Mtb maintenance tips and tricks.

[Salty seadog]

Inspired by a comment from @fossyant in another thread I thought I'd make a topic of it. It's clear maintenance and repairs are more frequent for those who off road.

What do you find yourself doing the most, any tips, cheats and preventative measures and vital tools to have in the armoury. I imagine hanger alignment is up there and have considered getting a tool for this myself which I think could be a wise investment if you have any sort of fleet of bikes.

Anyway, let's mine the collectives experience.

 

[ShooglyDougie]

I have found my almost ocd cleaning routine is great for finding any wee mechanical jiggles and most can be sorted out quickly.

Hanger alignment can be done using a wheel with a quick release axel, it can be screwed into the hanger and give a rough guide of how straight it is.

I have learned the hard way to always carry spare brake pads and gear cable. A good leatherman is great for fitting these on the trail.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I find riding the bike is far better then cleaning it, so I don't apart from the chain & a quick swill down with a watering can, fix nothing until you notice something wrong.

 

[Cycleops]

A good leatherman is great for fitting these on the trail.

IMHO one of these might be more useful as it includes a chain tool for not much extra weight.

 

[Heltor Chasca]

Wrap some old bar tape or an old inner tube around your drive-side chainstay to prevent chainslap taking the paint off.

Nicer acoustics and helps with resale.

 

[Salty seadog]

Wrap some old bar tape or an old inner tube around your drive-side chainstay to prevent chainslap taking the paint off.

Nicer acoustics and helps with resale.

Yep, got that covered with a velcro removable one.

 

[fossyant]

Plenty of helicopter tape where cables are, as the grit will go through the paint fast.

Clean and lube after every ride. Ive never got away with it. Its either full of dust, full of mud and dust, or full of mud.

Pay attention to pads. They vanish in sloppy rided.

Clean cassette and jockey wheels after every ride.

Relube SRAM jockey bearings every few months, same with GXP BB as the sealing isnt great.

Don't neglect your dropper post. Get one you can service yourself.

Ensure suspension is cleaned every ride and a squirt of silicone spray on the stansions. Compress susppension a few times and wipe dirt away.

Be very careful when spraying anything near discs.

Pay attention to gear shifts. If not shifting investigate before your mech self destructs.

Check suspension pivots are tight once in a while.

Cleaning is the main issue. Get the crap off the bike as it will prolong your drive chain.

 

[Tom B]

I find riding the bike is far better then cleaning it, so I don't apart from the chain & a quick swill down with a watering can, fix nothing until you notice something wrong.

Whilst I whole heartedly agree time spent cleaning is time wasted that could be spent riding it can also be good value.

I'm not someone who is too fussed about the appearance so I don't worry about wax finishes and cleaning in places I can't see. Especially as the bike is usually filthy within 2 miles on the next ride. I do however clean the oily bits and lube bearings with some care, if only because the chain alone on my MTB is 5 times the price of that on my commuter. The chain shifts and stays on better when it's clean and lubed .

 

[DaveReading]

IMHO one of these might be more useful as it includes a chain tool for not much extra weight. View attachment 415972

Coincidentally, I used by the chain tool on my Crank Brothers multitool for the first time ever at the weekend (to shorten a new chain) as I couldn't find my regular chain tool.

I was a bit dubious, and ended up wrapping the female part in a towel to get more purchase, but to my surprise it worked well.

 

[Jody]

Make sure your suspension is serviced. It doesn't take long for performance to degrade and damage to start occuring.

 

[Tom B]

Make sure your suspension is serviced. It doesn't take long for performance to degrade and damage to start occuring.

I was told, on here I think, every 200 hours use. Does that sound about right?

 

[Jody]

I was told, on here I think, every 200 hours use. Does that sound about right?

Each manufacturer is different. FOX recommends lowers every 30 hours of service

 

[ChrisEyles]

I've had a few MTB rear wheels go out of true rather easily on me, and I've found through trial and error that putting a bit more tension on the spokes (say 1/2 to 1 turn all around) can help keep them true.

Bear in mind I'm a pretty light rider and the wheels I've done this too might have been under tensioned in the first place, so I'm not recommending everyone go out and do this, but if you are having to true up minor wobbles more often than you think you should, give it a go.

Only other tip that hasn't been mentioned already is to re-grease the bottom headset cup more regularly than you would on a road bike. Mine look pretty grotty whenever I do them (every 6 months to a year depending how much I'm riding the bike).

 

[Ciar]

I recently had issues with my dropper and took it in to be sorted, ended up being replaced as it had bit the bullet, but on the same trip i asked my mate to check my gears as i was having issues switching from main ring down to granny and back up, discovered i had managed to snap of two teeth and thus needed a new chain ring.

otherwise for me it's clean bike with brush and soapy water, then re-lube and put away. i do also have those clear stickers in places, where you can get cable wear and they do a decent job of protecting the paintwork. in all honesty if your that bothered about the paintwork have the bike wrapped, for me it's an MTB and is going to take a beating, so not that overly fussed!

 

[ChrisEyles]

I'm also in the clean the bike after every ride camp. It's a bit of a PITA but my drivetrain wears out quickly enough as it is!