Before the ride...

[Carbon_Dude]

I know this forum is titled, "After the Ride", however I thought I would start up a before the ride discussion.

Prior to today's ride I:

1) Greased my shock mounting pivots (still chasing a creaking sound).
2) Added more Stans to my front tire, was loosing too much air overnight.
3) Re-aligned my front brake caliper (had a light squeak from the rotor).
4) Cleaned my bike (it was a mess) but it's going to get dirty again today .
5) Re-routed the cable to my bike computer sensor, getting too close to the tire.
6) Checked tire pressure.
7) Lubed my chain (I've been liking White Lightening Clean Ride.  Good lubricant for dry/damp conditions.  Doesn't pick up much dirt during the ride.

On a side note, I also replaced my chain.  Had my XX1 chain break on the last ride, luckily another rider had a temporary master link that she let me have to get me out to the parking lot.

Talked to the LBS and they called SRAM about the chain breaking since it was still relatively new.  SRAM sent out a replacement and we sent the old one back to SRAM for them to look at.  Chain was about 2 month old with less than 20 rides (200 miles) on it.  Seemed like a premature failure to me.  Or possibly something I did when I sized the chain when I built the bike.  Either way, got a new chain and it's good to go.

So, does anyone else do much maintenance between rides?

[MTB2223]

"Before the ride" I'm always in a hurry. So, I tried to do all the maintenance directly or the day after the ride, which is:
- clean up de bike, especially the chain, FD and RD.
- after cleanup the chain and before the chain lube, I'll dry the chain with an old towel.
- lube the chain
- check the brake pads and replace them when needed.

On monthly basis:
- degrease chain completely. Lube chain again.
- check chain wear.
- replace chain with second chain.
- check for play in wheels, bb and headset.

On half year basis:
- bearing maintenance, hubs, bb and headset.

When something pops up during a ride, I spend more time during the week for this extra maintenance.

[Inertia]

 
Great Idea!
Pre-checking can never be a bad thing; and
I would encourage the use of a headlamp w/very bright
intensity to assist in the inspection of the stress areas of your
frame. Adding a point for consideration during per-construction:
the use of magnaflux or zygglo inspection (as applicable) to
critical metal parts.

Creaking may be something as simple as metal
to metal contact (non critical) such as the handle bar intersection w/stem
(hope that's right)...I worked on a Raleigh that had this issue. It spooked me:
as I'm weighing in at 230+ so noises cause me concern ref. encroachment on safety factors.
After loosen'g and re-tighting associated frasteners I wish I had a proper torque wrench to re-torque the fastener.
SInce the shifters and brakes are attached I was reluctant to remove everything fearing making new problems.
But encourage the use of Lacquerer thinner to preclean/degrease metal parts and find out what lube is applicable
to threads and I even would go as far as getting the spec. for torquing. Over kill you say
perhaps but when AMerican Manufactures in the early to mid 70's were still sorta made in the USA orientated
here-in is my point: building 7000-10000 rpm small block Chevy motors one of the shops protocols was 100%
magnaflux inspection of GM Bolts...all of em. Applicable and usable for day to day motors but when encroaching
on the demands of components ( and I see this in the arena of Carbon'hitechmetal biking) there was an ov'r 80%
rejection of Rod bolts alone. This following degrease then shoot peening followed by the Magnaflux.

What if your creaking is the telegraphing from your crank-set up through the frame (acting like a musical instrument) to amplify
this? Noise may indeed be a per-cursor to a problem so yes indeed checking is never wrong.

I could go on about the possibilities but here again you all are a quantum lep ahaead of me
on the function/build-ride.

Great idea for a thread as ya call it?

bugging out...to the reality of a sewer day of sorts: no hi-tech here just the worst of things
to engage in. Hide y Ho!
 

[MTB2223]

I would encourage the use of a headlamp w/very bright
intensity to assist in the inspection of the stress areas of your
frame. Adding a point for consideration during per-construction:
the use of magnaflux or zygglo inspection (as applicable) to
critical metal parts.

That's a nice one. Good idea! Thnx

[jonxmack]

Always tyre pressure, 18psi front, 21psi back, come rain or shine that's my go to pressure.

Apart from that it's the standard. Kit up, bottle filled, phone and keys in my jersey pouch, headphones in and music on, hit the go on the Garmin and smash the trails.

[Inertia]

 
Just in from sewer-mania!
Re-fueld and clean; and
as I was enjoying the wind this thought came to me:
ref. that ...as the tube wall is so very thin; and
certain places can become mounting points for
clamp like devices thus are we sure that as you
torque together something like this that the tube can be deforming?
Which in turn (if it is) never really allows for an actual solid feel.
So lets say (and again the specific name of the part escapes me)
but if you have a multi-speed selection capability as you ask
the device to move away from the down tube below the seat
tro move the chain? Can y=this be trouble and then should this spot have a longer surface shim?

