Like Steve, I keep a notebook. While I am not particularly proactive about replacing things, I do keep an eye on the tires and chain. And am usually amazed by the mileage I get on both. Actually, my riding buddies are more amazed :-)
The bike goes up on the stand for a clean and lube before most biggish rides; I can look at the tires at that point. I have a chain-checker. As for tires - I had Marathons once, on my then-commuter. Never again, although I never worried about getting a flat. The Riv currently has mismatched tires - Michelin Axial Raid and Michelin Megamium. I know, they don't even have matching sidewalls. But neither is up for replacement. I do have some tires waiting in the wings. The Sweetpea (rando, big miles bike) is currently running the Hutchinson 650b tires. I like them. I can ride them into the ground, barring any seriously bad cuts. I'd go for the Compass tires, but there are no 650b 32 or 34 ones available, and my bike doesn't do well with 38s - not enough room. As long as it isn't raining, cleaning and lubing a bike is meditative. If it is cold, fill the wash bucket with hot water. On Tuesday, August 19, 2014 10:48:39 AM UTC-7, Steve Palincsar wrote: > > On 08/19/2014 09:49 AM, Allingham II, Thomas J wrote: > > Steve (and all): > > *"**And sometimes you really do have to know. For example, shift cables > fray and need periodic replacement. Even with bar end shifters (which all > those bikes have) where a fraying cable's stray ends will poke you in the > finger and alert you to impending failure before it actually happens, > unlike the case with Shimano STI, it's still awkward and inconvenient if > you find yourself on a hilly ride 50 miles from the end of the ride reduced > to two or three gears on the front, unable to use your rear derailleur. > For Shimano indexed bar end shifters, that happens around 5,000 miles. > Careful record-keeping would let you change them out before they started to > fray. (I hope to get there some day...)**"* > > It would never have occurred to me to change out a shift cable (until it > broke, I guess). There must be other maintenance items like that which you > keep track of -- how did you develop your list? How did you determine > replacement intervals for each maintenance item? Is there a widely used > list that I'm not aware of? > > > Shift cables are the main one you need to watch out for by mileage, and > that primarily because for the most common shifters (i.e., STI) the signs > of impending failure are not visible and the failure can be catastrophic, > with shards of broken cable wire hopelessly jamming the complex innards of > an STI unit, to the point of your having to purchase a replacement unit. > Less catastrophic failure mode for bar ends: the frayed cable strands will > poke you in the finger and alert you before the cable actually breaks, but > depending on the terrain it can be a huge pain to be left with only two or > three usable gears (i.e., up front only) for the rest f the ride. > > With pretty much everything else you can see or feel the signs of wear, > assuming you take the time to look. It's better to change tires before > they're down to the casing, but for some reason you occasionally see people > on the road with tires with large sections of tread that have actually come > loose. Normally a sudden surge in the number of flats will indicate a > tread that's gotten too thin, but sometimes random chance will spare you > until the tire is ready for a catastrophic failure. Brake pad wear can be > seen, too, if you but look; however I still remember one time I let my rear > pads get so worn on my commuter that on a hard braking in a tricky traffic > situation (when else would you brake hard?) the pads slipped off the rims > and down into the spokes. On centerpulls, worn pads can end up with the > pad rising above the rim (rather than below it, as happens with > cantilevers) and contacting and destroying your tire's sidewall. > > If you habitually test your headset by rocking the bike forward against a > fully applied front brake you won't be taken by surprise by a loosening > headset, and if you periodically check your chain with a ruler or wear > gauge you won't be taken by surprise by chain stretch. > > > > And more broadly -- do folks on this list have a favorite little-known or > widely neglected maintenance item that can save us a lot of grief? > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
