My attempt to kill my bike, or, what 15k miles looks like

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  • This topic has 26 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by hozn.
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  • June 21, 2016 at 2:38 pm #918319
    Harry Meatmotor
    Participant

    For fun I decided to build a commuter bike (Surly CrossCheck, aka, TheFerd) with the sole intention of not maintaining it properly, to see what breaks or fails or just falls off a bike due to relentless abuse. In roughly 15,000 miles of potholes, snow, ice, mud, dirt, 1x Hilly Billy Roubaix, 1x the full Fairfax CCT, and pretty much daily commuting duty, my bike has eaten the following:

    • 5 Ultegra 10 speed chains
    • 4 Ultegra 10 speed 11-28T cassettes
    • 4 sets of tires: 3 pairs of Specialized Armadillos, 1 pair Conti Gatorskins (all 700x32c)
    • 4 sets (2 pairs each) Cool Stop Salmon brake pad cartidges/inserts
    • 3 inner and outer SRAM cheapo 34T-50T chainrings
    • 2 SRAM pulley wheel sets
    • 2 Thompson stem faceplates
    • 1 Thompson stem
    • 1 Chris King NoThreadset
    • 1 cheapo GXP bottom bracket
    • 1 Shimano 105 rear hub (bent axle, ruined bearing races)
    • 1 H+Son TB14 32h rim
    • 1 pair Hudz brake hoods

    Currently the headset top bearing cap is cracked and the bearing races are dented, resulting in what we mechanics jokingly refer to as “indexed steering.” Need to decide on what color replacement King HS I’ll pick up.

    Shockingly original parts include:

    • White Fizik bar tape
    • White Specialized Romin saddle
    • Gore RideOn Sealed Cables

    Also, TheFerd has only been intentionally washed once, following Hilly Billy Roubaix, 2015, mostly because I didn’t want it to leach crud onto the roof of my car on the drive home.

    Pics for clicks:

    Cracked stem thanks to corrosion
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11981[/ATTACH]

    More cracks
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11982[/ATTACH]

    Even more cracks
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11983[/ATTACH]

    Pretty good for a $30 FD
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11984[/ATTACH]

    SHARK ATTACK
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11985[/ATTACH]

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  • June 21, 2016 at 2:39 pm #1054095
    Harry Meatmotor
    Participant

    Gunky pulley wheels are watt-suckers.
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11986[/ATTACH]

    Only thing wrong with the rear derailleur is that it has morphed into the little known Chinese knockoff groupset SRAM Apek.
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11987[/ATTACH]

    still shifty.
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11988[/ATTACH]

    Not gonna wash it. Not gonna do it.
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11989[/ATTACH]

    Paul Brakes: set it and forget it.
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11990[/ATTACH]

    June 21, 2016 at 2:40 pm #1054096
    Harry Meatmotor
    Participant

    SOOOOOOON: replacing the GatorSkins with Specialized Roubaix PRO 2BR in gumwall
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11991[/ATTACH]

    It’s-all-dang-all-brand-new-lookin’-tahr
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11992[/ATTACH]

    mebbe time to replace. or i’ll just wait till it falls off.
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11993[/ATTACH]

    because spirit animal.
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11994[/ATTACH]

    proooooof!
    [ATTACH=CONFIG]11995[/ATTACH]

    In all seriousness, I figured I’d document this here on the forum. I’m going to be tearing the bike down and giving it a complete overhaul soon, prior to a trip to Montana for some EpicTM gravel rides the likes of which the Radavist has never seen. And one can’t impose a destination-style cycletour gravel-bender like that on a filthy bike. So, TheFerd will meet THE HOSE. And a smattering of new (but still cheapo) parts. Except for the Chris King thing. That’s gotta be bling.

    June 21, 2016 at 3:33 pm #1054106
    KayakCyndi
    Participant

    Had to laugh at the pic of the Apex front derailleur. My Viaje has 21,000+ miles on it now and I’ve replaced many things on it (and admittedly I think I clean it a wee bit more than you do). However the Apex front derailleur is not one of them. That just keeps on chugging.

    Watch, it will die tomorrow.

    June 21, 2016 at 3:49 pm #1054110
    Harry Meatmotor
    Participant

    @KayakCyndi 141834 wrote:

    Had to laugh at the pic of the Apex front derailleur. My Viaje has 21,000+ miles on it now and I’ve replaced many things on it (and admittedly I think I clean it a wee bit more than you do). However the Apex front derailleur is not one of them. That just keeps on chugging.

    Watch, it will die tomorrow.

    IMHO, SRAM knocked it out of the park with the Apex groupset. So cheap, and completely bomb-proof on all the non-wearing parts. SRAM cassettes and chains, tho, blech.

