Frequency of replacing parts

[uk elephant]

My bike is in need of a little tlc, but I'm wondering why I need to replace lots of parts already. Shouldn't things last longer than this? What needs replacing according to the lbs is this:
Wheels (bearings are worn out)
Small cog in front (I've got a compact double)
Cassette and rear derailleur
Chain

I'm trying to remember how old all these parts are. The wheels and small front cog are original to the bike which I bought new 3 years ago. The cassette and rear derailleur was new 2 years ago when I decided to get some easier climbing gears. The chain (and large front cog) was switched out a little more recently, maybe 1.5 years ago. It seems a bit excessive to me that it should all be worn out already, or should I be expecting it to? Replacing all these parts will cost me nearly as much as the bike cost in the first place!

I do ride in all weather, rain snow and even sunshine occasionally, and I have had to ride through flowing rivers a handful of times when the cycle path flooded. I also regularly ride down dirt trails, although most of my riding is on the road. My distance varies, but I do ride pretty much every day. It is how I get to work. Not sure how many miles the bike now has done. Very rough guesstimate would be in the region of 2-3000 (including one ALC)? Oh, and the bike is a Specialized TriCross Sport.

[DirtDiva]

Small cog in front (I've got a compact double), Cassette and Chain
With lots of riding in all weathers, any of these things could need replacing in the timeframes you've given.

This lot, however, seems a bit less run of the mill...

Wheels (bearings are worn out)
If the bearings are worn out, then the hubs should need servicing, not the wheels replacing...
Rear Derailleur
What exactly did they say was wrong with it? And have you actually been having trouble with shifting? The jockey wheels on RDs do need replacing from time to time, but the whole unit rarely fails unless it's been knocked hard/crashed.

My opinion? Get a second opinion, and bear in mind that you could do everything except the hubs by yourself at home with no special tools other than a set of allen keys. And a little patience.

[uk elephant]

Wheels (bearings are worn out)
If the bearings are worn out, then the hubs should need servicing, not the wheels replacing...
Rear Derailleur
What exactly did they say was wrong with it? And have you actually been having trouble with shifting? The jockey wheels on RDs do need replacing from time to time, but the whole unit rarely fails unless it's been knocked hard/crashed.

My opinion? Get a second opinion, and bear in mind that you could do everything except the hubs by yourself at home with no special tools other than a set of allen keys. And a little patience.

The bike shop back in essex had a look at my wheels a couple of months ago and said the bearings and the hubs were worn and it all needed replacing. They tightned things up to last me for a while, but indicated that next time it would need to be replaced. The shifting isn't good, but I think that's mainly due to the stretched chain.

The guy at the lbs here in Aberystwyth, when he had a look at my bike, jiggled the rear derailleur indicating that it was loose and something wasn't right and that it needed replacing.

Unfortunately, I now live in a part of the world where second opinions would involve a 3 hour drive over snowy mountains. Not really feasible. But I have found someone with links to the local cycle club so maybe someone there has a mechanical inclination and could have a look.

And I will do some on-line research for prices too. I'm quite happy to fiddle around with an allan wrench, but I'm afraid I never have any luck adjusting gears, and I have never changed a chain before.

[OakLeaf]

If you rode on the wheels for a while with the bearings loose or with the grease washed out, the races could very well be pitted or scored. I don't know anything about your wheels, but unless they're pretty expensive, it's likely to be cheaper to replace the whole wheelset than to rebuild them with new hubs. BUT, they can't know the condition of the races until they pull the bearings. Have they already done that, and now they're telling you that the races are junk? Or are they just telling you that by external inspection (I wouldn't trust that).

A CX bike ought to have hubs that can withstand flowing water you'd think, but I don't know anything about that. In the kind of conditions you ride in, it's a good idea to check all your bearings for tightness every year, and get fresh grease in them every couple of years, or get your LBS to do it.

