jroden wrote:


After working in a bike shop for many years I disagree. Many people ride our local MTB trails for a full season and the only maintenance their bike sees is a tire pump once a month. At the annual "tune up" everything needs to be tuned and tightened.

boogenman wrote:


I guess I'm showing my age. On the cars I grew up with, there were items designed to wear out like breaker points and spark plugs that needed be replaced on a set schedule as part of a "tune up". I'm not sure if you can apply this to a bike where we fix what is broken and worn out and leave the rest alone.

I wish I could just bring my bike to a shop once a year and have it all set right, it would save me all that time out in the garage!

I got an email from a triathlete the other day asking for advice. He had ridden his bike for an entire year without doing anything to the chain and had destroyed the driveline including the chainrings. He's off to the shop now to spend some serious money buying all those parts at full retail. What can you do though?

jroden wrote:


You can learn to take care of that stuff and make it last longer:-P

I do almost zero maintenance on my bike throughout the season, because nothing ever really needs to be done.

I do, however, clean and lube my chain before every ride. That seems to make all the difference in the world.

A little bit goes along way- Before every ride- clean and lube drivetrain, check tire pressure, check fork and shock pressures. I also watch my chain stretch and replace before it eats up cassette and rings.

Penguin

I don't know how much mountain bike stuff they carry (if any) but I really liked Tom's pro bike down in Lancaster. They have had parts I couldn't find anywhere else, were the most knowledgeable, and most friendly.

I was buying a bunch of parts to build up my bike (I like doing my own wrenching) and Tom told me to call him if I needed any help or had questions during my assembly, pretty class act if you ask me.

Getting to know about bike maintenance is definately useful for mountain biking even if its a few simple things, I found I worked on things pretty regularly from adjusting shocks, to cleaning, or servicing things. It also gave me a good chance to spot issues like cracks or worn components.

**edited as per Jon's request, though I still stand by my original position.

Just a quick reminder about the forum rules (see tab link above). One of the things we specifically did when we got rid of the lounge and started the forum was to specify that posts critical of bike shops and other establishments wouldn't be allowed. So please stick to recommending which shops you like, and avoid listing which shops you don't like (if you really need do, send a PM).

Not having such a system with the lounge caused a lot of problems. We aren't doing this just to be politically correct.