What are the biggest wastes of time in bike maintenance?
#51
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Good effing grief! If I were a bike shop owner and someone brought this in, I would refuse to work on it. This is akin to eating a sleeve of Oreos before a visit to the dentist.
FWIW, I use homebrew and none of my bikes are ever this filthy. This guy obviously doesn't believe in wiping down his chain after lubing it.
FWIW, I use homebrew and none of my bikes are ever this filthy. This guy obviously doesn't believe in wiping down his chain after lubing it.
This guy didn’t wipe his chain nor was he all that careful on how he used it. I’m reasonably certain he used a spray bottle to apply it. The front wheel looked just about as caked as the rear. Personally, I wouldn’t let an oil based lube within 10 feet of any bike I own.
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#52
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A large part of the problem is that this isn’t my shop. It’s a co-op with 20 to 30 volunteers per week. A $5 box of gloves lasts about a week. I could bring in a box each week and it will be gone when I go back the next week. That means, to me, each pair of gloves is about $5. Asking the shop to buy gloves is a bit problematic as we are already squeezing every bit of snot out of Lincoln’s nose as it is.
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Stuart Black
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#53
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A large part of the problem is that this isn’t my shop. It’s a co-op with 20 to 30 volunteers per week. A $5 box of gloves lasts about a week. I could bring in a box each week and it will be gone when I go back the next week. That means, to me, each pair of gloves is about $5. Asking the shop to buy gloves is a bit problematic as we are already squeezing every bit of snot out of Lincoln’s nose as it is.
#54
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I sometimes loan my specialized tools to the co-op. If they don’t have a tool, I will often buy it. But, as I tell them, I don’t do it for them. I buy them tools that they don’t have because I need them and get tired of doing work arounds or loaning my tools to them.
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
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Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#55
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That "deeply packed factory grease" is not some super awesome lube. It is:
- intended to prevent rust formation before installation
- wears away in the first several miles of use
That said, I’m not a fan of it since it does tend to leave chain tattoos. I remove it on the initial install and use solvent wax lubricant. The whole drivetrain is cleaner over all. My drivetrains always look like this, even in the depth of winter. I can handle them without the need for gloves.
IMG_1155 by Stuart Black, on Flickr
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Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#56
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Yes, I know but I forget. It’s just one more thing I need to remember to carry with me to the shop. I don’t need them when I work on my own bike and don’t think about it until I’m working on a particularly nasty bike, thus the hand washing.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
#57
TeeOhPea 2tha DeeOhGee
Typical bike tire systems (tubular, tubeless, butyl tubes, latex tubes, sealant, etc.) do not hold air pressure indefinitely. I have 3 bikes that I ride regularly, and sometimes add a 4th to the mix, plus the bike that lives on my trainer. It's pretty common that whatever bike I'm riding that day hasn't been ridden in a week or more. Tire pressures pretty much always need to get topped off before every ride.
Relieved to see this. Riding 20 years, but still not an expert here. I've maintained a stable of road/Mtb/gravel bikes for me and the girlfriend for 20 years and have always pumped us both up pre-ride every time. I shudder to think of cumulative time waste if this was ruled "waste."
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Relieved to see this. Riding 20 years, but still not an expert here. I've maintained a stable of road/Mtb/gravel bikes for me and the girlfriend for 20 years and have always pumped us both up pre-ride every time. I shudder to think of cumulative time waste if this was ruled "waste."
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"A new chain usually feels sticky at first. These are residues of the high-performance grease used during assembly. Remove this grease with a thin-bodied oil or cleaner (no aggressive grease solvents!), lightly oil the rollers and remove excess oil with a cloth." -- KMC Chain
"Ah, factory grease.... Honestly, it is like a zombie apocalypse that won't die.This is one of the worst bits of information on chain lubricants that is still too pervasive despite my and others' (like Josh Poertner, Jason Smith) efforts to correct it.
Factory grease is a) pretty slow, b) gathers contamination rapidly and thus quickly becomes much slower again and much higher wear, and c) most top lubricants do not mix at all with factory grease (or dispel them). Especially wax lubricants; that is trying to mix two completely incompatible products." -- VeloNews 2022
"Another thing as you know – the factory lubes have multiple roles to play. They need to keep the chain from oxidizing/rusting for (possibly) several years of shelf life.....We know the factory grease and oil on chains is like a magnet for contaminants. So, within a few rides, that grease/oil can become a grinding paste, actually decreasing the longevity" -- VeloNews 2022
Last edited by terrymorse; 04-05-23 at 12:43 PM.
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c) most top lubricants do not mix at all with factory grease (or dispel them). Especially wax lubricants; that is trying to mix two completely incompatible products." -- VeloNews 2022
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For me, by far the biggest waste of time is waxing my chain.
I have to turn on the crock pot to melt it. That takes over 0.2 sec.
Then I have to put the chain in when it has melted. That also takes over That takes over 0.2 sec.
Then I have to stir it around for 10 seconds.
Finally, I have to pull it out, which again takes over 0.2 sec.
That is more than 10.6 seconds of my life I will never get back.
I have to turn on the crock pot to melt it. That takes over 0.2 sec.
Then I have to put the chain in when it has melted. That also takes over That takes over 0.2 sec.
Then I have to stir it around for 10 seconds.
Finally, I have to pull it out, which again takes over 0.2 sec.
That is more than 10.6 seconds of my life I will never get back.
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[QUOTE=Hondo6;22851159]As soon as I saw this, I knew it was going to start another chain lube "religious feud" . . . .[/QUOT
After that post I need to put on my asbestos suit and get ready to be flamed.
After that post I need to put on my asbestos suit and get ready to be flamed.
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Ha... That's a good one... Every body knows a clean bike is faster then a dirty one... Of course that's not so true with the riders...
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#69
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For me, by far the biggest waste of time is waxing my chain.
I have to turn on the crock pot to melt it. That takes over 0.2 sec.
Then I have to put the chain in when it has melted. That also takes over That takes over 0.2 sec.
Then I have to stir it around for 10 seconds.
Finally, I have to pull it out, which again takes over 0.2 sec.
That is more than 10.6 seconds of my life I will never get back.
I have to turn on the crock pot to melt it. That takes over 0.2 sec.
Then I have to put the chain in when it has melted. That also takes over That takes over 0.2 sec.
Then I have to stir it around for 10 seconds.
Finally, I have to pull it out, which again takes over 0.2 sec.
That is more than 10.6 seconds of my life I will never get back.
#71
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So, don't use them. I don't. They make a measurable difference in rolling resistance, but the expense and the pressure loss problem mean they're not for me - I have 10 bikes and am a pothole and rock magnet. But for others, who care less about those issues, why not?
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Right. Precisely why I said I don't do tubeless. I didn't say everybody else shouldn't do tubeless. What's your point?
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BTW, the 10 bikes is also why I don't do tubeless. Most of them would be impossible to convert, and IIRC tubeless tires and the sealant benefit from being ridden regularly.
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#74
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And then do you dip the chain in the hot wax slurry without cleaning it
Yup. It doesn't get dirty because ... wax.
or do you have a cleaning ritual as well?
Liquid wax cleans it. That is the 10 second swirl step.
Also, I assume you strip the excess wax off the outside of the chain
No need.
otherwise that's just as messy as lubing a chain and not wiping the excess lube off the outside.
The only hassle is removing whatever they pack the chain in when it is new, but you (or at least I) would do that before any kind of lube.