I'll often ride my bike for months on end without giving it a thorough washing and I don't feel the slightest bit bad about it. All that dirt and mud stuck to your bike doesn't really hurt anything, and I look at it a lot like making your bed: you're just gonna unmake it again later that night, so why put it back together each morning? Hear me out before you accuse me of neglect, though, because there are a few things that I do after every ride that are much more important than waxing your frame and scrubbing the tires. First thing I do after a ride, or at least an hour or two before the next time I head out, is to give the chain a quick wipe with a rag and a light re-lubing. I take a minute to spin the cranks around before wiping off any excess, and I'll also wipe off the pulley wheels and the chain ring's narrow / wide teeth - these are very prone to collecting debris and gunk. A quick run through the gears while checking the derailleur's limits and, less than five minutes later, you should be all done. I'll also give the fork and shock's dust wipers a quick cleaning, check the air pressure in my tires, and then walk away knowing that while my bike might still be covered in mud, it's going to be running just fine. The above routine is no replacement for a proper going over, though, as a rigorous cleaning can expose broken components that you might not see otherwise, and I can't argue that pulling out a shiny bike for a ride is a nice feeling. - Mike Levy |
Good question. Before lightweight forks were made available with stiffer lowers and 34 or 35 millimeter stanchion tubes, the Fox 32 Float was the weapon of choice for almost every mid-travel mountain bike. While it is a fact that your potential purchase would steer more precisely and hold its line better in exceptionally rough terrain if it was wearing a Fox 34 or RockShox Pike, the Fox 32 has been trusted for over a decade to deliver the goods for hard-charging trail riders. I rode a Pivot Mach 5.7 for a number of years which had a 26-inch-wheel 150-millimeter-stroke Fox Float 32. It saw some intense action throughout the Southwest and is still pumping without a complaint. Finally, Giant uses a separate, in-house testing facility to qualify all of its OEM components before committing them to production. This doubles the safety factor, because their testing is in addition to the rigorous spanking that Fox puts its forks through at its own testing laboratory. If you can live with a small amount of flex, I wouldn't sweat it. - RC |
Riding solo won't be an issue, there's plenty of people to ride with in Les Gets and Morzine, just hang around the Pleney or Chavannes lifts and get chatting, you're sure to make new friends quickly. If you haven't been to the area before, you should find a relaxed vibe and plenty of folks willing to show you the latest 'secret track.' If nobody wants to be your friend just stick to the main marked trails, if anything untoward does happen, you're likely to be scraped off the floor quickly by a fellow rider due to the sheer volume of people on the mountain. Of course, always take a phone and basic First Aid equipment, and tell people where you are heading and what time you plan to be home. When giving an ETA to arrive back at base, you should bear in mind you will be having the time of your life and a legendary post-ride Mutzig at Bar Robinsons with new buddies will make you at least 2-3 hours late for dinner. - Paul Aston |
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buddy # 2 five minutes later: "hey everyone wait for me I have to take a leak"
buddy #3 five minutes later "hey everyone wait for me I have to adjust my gopro"
gets old really quick. riding solo ftw
The best way to clean your bike is with some soapy water in a sprayer, a brush and a rag. Spray the bike down and wipe away excess dirt, taking some time to clean tight spots with the brush. This will limit the amount of water and dirt you are flushing through your bearings/pivot points. I pull the whole bike down about once a year or after a weekend of some hard use, just to check all the important bits. Good idea to do this with a couple of buddies and some beers.
Keep your sh!t maintained your LBS will appreciate your efforts to maintain your gear and will go out of their way to help you with any issues that may arise.
Try to tell these guys that Mike:
www.pinkbike.com/u/urteam/blog/must-watch--dust-apocalypse.html
@erikkellison I'm also a light rider, I weigh around 140lbs or 65kg (think I got the lbs wrong) I've never had a problem with bent forks, had no problems with my forks, ever. Even pinning down our local jumps track which is rough as f*ck, they still handle it fine. Oh and yes, didn't case the gap.
Does everyone just follow mfg recommendations?
I'm always cleaning rear mech pulleys/lubing any moving parts, cleaning fork and shock stanchions etc, but am at a loss as to when to attend to the balance of the major parts. (Assuming you arent experiencing any issues)
Just hyper sensitive to preventative maintenance on my AM bike ('15 nomad) since I splurged and spent so much on the damn thing, want to take good care of it.
If you have sponsorship, you should also present your bike (and yourself) beautifully. And if you want sponsorship, you need to do the same.
As for your other points: When your suspension has scars, it is already damaged and in for quality repair, that is obvious. Usually crash related, not maintenance. Old wipers don scar, they leak. Wipe the dirt off the seals, that is it. Don't lube the stanchions, because that will actually introduce dirt into the fork. They are lubed internally!
Old brake fluid does not wear out seals, its boiling point gets lower. Does not cause wear. Clean the pistons when replacing the pads and you're set.
Clean your bike after every ride and youre certainly going to replace all the bearings by the end of the year. Clean them lightly, and only when it is realy dirt, and they will last years.
Look at it like this: how often do you service your car? After every ride? Most parts of a car do not get ANY service EVER. What you really have to do is clean the air filter and swap the oil/fuel filter plus engine oil, maybe also check the brake fluid. Everything else? Replace when worn/broken. Why should I replace the fluid in my Bike suspension every 50 hours of riding (FOX manual recommendation) when the shock absorbers in my car last for at least 5000 hours?
Iamamodel: I agree, if you're a sponsored athlete, perfect appearance is part of the deal, and you can probably afford to over-maintain and thus prematurely wear out your bike.
P.S. If your chain isn't under stress, you should stop looking at your bike and go ride it.
I lube the chain when it starts to be noisy, which is about once every 5 rides or so. Some lubricants last longer than others. Finish line's teflon/ceramic wax ones seem to only last 2-3 rides while their "wet" formula lasts longer but it becomes all gunky as everything sticks to it.
You're supposed to wipe your chain and relube it after you've ridden in the wet/mud.
The faster you ride the more you need to clean and maintain your bike. I have noticed that my chain loses its lube far quicker than my wife's bike. I think its because I ride faster and kick more dirt up under braking and cornering leading to the lube being shed. More dirt on my frame too. At least thats my theory on why my bike gets dirtier than hers :-)
I thought we rode bikes design for offroad use. It's a Moutain Bike, it's supposed to be dirty.
FWIW, I've noticed more bushing bind on slacker HA bikes, & bigger stanchions help that in two ways: stiffer to resist bending, & more surface area to glide through the bushings more smoothly.
Trouble is, other factors are at play too, for instance, are the stanchions on newer 32s using a thicker wall, or a stiffer alloy? They might.
@groghunter is right. Simple physics. Slacker head angles put more binding forces on telescopic forks. Enough to worry? I don't know.
Get up from the couch and ride your damn bike!
youtu.be/_WlRqcAQr2w
Also, props to the guy that hit a 30' gap on a trance. I assume he didn't case it or he wouldn't have a Trance anymore.
Coming from a Revelation, I found the Fox 32 to flex under braking and the damping... uh, rather disappointing. It was replaced by a X-Fusion Sweep, which ticks all the boxes.
That said, that would not put me off a Trance... it's a terrific bike. More bike than I need.
Sure a 36 or a Pike would be great but I'm just thankful that my 32 is all I need to have a good time and for the peace of mind that my fork won't snap in gnar conditions
Okay, bikes... What do you reckon then?