    June 21, 2016 at 4:16 pm #1054115
    KLizotte
    Participant

    Ummmm….is it perhaps not costing you more in the long run by not doing a little bit of preventative maintenance? I’ve got 12K miles on my bike and haven’t replaced nearly as many parts as you (but I don’t ride it in the muck/snow).

    Well, you probably don’t have to worry about anyone stealing it any time soon.

    You need to replace the handlebar tape despite what it looks like. Ewwwwwww! Petri dish hands!

    P.S. I’m jerking your chain BTW :rolleyes:

    June 22, 2016 at 12:46 am #1054143
    peterw_diy
    Participant

    Stem? Faceplates? Axle? Nice work!

    Did you treat inside the frame tubes? If not, I’m looking forward to some photos…

    Also: I wish I could get that much mileage out of my pads!

    June 22, 2016 at 3:31 am #1054146
    hozn
    Participant

    This is awesome.

    Did you replace your chains/cassettes at mileage intervals or just wait till they started skipping (and replace together)?

    June 22, 2016 at 6:07 am #1054148
    consularrider
    Participant

    @hozn 141874 wrote:

    This is awesome.

    Did you replace your chains/cassettes at mileage intervals or just wait till they started skipping (and replace together)?

    Wouldn’t that have been considered “maintaining properly”?

    June 22, 2016 at 9:33 am #1054150
    hozn
    Participant

    @consularrider 141876 wrote:

    Wouldn’t that have been considered “maintaining properly”?

    Yeah, you are right. It just seemed like too many chains/cassettes, but I guess if he wasn’t even lubing them they would go faster.

    June 22, 2016 at 12:06 pm #1054153
    Harry Meatmotor
    Participant

    @hozn 141874 wrote:

    This is awesome.

    Did you replace your chains/cassettes at mileage intervals or just wait till they started skipping (and replace together)?

    mostly just a chain a year-ish. and cassettes every other chain-ish.

    only lubed if the rollers started rattling, with R&R blue. and even then, it was just hosing it down in R&R, and not even wiping down the chain.

    This all kinda got started when we were joking around in the shop – the research question was, “how do some folks absolutely trash their bikes in so few miles?”

    So, I decided to do absolutely minimal maintenance to goad the question. However, I’m still baffled by some of the bikes I’ve seen in my time as a shop monkey.

    Also, this’ll be a test of Surly’s ED coating in the tubes; we’ll see how much fun I have trying to get the blown up headset out. PB Blaster to the rescue?

    Nashbar had pink Hudz on sale for $4. So pink is the new orange. Also hoping that Paul will do a full run of parts in 3D violet so I can grab one of the new boxcar stems in purplez.

    June 22, 2016 at 12:09 pm #1054154
    Harry Meatmotor
    Participant

    @peterw_diy 141871 wrote:

    Stem? Faceplates? Axle? Nice work!

    Did you treat inside the frame tubes? If not, I’m looking forward to some photos…

    Also: I wish I could get that much mileage out of my pads!

    the number of pads are slightly exaggerated. when I did hilly billy, I started with a brand new set of pads. by the end (it rained pretty much the entire ride) I had worn my front pads down to the cartridge holders… crazy. there were folks running discs that were swapping in new pads mid-ride!!!

    June 22, 2016 at 1:21 pm #1054161
    dplasters
    Participant

    I had run into Harry’s original thread on this topic a few months ago and was wondering what the outcome was.

    Thanks for the update!

    June 22, 2016 at 8:52 pm #1054227
    peterw_diy
    Participant

    @Harry Meatmotor 141881 wrote:

    Also, this’ll be a test of Surly’s ED coating in the tubes; we’ll see how much fun I have trying to get the blown up headset out. PB Blaster to the rescue?

    Isn’t that the old Robin’s Egg Blue? I didn’t think Surly coated the tubes before Straggler and maybe the Hospital Foam Green Cross-Check.

    Also, if PB Blaster fails, try CRC Freeze Off.

    June 23, 2016 at 11:57 am #1054246
    Harry Meatmotor
    Participant

    @peterw_diy 141961 wrote:

    Isn’t that the old Robin’s Egg Blue? I didn’t think Surly coated the tubes before Straggler and maybe the Hospital Foam Green Cross-Check.

    Also, if PB Blaster fails, try CRC Freeze Off.

    I could be wrong, but I believe Surly has been ED coating all of their frames for quite some time now.

    June 24, 2016 at 4:55 am #1054274
    peterw_diy
    Participant

    @Harry Meatmotor 141982 wrote:

    I could be wrong, but I believe Surly has been ED coating all of their frames for quite some time now.

    Looks like only since 2014/2015: http://forums.mtbr.com/fat-bikes/surly-frames-not-frame-saved-892462.html

    If not ED coated, that just helps your test IMO.

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