MTBers, How Do You Cope?

[Inusc]

You always break something on your mtb!

[Santa C]

MTB is FAR mor expensive then riding a road bike.

 

The thing that I have done to keep my costs down, is to ride the road bike on weekdays and only use the MTB once on the weekend But it helps keep it down.

 

A friend spent R8k fixing his bike after Clarens Mtn race 2 weeks ago!!

[DJR]

We cope by buying expensive things like forks from CRC, little consumables from the LBS and doing our own servicing.

 

If we ride a full suspension Mtb propertly, do a few drops and jumps and ride in all weather conditions, we sometimes don't cope!

[GuyP]

This post is scary! Maybe I'm more of an expert at carefully chosen lines and preventative maintenance than I thought !

[deanbean]

I seriously hope those are parachutes on their backs!

 

Knowing Peaty, that's probably a few beers on his back.

My DS only gets ridden every second weekend, and then is kept in good nick by the only person I trust with my steeds, myself, otherwise the SS is very low maintenance. I live on gravel roads so roady is out of the question, if I lived in town, however I'd probably have one of them.

[Stevief]

My LBS owner is a former SA Vets Cross-Country Champion.

 

He smirks and says that he cannot make moola with me as I am a roadie.

If I was a MTBer, I would be there regularly with mechanical repaits and replacing parts through wear 'n tear.

 

As a man dedicated to road racing, I wonder how tough and rough it really is on the wallet for the off-roader?

Of course, it depends on what kinda consumer you are - weekend warrior, stage racer, downhiller, etc.

 

Still wondering...

 

 

http://www.funny-potato.com/images/mountain-biking/extreme-biking.jpg

Its good that they wearing helmets incase they fall

[RudoJ]

I think all the bases have been covered already.

It depends on how well you look after your bike.

After each weekend ride, my MTB gets washed, cleaned and lubed, all nuts, bolts, screws get checked etc etc doesnt take that long and can save you some R's in the long run

[AndreZA]

naaah not quite.

 

At least every 3rd mtb ride you need to replace/repair something... Road bike can do 3000km without replacing anything... try do that on a mtb

 

Well, the last time I replaced something on my MTB it had over 5000km on it. Road bike does about 10000km before I replace anything. Please note, this does not include servicing.

[rudi-h]

with MTB you have the following additional maintenance issues / costs:

 

1) Shock service every 5000km. +- R600 per shock if it's only seals etc.

2) You actually can break deraileurs when you fall to the wrong side...

3) Cable replacements, especially if your cables run on the bottom of your down-tube

4) Tyres... Rear tyres only last about 2500km and they cost R500+ a pop

5) Pivot bearings - on Dual Suspension

 

So if you maintain yourself, the cost isn't too much more, but it definately does require more work / cleaning. I clean my road bike once a year and the rest of the time I just throw some lube at it...

['Dale]

Here is a view from a pro road mechanic, Nick:

 

Nick,

How grueling is it when you have multiple days of inclement weather, and what can you guys do to prepare for a safer ride in the weather? When you get a bike back after a nasty rainy stage do you have to do more of a bike breakdown to get all the road grit out and re-lube all the cables and chain?

— Matt Braun

 

A.Matt,

Rain wears out everything: cables, chains, tires, brake pads and especially bodies. It is certainly more work for mechanics, but then it’s tougher for the guys out racing. It’s important to remind ourselves of that when we mechanics start to complain. (We sit in a warm dry car all day while the boys or girls suffer in the cold).

 

The toughest days for cleaning and tuning the bikes are when it rained on and off throughout a long stage. Grit and grime have time to harden and then more layers are caked on. If a races ends in the wet, the bikes are easier to clean.

 

Preparation is really important to preserve both the bikes and the riders. Lower tires pressures, (no I won’t go into details here…way too many variables involved) wet-weather specific tires and greasing chains make a big difference. So do fully sealed cables. And of course, we constantly check brake pad wear. If cork pads are recommended by a wheel sponsor, mechanics may have to change them after two or three days of racing in really bad conditions.

 

One item that can take huge amounts of time is draining aero wheels. Water gets inside the aerodynamic structure and the weight of the wheel skyrockets! Some wheels come with drain holes already drilled. In some cases I drilled them myself or added additional drain holes (NOT RECOMMENDED BY MANUFACTURERS! DON’T DO THIS!). I’ve used compressors to blow the water out and resorted to shaking them violently to get out the last drops. Suction works well too.

 

Ultimately it’s up to the riders to keep the rubber side down, but we do everything we can to help.

[intern]

My 3-year old road bike is in FAR better condition than my 6 month old mountain bike.

[Caerus]

with MTB you have the following additional maintenance issues / costs:

 

1) Shock service every 5000km. +- R600 per shock if it's only seals etc.

2) You actually can break deraileurs when you fall to the wrong side...

3) Cable replacements, especially if your cables run on the bottom of your down-tube

4) Tyres... Rear tyres only last about 2500km and they cost R500+ a pop

5) Pivot bearings - on Dual Suspension

 

So if you maintain yourself, the cost isn't too much more, but it definately does require more work / cleaning. I clean my road bike once a year and the rest of the time I just throw some lube at it...

 

 

Still cant get my head around why a bicycle tyre costs more then a car tyre.

[I FLY]

Riding a mtb in the mud is when most of the damage happens.

 

After 3 days in the mud at Sani2C last year I spent about R11k on new components.This did include R3k of new parts for the front fork.

[Grebel]

After Illovo two years ago in the mud, I vowed to never ride in the mud again. It isn't fun hearing your components wearing away!! My bike was about 5kg heavier after the ride and I lost about a kilo of paint in the process. My bike looked like sh!t after I had cleaned it. Had to strip it right down and do an "annual service". Cost me a fortune!

 

If you are careful about when, where and how you ride, there is no reason for the costs to be that vastly different between MTB and road. The maintenance intervals are a lot more frequent for MTB but if you do them yourself it saves you a lot.

[Bman]

feeling the pinch of mtbing now after bikes just been in for full service and shock service, second ride after rear freewheel goes but the fun on a mtb riding anywhere except the tar - can never be compared to riding on skinny little tyres on the road!!

[Bman]

Still cant get my head around why a bicycle tyre costs more then a car tyre.

Dude what car tyres you fitting at less then R500? Shoppig around at the moment and cant get anything other then chinese cr*p for less then R850 a shot