil, I take the chain off, soak it in cleaner, rinse, dry, replace chaing then put 1 drop on each roller. It is time consuming, but I get ~3 to 4 thousand miles before they ware out.
With new chains the factory grease is best and I leave it on till the enviorment has taken its toll. But with a chain protected I want to leave that factory grease on as long as I can. Along witht the chain case it also has the advantage of a single speed. I was hoping someone from where these type bike are riden would know to tell me.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why euro type bikes are more common in the US… I wouldn’t be surprised if the auto companies work to keep such wonderful bikes out of america…

By: jdc

jdc — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:26:16 +0000

Paul in Minneapolis…..lubing a chain. Sometimes the only thing worse than not lubing a chain is lubing a chain too much. I find that proper technique is more important. As a mechanic, nothing sours my mood more than having to wrestle with someones filthy, greasy black chain.

If you were standing here beside me it would be easy to demonstrate proper chain lubrication, lol. Ideally, what we want is lube on the rollers of the chain where they contact the pins. We don’t need it anywhere else on the chain. Add lube to the chain. Wait a few minutes for the lube to penetrate. Now we need to remove any excess lube by running the chain backwards through a rag held in your free hand. A well known bicycle mechanics institute instructor, Jenny Scorza, said it best. “it is humanly impossible to remove enough excess lube from the chain”. Take a look at the chain of a brand new bike in a bike shop. Ideally, THAT is what a chain should be like when cleaned and lubed.

By: jdc

jdc — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 04:01:48 +0000

I hold Pashleys in high regard, they are simply beautiful bicycles. It would be fantastic to ride the same Pashley for 50 years, Kevin. I own a 1975 Frejus that is equipped with it’s original complete 1974 Campy Nuevo Record gruppo on it. It’s been going strong for 35 years! My 1984 Velo Sport Alpin radonneur bike has an extremely rare Shimano Deore road gruppo on it….has seen many hard tours and is ridden without any special care . My 1984 Sekine is my foul weather bike. My French-made 1983 Peugeot mountain bike is all original and still ridden off road. My newest project is a 1962 Allin club racer….to go along with the 1959 that we have at the shop. Your Pashley should last a long time. I hope to add one to my stable one day.

By: Kevin Love

Kevin Love — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:32:59 +0000

Plauale wrote:
“I am an mechanical engineer, I like to fix things…”

Kevin’s comment:
That’s cool. Among other things, I am a Certified Quality Engineer. So, I’ll use a little reliability engineering jargon and state:

“The types of bicycle that are enabling technologies for advanced cycling cultures are those that have been moved to the top of the maintenance hierarchy.”

Those who are not engineers are probably scratching their heads and saying “what’s that?” Here is the maintenance hierarchy, from bottom to top:

1. Breakdown maintenance. Wait until things break and then fix them. In some cases, this makes sense. At home, I wait until a light bulb burns out before I replace it.

2. Preventive maintenance. Do maintenance at regular intervals. For example, the annual maintenance on my Pashley, where the dealer does every item on page 11 of the owners manual. Or to continue with light bulbs, replace each light bulb once a year whether it needs to be replaced or not.

3. Predictive maintenance. This would involve testing the light bulb to see if it is weak and needs replacement. I regularly test batteries and replace the weak ones.

4. Maintenance elimination. This would involve buying a special “long-life” light bulb that will need replacement very infrequently.

Mature bicycle cultures, such as in places like Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Tokyo, have standardized upon bicycles that are at the top of the maintenance hierarchy. It is not hard to see why. It is possible to buy a bike that is absurdly cheap and astonishingly reliable for the ordinary person who doesn’t know how to do bicycle maintenance and has zero desire to learn.

For more information, see:

http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2009/01/anatomy-of-reliable-everyday-bicycle.html