A.R.S.E.

hutchy wrote:http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online ... mendations

I got paid today so picked up one as well. Will make cleaning two mountain bikes a bit easier.

KNAPPO wrote:

hutchy wrote:http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online ... mendations

I got paid today so picked up one as well. Will make cleaning two mountain bikes a bit easier.

Yea wished I had grabbed one a couple of years ago. That said I use Morgan Blue Cyclocross lube......its still a bastard to clean off!!

That ultrasonic cleaner is amazing. Even after 3 passes and a rinse pass in a chain bath if you let the chain dry then twist it you could still hear fine grains in the chain links.

1 90 second clean in the ultrasonic cleaner and it's like new. Freaky clean, twist it and it's silent. Sooooo good.

mine arrived in my parcel locker today!

conveniently I was already in the city for cyclocross, so i could pick it up after my race

Damn you guys. Now I'm thinking to myself could my tt-bike have cleaner chain.

So has anyone of you with uv-cleaners tried this http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... ula-36424/ ?

markus wrote:So has anyone of you with uv-cleaners tried this http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... ula-36424/ ?

Interesting. I think I will stick to the chain lube I have been using for a few months now.

So after 2 days of crazy mud for the National Cyclocross, I got to try out my ultrasonic cleaner in anger. WOW! I've only been using a mix of citrus cleaner and water in it, but the amount of crap that it's extracted off the chains has been crazy. Post events, I found I had a seized bottom bracket bearing too. Chucked it in there and it's managed to clean it out enough that it spins freely again.

CLP wrote:I've only been using a mix of citrus cleaner and water in it, but the amount of crap that it's extracted off the chains has been crazy.

They are pretty good hey. Glad I haven't gone too long without knowing about these things.

I might have to give the citrus cleaner a go when I need to re-stock. I used Kero on my first clean and it just stinks!!!
2nd time I used it I threw in some of the muckoff drive train cleaner I have, expensive shit but it works well.

So I decided to install my new TRP CX brakes last night. It was mildly traumatic, but installing CX brakes tends to be like that :P Hopefully their adjustment over time will be less so (eg pad toe in over time) which is why i decided to try them out. A quick blurt around the block last night seemed to suggest they have a reasonable amount of stopping power, though it's difficult to compare with my older Avid Shorty Ultimates since i was using much softer pads on those. Time will tell whether I switch back :P

Since i had all the brake hardware disconnected I decided to investigate an issue i was having with the steering being a bit sticky. OMG. the lower headset bearings are supposed to be rust coloured, right? I took a bit of time to clean them up and now they're running OK, but with tiny ball bearing flying around the place at one point and then the bearings not going together correctly, there was an appropriate use of profanity used.

Of course, the ride that I was going to do on the bike today was cancelled due to a severe weather warning, so I could have taken my time. Compared to my Avids, they look fairly industrial.. hopefully they work well!

Bike maintenance is fun isn't it.

Did a full service on mine today and didn't find any nasty surprises, well except the main suspension pivot point was quite loose again. Which explained the squeeky rear end on the jumps yesterday...

suspect this rim needs to be retired

Must be the day for it Carl broke a Mavic Ksyrium rear today as well
.....

I saw that on Strava terrible luck

I have a friend who is (by all accounts) an excellent wheelbuilder, so i'm hoping she'll be able to swap the rim out and get that set back on the road in some form. That said, she also pointed out that Zipp hubs also have a very nasty habit of exploding too. I'm thinking these wheels might be destined for light duties even if they are repaired.

I'm thinking about a set of these to replace them:
http://www.carbonbikewheels.com.au/en/
Probably a 38 on the front and 48 on the back.

Considering what they cost, you'd expect they would last a little longer.

norbs wrote:Considering what they cost, you'd expect they would last a little longer.

admittedly I got my Zipps secondhand for $500.. whether I have got my moneys worth i'm not sure. Probably. They certainly have been nice wheels to ride.

After talking to my friend i was doing some research and it seems ridiculously common not just for the spoke to pull through the rim, but the hub flanges to shear off. I suspect (sadly) i won't be getting another set of Zipps. So it's not just that they don't last, but they fail catastrophically.

My recent bike maintenance adventures have involved hot wax

Thus far I've waxed two chains and installed them and the results have been pretty promising.

The first one I did was my CX bike, which is the bike that I felt could probably use it the most. Unfortunately, being my first attempt I probably didn't do a fabulous job of cleaning both the new chain of factory lube nor the drive train of old lube. that said, it seem to run pretty nicely. Hopefully over time i can clean up the drive train better to tidy it all up.

My second attempt was on my Giant roadie. Taking the lessons from the first attempt, I cleaned everything as best i could and (i think) got a much better result. Runs super smooth.

The hope here is that future cleaning/maintenance should be much easier, particularly on my CX bike.

A couple of guys in our ride group use wax on all their bikes and swear by it.....keen to see how you go with it Carl.

Wax or paraffin Carl?

Paraffin wax is what I meant by wax just to clarify.

norbs wrote:Wax or paraffin Carl?

both!

paraffin wax combined with paraffin oil (something maybe close to 1:1 ratio). Doing it that way (apparently) prevents the wax from flaking off. So far, that seems to be the case.

Yeah ok.

Let me know how you go. I am sort of keen, but parrafin oil isnt the best stuff to be flinging around apparently. Well, so I have been told.

norbs wrote:Yeah ok.

Let me know how you go. I am sort of keen, but parrafin oil isnt the best stuff to be flinging around apparently. Well, so I have been told.

I guess the point of the process is that the oil makes the wax more pliable. The mix of wax and oil gives a substance that is waxy, but "smeary" , for want of a better term. I'll try to take a couple of photos from both drive trains in the near future along with approximate km done on each and whatever other information i can think might be interesting.

The initial chain setup is reasonably labour intensive, but i'm hoping the pay off will come later in reduced maintenance and possibly reduced wear and tear.

out of interest, what is it about paraffin oil that is bad? I guess i haven't read anything to that effect.

Fucking disc brakes and summer!

Dr. Pain wrote:Fucking disc brakes and summer!

I'm going to assume this is a bad combination? :P