Service intervals & component life

[OakLeaf]

I know there will be a lot of variability based on conditions, but I was wondering if there were any guidelines for road bike components.

How often do you service your hubs, BB, headset, freehub? How long will derailleur springs last? Is it true as I've read that modern sealed bearing pedals aren't really serviceable, and are just trash when the bearings are worn? :mad: (Or have I trashed them by not servicing them when I could have? :p)

[tzvia]

Service intervals seem to be a moving target- changing with evolving bike technology. It used to be that bottom brackets and headsets had lose ball bearings and I would open those up and wash the balls, clean the races and repack them every year. Cables and housing got replaced every year too. Pedals also got opened up, washed out and repacked, as did the hubs, which had loose balls and had a cup and cone like the old headsets, and were adjusted to just remove the play and allow a free spin.

These days, stuff has 'sealed' bearings in races- almost nothing has lose balls any more. Without a bearing puller, modern bottom brackets are almost 'throw away' unless you are really good at pulling the plastic caps off the sealed races without damaging them. Wheel bearings are sealed cartridges too, not too easy to open up and easy to damage the seals.

Some pedals, like the Speedplays I use, have a grease port- a nipple that you can inject grease into until it flushes out the old grease. I do that every year. Eventually you just buy new bearings when they wear, but that is in many thousands of miles. Some pedals, usually the lower end ones, are not serviceable, like the lower end Crank Brothers.

If the wheels have cartridge bearings (most modern ones do) the bearings are usually just replaced when they go bad. Otherwise you can repack and adjust them every year if they are loose bearings.

The trick is to keep it all clean without over washing it. I like to use a lightly damp rag to scrub the cogset after each ride, and wipe the chain. If it was a very wet or dirty ride, I will clean the chain and relube it. The tool to measure chain wear is good to have, as is a good chain tool and extra quick-links for your brand of chain.

Cables get changed every year, and on the mountain bike, the housing is changed too.

On the MTBs, I open up the headset every six months, every year on the road bikes, and wipe it all down and repack the bearings. The bottom bracket only gets a look if it starts to grind (they haven't yet) but as I don't have the bearing puller, I will just replace them when they go. I also pull the seatpost-and grease it lightly to keep it from seizing.

Never use any water pressure if hosing it off- I only use the mist setting, so as not to force water into those cartridge bearings. In the last 3 years I have only had to open the freehub on a wheel once. It was my fault, I was over washing my MTB and the muddy water got inside and prevented the freehub from engaging. :o Easy to open with two allen keys, and simple to clean up and re-oil.

There are probably good books out there, but as the books I have are old (anyone remember removing cotter pins to get the cranks off) I can't recommend any.