Richard8655

On a similar subject as the sagging chain thread. At the end of every ride, I leave my bike in small-small. My thinking is to reduce the tension on the chain, derailleurs, and cables while the bike's not in use to extend longevity. Does this make sense or am I delusional?

FBinNY 

Delusional.

Your car sits on springs. I gather you don't put it on blocks overnight, so is it sagging lower as it gets older? By the same token, does the spoke tension in your wheels drop over time?

Feel free to continue the practice if it makes you feel better, since it can't hurt, but it doesn't help either.

If you need something more technical, it's that steel doesn't stretch over time while under tension. In order for it to deform, you have to exceed the elastic limit.

cny-bikeman

You're not delusional, overly concerned at least, OCD at most. If you want to do so then go ahead, but it will make no difference at all in the chain, and almost no impact (.001%?) on derailleurs, shifters, or cables.

Actually, change that to you are delusional. Having to shift both derailleurs every time you get back on the bike is far more stress (and annoyance) than leaving it in a gear close to what you would normally start in.

HillRider

Properly designed and manufactured springs do not "weaken" if left under tension within their design parameters. What eventually wears out springs is repetitions so, you are wearing them out sooner by the unnecessary shifts. Also, what eventually breaks chains, cables, etc. is fatigue from many stress cycles so, again, the unneeded shifts will speed up the process. The extra wear from your procedure is minimal but it is not aiding longevity.

This misleading concept of letting springs "relax" to improve their longevity is also common among firearms owners. Many unload or rotate their magazines to let the the follower springs "rest". It's a waste of time and does wear the springs more by cycling them excessively.

79pmooney

It makes no difference on the metal parts. (You don't see old bridges sagging and they were built long before your bike.) Plastic parts might creep a little but in reality, it's not much of an issue. New cables might actually benefit from being stored stretched. Might speed up the tightening of the strands and settling in at their final length sooner.

There may be plastic parts in brifters that would benefit from your approach. I cannot say as I have yet to go that route. (I've been shifting down tube shifters for 50 years. I love the simplicity, the versatilty and the fact that the shifters never get damaged in a crash and the brake levers that do are cheap and usually rideable after.)

Ben

Bandera

Back when friction shifters w/o ratcheting were the norm taking the tension load off while stored was SOP for me.
NR shifters were far from perfectly positive even in normal operation, not having the compression cranked really tight on the DT levers and keeping tension on only in operation made sense to me. It may have been a habit developed by the rear wheel change drills we did and just became routine.

With indexed shifting: Nope, not necessary although I do shift my '50's AW IGH into 'H' when parked for the day.

PS: Just checked and every derail bike that I have is hung on it's hook shifted into top cog and on the inner ring, old drills became automatic habit and ready for that quick wheel change.....

-Bandera

Reynolds 

Some valve springs in engines always keep compressed when not in use, and they last for millions and millions of cycles...

cycledogg

Seems a lot of folks here disagree with this practice. I have always shifted to small/small when I park the bike at home after a ride. Most LBS perform this practice also. And yes, it does release tension on the cables. Everyone has there reason for one thing or another. But, it seems to help my cables last a little longer, and a little goes a long way.
Cheers

HillRider

I don't "disagree" with the practice, I just know it's not doing anything to save your drivetrain. If it makes you feel better, by all means keep doing it. None of the LBS's I'm familiar with bother doing it.

PDKL45

I don't think it's delusional at all, I always change to small-small, and a lot of bike store people I know also do it. I'm frankly surprised at the response here, I would have thought that there would be widespread acceptance of the practice.

wphamilton

Big-big while at rest would pull the DR up where it's less likely to get banged, which makes more sense to me.

FBinNY 

FWIW - none of the detractors are objecting to the practice. We're just pointing out that there's no (mechanical) benefit. If you think it helps, feel free. Just don't make the mistake of posting and expecting folks to say it makes sense.

FBinNY 

I live on the side of a hill, but my driveway has a slight uphill pitch. So, I get home with the bike in a mid-low gear, which is perfect for starting out in one direction, and no problem downshifting on what would be coasting in the other.


So, I'm lucky that without any effort, I end up storing the bike in the right gear for starting out. Why would I mess with that.

Richard8655

Thanks all for both the pro and con opinions with interesting points from the con side. But I'll probably keep my delusion going as it still makes sense to me (yes, could be OCD). But interesting to get a variety of thoughts, including the notably few who agree.

70sSanO

Mixed bag for me. Road bikes are left in the startup gear. Been doing it for decades even storing, never gave it a second thought.

My mountain bikes are rapid rise low normal and I have concluded, correctly or incorrectly, that it takes more spring tension to climb to a larger cog than drop to a smaller cog. Regardless of reality on whether little spring tension helps, this is reason I leave my mountain bikes in a small-big. I generally start out on the small chainring, but I have to jump a few cogs on the cassette when I start.

