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

[Harry Meatmotor]

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.
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Not gonna wash it. Not gonna do it.
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Paul Brakes: set it and forget it.
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[Harry Meatmotor]

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

It’s-all-dang-all-brand-new-lookin’-tahr
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mebbe time to replace. or i’ll just wait till it falls off.
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because spirit animal.
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proooooof!
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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 Epic^TM 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.

[KayakCyndi]

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.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@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.

[KLizotte]

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:

[peterw_diy]

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!

[hozn]

This is awesome.

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

[consularrider]

@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”?

[hozn]

@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.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@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.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@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!!!

[dplasters]

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!

[peterw_diy]

@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.

[Harry Meatmotor]

@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.

[peterw_diy]

@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.

[Author]

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