Chain, cassette and chainring life depend a lot on the individual. I clean and lube mine very regularly, don't accelerate very hard, try to shift smoothly, and I got 3000 miles out of my last set. Many people have to replace theirs every 1500. Chainrings tend to last longer, but I think if the LBS were really trying to rip you off, they'd tell you to replace both chainrings. They should be able to show you the wear on the cog teeth. That's easy to see, even for an untrained person (you can look it up online).

I'd be surprised at a derailleur wearing out that quickly. That's what makes me most suspicious. But honestly, if you don't clean and lube it regularly and you do use it a lot, grit can work its way into ANY moving parts and wreck it over time. Again, they should be able to show you the abnormal movement or binding that tells them it needs replacement. That's more a matter of judgment since you yourself might not know what's within normal tolerances and what isn't, but if they hesitate when you ask to see it, that tells you something all by itself.

[DirtDiva]

To be honest, I don't know a great deal about hubs, so I can't help you a lot there. A rebuild or a new set won't be super cheap (obviously!), so you could consider fixing up the drivetrain issues and the wheel issues at separate times...

Replacing a chain is easy, as long as you have a chain breaker. Larger multi-tools often have them, or you can buy a dedicated tool for not too much. If you get in touch with the bike club folk, I'm sure you would find someone with tools they would be willing to lend out (handy, because you can't change a cassette with just allen keys, should you wish to go there). I suggest buying a new chain with a joining link (a la SRAM here) because once it's on, you don't have to have a chain breaker to get the chain off again should you need to (although, to be honest, you do sometimes still need pliers/a large rock/lots of swearwords).

1) Take a photo of how the chain is supposed to thread through the RD or have another bike on hand to look at to save you minutes/hours of head scratching later on.

2) Take of the old chain. Even if it has a joining link, it might be quicker to just use the chain breaker if the thing is getting tossed anyway - joining links can get pretty hard to work once the chain is bung.

3) Count the number of links in your old chain.

4) Shorten the new chain so it has the same number of links. (This is where you need the chain breaker no mater what.)

5) Look at that photo you took earlier and thread the chain through likewise.

6) Fit the joining link. Or the joining pin, if you went old school - look for pictures on the Park Tool website or similar to explain how, because I've never done it this way so I can't tell you anything useful.

7) Voila! Indulge in celebratory beverage of your choice.

[uk elephant]

The shop that looked the the wheels did take them apart which is when they determined that the hubs were worn. They re-packed them with fresh grease and tightened things up, but explained that the hubs were worn and that it would be cheaper to buy new wheels than to replace the hubs.

If it is normal for cassette to wear out after 3000 miles, then I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I'm not terribly good at cleaning my bike, I'm afraid. It gets a clean once a month maybe. And it does have to cope with a lot of silt, salt and grit.

I will need to do something as the shifting isn't good, but I think the shifting problems are mainly due to the worn chain. But is it worth changing just the chain for now and putting off the rest for a while longer? Or am I better off just doing the whole job now as it will all need to be done soon anyway? (I realize this is somewhat retorical as you can't see the actual wear on my bike..)

[DirtDiva]

My personal record for wearing out a chain and cassette is 3 months, but that was mountain biking in a UK winter...

It is worth replacing the chain and cassette together - mix worn and new and you won't likely see significant improvement. The other thing you really need to look at for shifting is your cables. If these are pretty new, you probably just need to tighten them via the barrel adjuster (thingy where the cable joins the shifter and/or where the cable meets the derailleur, if you were wondering) - a one minute job worth trying even if they're kinda old.

[derailed]

You might wish to invest in a chain clean kit and some dry lube and try to keep the moving parts a little more grit-free.

I have worn out hubs and bottom brackets, worn away chains, and worn out cogs, as well as completely ruined derailers before. It all goes with grit in the moving parts.

Now I bring the bikes in the house and put them in the tub, use the little silly plastic box to clean the chain, and hose the whole thing down regularly.

Hubs and bottom brackets need a lot of TLC, dirty BBs can ruin the inner workings of the bike. Learning to service them isn't too hard, you just need someplace to work ( newspaper on a kitchen floor is plenty ), some rags, some solvent, white lithium grease or bearing grease, and patience.

