Stumpys Estranged Cousin Grime Time

The time had come, the session 8 had to be cleaned as the trails had left their marks on it. I even found a leaf in in hollow spindle of the bottom bracket and foliage and dirt had gotten into most places a cleaning brush will not.

Armed with a wide range of muc off cleaning squirty bottles, torque wrenches and a box of bits for them (amazing how many companies do not make socket sets designed for mountain bikes) and finally the all useful multi tool my afternoon was set in motion.

Lifted the 18KG odd bike onto the maintenance stand as you only have to get a sore back once the wheels came off. First time both wheels had come off and the bonty wheels were surprisingly heavy, particularly the back one.

So cassette off clean, de-grease, re grease and re assemble the trail dust gets everywhere. The main focus was the rest of the bike. Drive chain came off and thick black gunk (technical term) had caked onto the jockey wheels and the drive chain and a few areas close by. The trusty bit of slate dotted around the garden came into a world of its own and since the two trees had been chopped down I had more light and was less likely to hit my head or walk into the clothes line.

After the gunk had gone attention turned to the chain which was pretty much being held together by the black gunk so time to replace it as it was just over a year old and I normally change them about that time. New chain out, SRAM PC1071 replacing the factory chain which looked like a KMC X10 not much weight difference but there was a build quality difference. Just had to remove the very sticky preservation grease from the chain first as everything will stick to it.

Clean and Grease all the pivot points as well as the disc rotors and pads it was time to check the suspension and then check torque settings for all the frame bolts, headset etc. These do work loose and they are often not checked often enough. Quick polish and wipe down and the frame is ready as clouds move in and the wind picks up.

Time to grease the bolts and re attach the wheels. Annoying part of it was that the back was in-LBS and the front was Nm. This is dotted all over the bike some parts using one, other parts using the other but the torque wrenches list Nm so conversion chart was needed.

With the wheels on just a slight adjustment to the chain retention device and a check to make sure the gears still worked. The it was a oil the chain and a GT85 moment for some other areas such as the SPD pedals.

About three hours work and the bike is all cleaned and re greased just in time for the rain to start. The change in chain was much smoother when changing gear. I did need to drain small amounts of water from the frame as it was a low pressure hose pipe but it can still get in there, one of the reasons why I do not use a pressure washer as it can force water and dirt into areas it would not normally reach. The break pad clean and rotor clean still did not stop the common elixir 7 squeek.

All clean and serviced again and complete before my shorter half and 10 week old woke up!