Muddymoles mountain biking in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley

When did that happen?

Posted by Tony | June 22, 2010 | 9 comments so far

An Orange Five at the Summer Solstice sunrise on Holmbury Hill
Do you know the feeling? One moment you are riding along, Mole and machine in perfect harmony. Then all of a sudden, hold on, you notice that the pads, cassette, chain etc… are all in need a replacing. When did that happen?

I normally think that I keep my (fleet of) bikes in good nick. So imagine my surprise when I noticed this week that the jockey wheels on my Trek Fuel Ex8 had been replaced by these ninja fighting stars.

Well I suppose that it’s a good sign that I’ve been riding plenty. Plus it’s amazing what level wear the bike can take and still keep going, but these are really worn!

This episode makes me think that I need a maintenance routine. Checking the pads, drivetrain, forks etc… every week to avoid maintenance crisis situations. You know the situation, when you wheel the bike out to find that the pads are gone and the chain is seized.

So my middle summer resolution is to get out into the garage and check my bikes out.

This could get expensive.

Tony

About the author

There are 9 comments on ‘When did that happen?’

We love to get comments from our readers - if you've spent a few moments to comment, thank-you.

If you haven't had a chance yet, jump to our comments form if you have something to say.

  1. Matt says:

    Tony I’m just trying to work out what kind of grit you have on that jockey wheel. It looks very Swinley-esque to me, rather sandy and gritty ;o)

    Could just be your Welsh riding perhaps? Or maybe you need to clean your bike more!

    I’m just about to replace my casette, chain, jockey wheels and middle ring on the Five. Expensive at X0 level but needs doing. Oh, and the pivot bearings.

    At least the singlespeed is running schweetly…

  2. D'AndyC says:

    Cue the ‘Harry Carpenter Kiss of Death’, Matt. As in, “Bruno’s really boxing well, he’s in control of this fight .. and he’s down”

  3. Orange Roo says:

    Let me know if you’re planning another similar event to the fork maintenance Friday – see fork fettling

    https://muddymoles.org.uk/2010/04/fork_fettling.html

    Sounded entertaining and highly beneficial…..

  4. Dave says:

    Yes, expensive beasts these are.

    Having gone on exploratory journey trying to track down the creak on the Five I realised that the pivot bears were failing to deliver their part of the bargain, i.e. pivot. Luckily it’s not a hard job to replace and it seems sweet again. One bearing had maybe 1 degree of movement, one had zero. Advantage numero uno of a Five, just two picot bears. Spider could prove expensive.

    Next the freehub not spinning freely. Status, ongoing. Bearings replaced again, this time by Cycleworks, but still not smooth. Current suspect is the body itself being marked and hence a new one is on order. Bloody thing is only 5 years old as well. ;o(

  5. PIJ says:

    …the only pivot bearing on my Klein Mantra went after 12 years, which I thought poor form. Still running the original shock bushes though.

    Has anybody ever had to look at the bearings on front Hope hubs? The ones on my Orange Clockwork must have done 30,000 miles by now and I’ve never had cause to look at them in all that time.

    PIJ

  6. paul901 says:

    Another vote for a fork fettling Friday if feasible. Can bring beer or fresh coffee as incentive 🙂

    Maintenance is so important and I’ve forced myself to get used to many typical road bike needs and having two road bikes means I don’t miss out on rides.

    This off-road malarkey is something else though and having only one off-road bike could be reason enough to put things off. Damn, and I have vowed not to get hooked into the slippery slope of multi-bikes.

  7. Colin says:

    No fear of another fork fettling evening in my garage – the oil stains I can live with but not missing tools !

  8. DaveW says:

    Fair comment Colin.

    Have all attendees had a thorough search of their toolboxes to see if the missing items have accidentally found their way in?

    Perhaps a reminder of what is missing would be worthwhile Colin and if the items do not come to light the attendees club together to replace them?

    I can help with lowers service on Rockshox forks if anyone wants to host an event (I don’t really have a suitable venue), but I don’t have experience of Fox beyond the cycleworks demo. Orange-a-roo I believe you have Fox, but I don’t recall what forks you have Paul901.

  9. paul901 says:

    Mine are “RockShox Recon Race, Solo Air, Adjustable compression”. I don’t have a garage/workshop either

Leave a comment…

Have your say – we'd love to hear what you think.

If you have something to add, just complete this comment form (we will not publish your email address).

*Required information.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.