i was sick most of last week so i haven't ridden my bike since monday. and, I haven't done a great job of keeping things cleaned and lubed this winter in general.
put the bike on the stand tonight, the chain was looking pretty nasty although it cleaned up well, but the RD refused to shift past the 4th largest cog. after 10 minutes of pushing and pulling it by hand and squirting it with oil, it's finally working again...
so, any tips to keep that from happening? i remember it happening last winter once too, although i didn't discover it until i went out. never really had this issue in the summer even after riding through mud, although i guess in the summer the hose is always an option.
I've been looking for a good way to hose off the running gear in the winter, too. Lacking use of the garden hose, I've been looking for a carry-around tank with a pump and squirt hose on it. I had two of these available a couple of decades ago, but they were ancient then, probably WWII vintage. If anyone knows of a similar product today, that would help matters greatly.
On another thread a few people mentioned using some kind of hand-pumped pesticide dispenser for this purpose. I have a basement drain & have been using a plant watering can. But, yesterday I decided to give my ride a good bath & hooked a garden hose up to the basement utility sink faucet.
[edit] I also lube all the pivot points on my derailleurs with tri flow semi-regularly.
You'd be surprised what you can do with a bucket of water and a long-handled brush. When I used to be more OCD about having a clean bike, I'd use a utility bucket when I got to work to get the crud off. It wasn't perfect, but it certainly made a difference.
+1 on the bucket. I've gotten into the habit of cleaning the bike when I get home with a sponge and bucket.
http://www.belgiumkneewarmers.com/2008/10/the-art-of-the-bike-wash.html
A basic pump sprayer can be bought at almost any hardware store. Fill it with warm water and go to town. Don't forget to lube everything after you washed all the crud off. Salty, cruddy and generally nasty winter weather can reek havoc on bicycle parts.
Oh, and WD40 works wonders. In case you did not know WD stands for Water Displacer and when sprayed on metal parts that are wet it will help prevent them from rusting. It is not a good oil to lube parts with to prevent wear.
I'm always a little wary of putting WD-40 on any bike parts. It'll do a good job of cleaning, but won't it act as a solvent for any grease/lubes? I'd worry about, say, spraying a cassette with it for fear it would get into the hub bearings and dissolve the grease.
I bet a super soaker would do the trick nicely.
I wouldn't use WD40 as a casual cleaner on-bike for that very reason (or, for that matter, most degreasing cleansers), but it is aces for the serious grime, and for inaccessible parts.
For example, I've had good results using WD40 on the rare occasions when a freehub has lost its' mind. Pull the freehub off, soak in WD40 for a while, then pull it out, blow it dry, let it sit for a while, and dribble some light oil inside. That's the only cure I've found when the pawls start sticking in cold weather.
I had to free a cassette yesterday on snow bike... WD40 FTW
Sears sells a small bottle of solvent called Rust Buster. The department store usually keep it on the counter in the hardware department. It works very well on cleaning off road grim and will also dissolve any surface rust that may have started. The bottle has a thin long telescoping nozzle that lets you put it right in the spots that needs it. Most of the time the department stores are out of it but you can also pick it up at the parts department warehouse on 51st by the river in Laryvill.
Once all the crud is off of everything then I’ll oil each link of the chain with 3-in-1 oil.
from pseudocris I also lube all the pivot points on my derailleurs with tri flow semi-regularly.
+1
I had a problem shifting for while. Even went, unsucessfully, to the Free ride derailleur class.
It turned out to be encrusted crap on the rear deraileur pulleys.
try single speed or internally geared hubs in the winter crap!
try single speed or internally geared hubs in the winter crap!
Next year, if things pan out. I've got my eye on a nice little Alfine 8/dynohub combo in 406 for the urban 'bent...
+1 on the Super Soaker idea. Simple, cheap, elegant answer, and makes a 4-month toy into a 12-month tool. Thank you!
If you can believe it, I had more trouble with an IG hub in the winter than with my current rear mech. Part of it was due to poor cable routing, but I found that road crud would sometimes freeze the cable heading into the IG, and I wouldn't be able to shift.
Good fenders really make a difference. I've also seen another rider use a cut-up soda bottle as a rear mech "jacket."
i've used my nexus 8 through just about everything, i do have full fenders though.
Yes, WD40 or any solvent is a bad idea to use on bicycle parts because it will wash necessary out grease and oil. BUT, we are talking about bicycles that have been ridden in salty environments, that grease and oil is contaminated with grime and salt. My suggestion is after you wash the salt and grime off you will need to get something back into these parts to keep them from rusting because you probaly washed all the protective lube out of there too (hence the RD that quit moving in the original post).
Now on my mountain bike that does not see salty roads, I never wash it with high pressure water, I never clean the chain with anything other than new oil and a rag, etc...
i've used my nexus 8 through just about everything, i do have full fenders though.
That's what I had. I write it off to not having a long enough mud flap in the front. Pretty annoying, nonetheless.
interesting, i've never run into problems with that, the return spring on the hub is pretty strong (i always thought a bit excessive actually), i never really considered that a possibility of failure.. i have a pretty ideal almost cable-housing free routing though, i'd be willing to bet cable housing friction coulda been the culprit.
Thanks... I don't have mud flaps on my fenders, maybe I should try to fashion one.
I like pseudacris' idea - I bet if I took the wheels off I could kind of stick the frame in the laundry tub and not make such a huge mess... and just generally paying more attention to keeping things well-oiled.
I have given some thought to building a commuter with an IGH - and *definitely* disc brakes, I've had some sketchy moments with rim brakes this winter...
BTW, after all that, I got up this morning and thought, "I still feel kinda crappy, I think I'll drive to work". Turned the key, got a few clicks and nothing else. So I took that as a sign, and rode to work like I should have in the first place.
(IIRC I've driven to work exactly once in the past year - the day I took my dog to the office.)
oh, and I'd also neglected to pump up my tires - they were down in the low 30s. Pumped them back up to 50, plus the lubed up drive train, my bike was super-fast!
@salty I don't know what your basement setup is. The faucet on my laundry tub sink is threaded. I hook up a garden hose (brought in for the winter) to the sink, and run it across the floor to the area where my floor drain is, about 12 feet away. Then I just rinse the bike without taking anything apart.
I have to be cautious with the spray since my basement ceiling is full of 900 types of electrical wiring...
I hope you feel better soon.
Thanks, I think riding in the cold actually makes me feel better than sitting around my house...
I'd be loath to willingly put water on my basement floor considering it has kind of a gentle rolling topography. There is one floor drain but it's right under the steps. So, if I can contain it to the sink I think it would be worth the hassle. Maybe I can use my stand to suspend the bike above the sink.
Although, probably the best idea of all is to take advantage of above-freezing days like today and use the hose outside.
I tried out the big honkin' squirt gun this morning, at long last. It worked better than I imagined! This particular one tends to add a jet of air to the water, and the combination works marvelously on chains, both derailleurs, cables, and general pockets of crud.
Because of the comparatively small filler hole, I found it easier to refill from a former fabric softener bottle which has a built-in narrow pour spout, and also allowed me to take the operation outside. All told, I doubt I used a gallon of water on the whole bike.
While it was warm enough to do this outside today, I think I could use this technique on a sub-freezing night outside to squirt down the bike, then roll it inside to drip and dry, so long as I was careful not to ice over any outside walking surface, and bring the gun in when I'm done.
