Post Ride Actions… (Reprinted from the Tuesday Tome 9/8/09)
Ever wonder why some folks have bikes that always look new? They might have had the machine for years, but it still looks band box fresh. Why is that?
Let me answer by diverting a bit. The old cowboys knew that after a hard ride, they had to walk the horse to cool them down, then rub them down, feed them, inspect the hooves and shoes, blanket them, and feed and stable them. Failure to do this meant that the horse would get sick, or go lame. That cow hand understood that he depended on his horse, and needed to take care of it first. The expression “rode hard and put up wet,” comes from this era. A horse that was treated in this fashion was unhealthy, and looked it.
As a bike mechanic, one of the frustrations I often encounter is bikes that have been repeatedly treated in this fashion. They are dirty, with encrusted chains and drivelines. They creak and clank. They smell bad. They don’t work right. Things wear and corrode too quickly. It’s not so bad if the owner is willing to pay for the damage. But it gets very frustrating when I’m asked things like, “How come it’s always breaking, and I need so much work. I paid a lot of money for this, and it should work.”
The owner is right. It should work. Unfortunately there is no diplomatic way to say, you keep a filthy bike, which you sweat all over, ride in bad weather, and don’t take care of. Worse, frequently, when we try to explain the idea of regular owner maintenance, we get something like, “I don’t have time for all that.”
Most of us don’t depend on our bikes to do our jobs, but we do depend on them. For recreation, fitness, health, escape, for any number of reasons. We’ve worked hard for them. We’ve saved and scrimped to put aside the money to purchase them. We expect them to last for years. And with reasonable care, they will. But our bikes are machines. They have moving parts. Parts that wear, corrode, and deteriorate. Dirt and corrosives are the bike’s enemies. Not just from an appearance standpoint, but from the long term, return on investment perspective, it makes sense to take care of them.
The thing is, it shouldn’t take a lot of time. Not if done regularly.
Let’s get back to those folks who always seem to have nice looking, good running bikes. For many of them the “secret” is in post ride action. They have learned to take a few minutes, after a ride, and before they hang the bike, to do some quick maintenance.
Think about adopting the “7 minute drill” to the very end of your ride.
Like everything else, this works best if you take a bit of time to prepare it. It’s worth doing. The time spent setting this up will pay you back in a cleaner and better running bike.
Supplies Needed:
- Two buckets. (optional) One five gallon “job bucket” and one smaller one gallon “painter’s"
- Supply of clean shop rags
- Assortment of brushes
- Q-tips
- Simple Green Bike cleaner
- Safety-Clean Degreaser
- Rock ‘N Roll chain lube
- T-9 Boeshield (aerosol works best)
- Bottle of denatured alcohol (rubbing alcohol)
Keep all this stuff where the bike is stored. Some of you have bikes that co-habit with you in a living room. That may not be ideal. So store the stuff in the buckets, and keep it some place where you can access it readily at the end of a ride.
The following drill will take you a bit longer the first few times you do it, but with practice it resolves down to a set of habitual movements.
7 Minute Drill:
0:00 Remove water bottles, cues sheet holders, lights, bags, etc. Bottles will go inside with you for cleaning and filling later. Bags and other accessories get re-installed or put away at the end of the drill.
0:30 Use brushes to knock any grit, grime, dust, sand, or dirt off the bike while it is still dry.
1:15 Apply Simple Green to saddle and handlebar tape. Scrub with clean rag.
1:30 Apply Simple Green to Frame, and wipe down with clean rags. Start at top and work down. Pay particular attention to areas below seatpost, along seat tube, around bottle cages, and in bottom bracket region.
3:00 Apply liberal amount of alcohol to rag and then scrub brake surfaces of wheels. Inspect tires for cuts, and imbedded foreign matter while doing this. Turn rag often. The idea is to remove all the brake dust and “spooge” from the rims.
3:30 Shift chain to middle of cassette and onto the big chainring, then spray chain with Safety Clean degreaser, and wipe thoroughly with rag. (It’s okay to use one of the rags you’ve already used to clean the frame.)
4:30 Spray rear derailleur pulleys and body with Safety clean and wipe away excess gunk. Repeat with front derailleur, wiping out the interior of the cage, and wiping gunk and grit away from the pivots. (use Q-Tips for the hard to reach spots.)
5:30 Shift rear to lowest gear (yes that’s the biggest cog) and front to the big ring. Then, without turning the cranks, repeatedly click shifters in the other direction. This will slack the cables. Use a light application of Boeshield and a rag to wipe down all exposed cables. Now click the shifters to get them back to the Rear-Low/Front-high postion. Wipe any excess lube from frame with clean rag.
6:00 Apply a small amount of Boeshield to the pivots of both derailleurs, and the brake pivots. Use your other hand and a rag to shield the rest of the bike from overspray. (You don’t want this stuff dripping around, and you definitely do not want it getting on brake pads or braking surfaces of the rims.
6:30 Shift to the middle of the cassette and the big ring. Shake your bottle of Rock ‘N Roll chain lube thoroughly. Back turn the cranks and drip a drop of chain lube on each link. Continue until all of the chain is lubed. Wipe chain dry. Be sure to wipe the derailleur pulleys clean too. Shift to small chain ring and wipe the excess residue off of the big ring.
7:00 Bike is ready to hang. Put the cleaning and lube supplies back in your buckets. Toss the dirty rags aside for washing or disposal. You can replenish them from your supply of clean ones when you put the buckets away. Put the bike away, pick up your bottles and accessories and take them inside to replenish, clean and put away.
Go get a nice warm shower and an adult beverage, you’ve earned it.
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