[cmh]

Before a ride:

• Get bottles or camelbak together (chose based on distance)
• Pack any nutrition that'll be necessary, usually at least Clif shots
• Make sure we have helmet, gloves, and shoes
  (I keep flat pedals in the car just in case I forget bike shoes - it's happened.)
• Make sure we've got a change of clothes for afterwards
  (We always get changed immediately after the ride, never wanna be standing/sitting around in sweaty bike clothes
• Load the bikes up in the car (no trails rideable distance from home) 
• Get to the trail, park, unload the bikes. Put my front wheel on, since my bike won't fit in the Element fully assembled.
• Check tire pressures.
• Lock up the car, and RIDE! 

One thing I never, never do is lube the chain before a ride. Most chain lubes, especially the "dry" type, have carriers which help in application but will evaporate. Usually when you apply, then ride immediately, the carriers will keep things wetter and attract more dirt.

Instead, I always apply chain lube after the ride, giving it at least overnight to dry. Unless the chain was too dry to start with, I'll usually run it over the gears, make sure the shifting is good, then wipe the chain clean with a rag. Subsequently, our drivetrains are _clean_ and look nice, plus don't pick up too much goop. I've also found that taking this approach, I very rarely need to take the chain off for a complete degreasing.

[tripleDot]

Just got around to read this post again and thought of the bikes I had and have (see my signature lines... which is in a format I shamelessly copied from Carbon_Dude  )

Used to be only two things I do before I ride, that's excluding the 10 minutes of deciding what clothes to wear...

First, check tire pressure.
Second, check brakes.

Any other maintenance (major or minor) is done a few days before or after the rides.

Now, things got complicated, except for the what to wear part, l've sorted that out by retiring 3/4 of my cycling wear. Unless there was a previous plan, I have employed a simple technique to help me decide. It's flipping a coin.

Heads for mtb XC, then I flip coin again, heads for cycling shoes, tails for any shoes. I have a Crank Brothers Double Shot pedals.

Tails for road bike, then I flip coin again, heads for geared, tails for single speed.

Get dressed... according to which bike I'm gonna ride.
Move the right spare tube/s to my belt bag (gear bag).
Prepare my water bottle/s.
Then I check tire pressure and brakes.

While I'm happy I got more bikes today, partly because I used to live in a condo and don't have space for more than 1 bike. I admit that I do missed the simplicity of having a single bike.

[Carbon_Dude]

LOL, it's nice to have choices, but it's also nice to have simplicity in your life.

[Calvino]

Before the ride(which means the day before the ride) i lube the stanchions, check brakepads for wear and alignment, check how much wax is left on the chain(yes i wax all my chains). 30 mins before the ride, i decide on  the gear i wear depending on conditions, season and temperature. Either only go with a hydration pack with smaller bits and bops or a small backpack for things like food, 2 inner tubes, additional layers of clothing and such with a bigger 750ml or 1000ml water bottle on the frame. Check the tire pressure(23fr and 26re i still run tubes but plan on converting to tubeless soon), quick look at cassette wear, chainring wear, rear mech(clutch off for climbing), tire wear.

After the ride(if it was particularly muddy)i clean the whole frame and bits and bops that got the most grit with some hot soapy water and a sponge(also in the winter) since i got a flat without access to a gardenhose. im a bit carefull when cleaning around the brake calipers, since i once got quite some soap onto my pads which led to significant power loss, squeaking and a really strange smell whenever they got hot. I check whether the chain, cassette or chainring got particularly dirty. if so, i clean everything with my ultra-sonic cleaner(worth every cent to me) and get the next chain onto my drivetrain. Rewaxing only one chain is too time consuming, so i got 3 chains for each bike. Makes re-waxing a lot more efficient

[MTB2223]

I merged part of this topic into the already existing topic about chain waxing. A very interesting topic. You can find it here: http://chinertown.com/index.php/topic,1389.0.html

[RDY]

What happened to the Road / Gravel / CX section?

[Carbon_Dude]

I think it wasn't getting much traffic so it was combined into one of the other forums.

[jannmayer]

Most of my rides are short lunchtime rides from my house, so I need to be able to go quickly. I have road and mountain supplies in my Camelbak so I don't have to move anything around based on what I'm going to ride. My riding time is limited, but it's easier to find 15 to 30 min in the evening for maintenance, so I make sure everything is ready to go ahead of time.

[courdacier]

drink a glass of water and a glass of Pedialyte electolyte mix, fill 2 water bottles and throw a granola bar into my pocket.