John

DiabloScott

It seems rather like the old practice of deflating your setups after a ride, except lots of people did that.

FBinNY 

Actually, spun fibers like what tires are built from, are very different than steel springs or cables. In tire cords individual threads are spun from strands much shorter. They hold together by friction, and over time the strands can slip on each other, allowing the thread to get longer.

So, time can be the enemy of tires in a way it isn't for springs. I rode tubulars for decades and have 1st hand experience with them getting slightly larger over time, especially as they neared the end of their lives. So, while I never bothered bleeding them, I knew many who did, and can understand it more with tires than with steel.

maddog34

springs fail if over-stressed... springs "get weak" if left in a stressed position for long periods of time... spring quality varies.

is your der. a high quality one? if so, not much worry, as the pivot points will typically get loose before the spring gets weak...

cables don't care one bit under normal stress...

click or brifter shifters use tiny, tiny springs... one of those tiny springs is a flat, coiled wire... it can be relieved by shifting all the way to the lowest position of the shifter.

twist shifters have a spring that is always under some load, regardless of position of derailleurs.......

anyone that doesn't think springs get weaker over time should go look at several old Ford Mustangs of the 1964-65 vintage... if the rear springs aren't sagged out, someone has replaced them already.... they were improperly heat treated... quality control issues happen all the time in manufacturing.....

i've replaced more that a dozen rear ders. that had failing wrap springs... and two or three with a broken or weak swing spring...... they were mostly over twenty years old.

most brifters and click shifters "fail" when the GREASE gets dry/hard... i've seen a couple with a broken return spring so far, and a couple more that had bad pawl springs, too.... no way to relieve those tiny pawl springs.... the ones with broken springs were low-budget offerings, including TOURNEY Shimano units.

DiabloScott

Yeah, sorry, I think you're fooling yourself.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/tubular-fables.html

cny-bikeman

I would not respect a bike shop that would leave a drive train in the small-small combo. That is not only cross-chain, but also a rather high gear on many double chainring bikes, contributing to excessive wear and noise. It's of course totally unacceptable to leave it there for a customer on a triple.

People should not be encouraged to ride in that gear. In fact, many times when a bike came in with that combo engaged or showing a lot of use I educated the rider about using a better combo.

The reason for a mechanic to leave the drive train in that gear is that it's the easiest one for remounting the wheel, but it's lazy and not helpful to leave it there. When I was a service manager I required customers' bikes to be left in an easy to pedal gear - typically small double chainring or middle triple and middle cog.

cny-bikeman

Your choice to make, but not everything that makes sense is true. My favorite example is avoiding the first restroom stall because it's the most used, which is both flawed logic and based on a false assumption. The "con" arguments above are based in physics/mechanics, the "pro" seems based in opinion and common practice.

Finally I would note that what you asked was not pro/con regarding the practice, but rather whether you were mistaken in your belief ("delusional") about it avoiding wear. None of the "pro" posts provides any evidence that you were correct.

cyccommute 

I assume you mean "sewups" (stupid autocorrect!).

It would depend on how the tires are stored as to whether or not deflating them would be harmful or a pointless exercise. If the tires have weight on them, then the practice is harmful. If the tires are hung up, the practice is merely pointless.

With weight, the tires can form a sharp bend where the weight is applied. This bend stretches the rubber matrix and allows for oxidation of the rubber at the sharp bend. Over long periods of time, the rubber will lose its elasticity and even breakdown as a polymer. Eventually, the only thing left holding the tire together is the cord which can't stand up to the pressure requirements.

Weight on the tires is somewhat analogous to putting weight on both ends of a coil spring and then turning the system horizontal while supporting the spring in the middle. If you started spraying a corrosive fluid on the spring, the spring would oxidize fastest where the spring sags.

Without weight, it would make little difference.

Different from springs, yes, but not different from cables. The strands aren't held together by friction between the fibers. They are a woven fabric that is held together by a matrix of rubber. Even in track tires where the sidewalls might not be coated with rubber, the tread serves to hold the fabric in place. The strands can stretch a bit like a cable can but the rubber constrains them from stretching enough to allow the inner tube from pushing out. Over time, it's not the strands that slip past each other but the rubber losing elasticity and/or breaking the bond between the rubber and the fabric fibers that does tires in due to weathering.

Perhaps not delusional but it is a pointless exercise. It won't make a difference.

carl7

The least of things you have to worry about. Put it out of mind. Just leave it where you stopped riding for the day.

Stormsedge

I just try to leave my bike in a gear I can turn getting outta the garage.

Bandera

I deflated my racing tubulars after an event until they just held their shape, kept them under wheel covers in a climate controlled closet w/ the wine and inflated to keep their shape in over winter storage. Silk handmade tires were as expensive, delicate and finicky as exotic pets and best treated as such for maximum life, puncture resistance and adhesion. Training tires, not so much....

-Bandera