I use Lock Ease graphite suspension, which is graphite in a petroleum solution to help the graphite penetrate, on my chain.
White lithium grease in the bearing races, I can easily see wear and dirt as it changes the color of the grease.
Toothbrush for cleaning hard to get to places.

It's frustrating, but it does seem like reasonable wear to my distant perceptions.

[DebW]

It really annoys me that many shops these days consider hubs throw-away components, when they would actually last for years if maintained properly. Any serviceable hub should be repacked with great at least once a year, more often if ridden in wet or gritty conditions. UK, ask your shop guy if only the cones are worn, or the cups also. Cones are replacable, but too often shops won't bother to look for or order replacements. New cones and bearings and fresh grease would likely make the hubs like new again.

[Grog]

Salt could explain a damaged derailleur...

I am a light rider and tolerate chainstretch until it's really bad. I do around 5,000 km on a chain and middle chainring, but my cassette sometimes lasts longer because I really use all gears.

[Triskeliongirl]

To me your parts have worn out excessively fast, especially the front chain ring, cog set and RD. Usually if you change your chain every 3000 miles your cog set should be OK, but perhaps if you are not maintaining your bike well there is more corrosive damage. I've only worn out cog sets prematurely by delaying chain replacement too long, and then they wear together so both need replacing. I have never worn out a front chain ring or RD in say 10,000 + miles. But I don't trust your LBS, especially because of their refusal to service your hubs. I sense they are trying to rip you off. Get yourself a good book (zinn or bicycle mag or park tools blue book) and start to learn how to take care of your bike!

I agree with Deb on the hub rebuild, the whole point of owning wheels with serviceable hubs is that they can be serviced!

[aicabsolut]

It really annoys me that many shops these days consider hubs throw-away components, when they would actually last for years if maintained properly. Any serviceable hub should be repacked with great at least once a year, more often if ridden in wet or gritty conditions. UK, ask your shop guy if only the cones are worn, or the cups also. Cones are replacable, but too often shops won't bother to look for or order replacements. New cones and bearings and fresh grease would likely make the hubs like new again.

I have a wheel my shop keeps telling me is near death (though at first, they kept putting incompatible freehub bodies on it after the original freehub bit the dust !!!). They repack it and all, but they have problems with the cone meshing properly with the new freehubs. Even the one that doesn't make my wheel sound like grinding metal still doesn't spin as smoothly as it should. It's a cheap wheel, but should be completely serviceable. I've also complained that in the past 3 attempts to fix the freehub, they've made the rim untrue....and it is STILL untrue. Not badly so, but much worse than when I turned it in the first time.

I want to scream. Yeah, it's a wheel off a >$500 wheelset, but I need these beater wheels.

Ok, rant over.

As for your parts, I would at least go ahead with the chain/cassette replacement. As for the rest, the rear derailleur would need to have unusual damage (not normal wear and tear, but maybe the bike was dropped or something). I think it's a little weird to be replacing the front rings so early, but if you take your chains way past their life, then yeah, you could wear out the rings prematurely. You might have done this since you wait until shifting gets pretty bad before taking it in for service.

[uk elephant]

Just a short update...

I decided to try doing some work myself, to save a bit of cash. So today I gave the bike a good clean and replaced the chain. Turns out the new chain the LBS sold me was one link shorter than the one I had. And with the new chain, the previous shifting problem instantly went away. Unfortunately, the chain now skips in the middle gears (the ones I use the most), so I'm thinking the cassette also needs replacing? It is as if the chain slips and doesn't engage properly. I'll stop by the shop tomorrow and see what they way.

[DebW]

Just a short update...

I decided to try doing some work myself, to save a bit of cash. So today I gave the bike a good clean and replaced the chain. Turns out the new chain the LBS sold me was one link shorter than the one I had. And with the new chain, the previous shifting problem instantly went away. Unfortunately, the chain now skips in the middle gears (the ones I use the most), so I'm thinking the cassette also needs replacing? It is as if the chain slips and doesn't engage properly. I'll stop by the shop tomorrow and see what they way.

Yes, you'll need to replace the cassette too because of the skipping.