6 Maintenance Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Bike!

I'm going to present to you a bunch of ways in which people are damaging and destroying their bikes these are things that we're seeing far too often and that's why I'm Keen to point them out to you also a lot of them are the result of tech that's come out in the last couple of years so people aren't always aware so before you carry on destroying your bike watch this video first artist turbo soul I don't mean like turbocharged salt although it might as well be I'm talking about salt that comes from sweat as a result of riding indoors so indoor training has grown in popularity smart trainers have made it so much better people are doing it way more and what they don't realize is that when they're sweating a lot indoors that sweat is dripping all over the bike and it's ingressing into places where it causes huge damage it can actually write off bikes so the sweat can Ingress into the headset and it also can Ingress into the bar tape under the bar tape and onto the handlebars now if left uncleaned or if you're not preventing your sweat dripping into these areas what it can then do is it can form like a salt crust which just eats away at your components and we've seen handlebars when the bar tape is removed the carbon or alloy handlebar has just been corroded and eaten away to the point where it just snaps or it can cause catastrophic failure while you're riding it's all also just going to eat your bearings in your headset So to avoid this put some sort of protector down in front of you that stops sweat dripping into your headset wipe your bike after use and be prepared to just change your bar tape periodically on the bike that you're using on an indoor trainer other things that can help mitigate this are and this is a top tip using a dehumidifier in your turbo training room or where you store your bike as a result that will help remove the moisture and then stop the corrosion being as potent and it'll stop rust and things like that but as long as you're aware of this and the potential damage of it you can stop it from damaging your bike next up is people washing their bikes sadly and damaging them this really really annoys me it really does my head in there because there's so much bad information out there about how to wash your bike I use WD-40 for the lubricant as well as the degreaser you don't wash your car in in the way in which a lot of people wash their bikes so why would you wash your bike like that so I'm talking about doing a contact wash with an abrasive brush this is so annoying abrasive like coarse brushes they're going to scratch and mark the paint on your bike as they would on a car they're going to cause little micro scratches in the lacquer which is going to cause it to to dull and just look crap and it's going to age your bike faster so if you go and sell it in the future it's it's not going to be worth as much it's not going to look as nice so instead what you should be doing is a non-contact pre-wash and then removing all a lot of the dirt so that you don't create that sort of wet sandpaper as you start then contact washing dirt rubbing it into the frame and then do a contract wash but with a proper bike washing surfactant cleaning product and a nice soft knit now don't when I say a proper bite wash product I mean don't use washing up Liquid washing up Liquid it's great it's cheap and it's great for cleaning that stubborn casserole dish with you burn on dinner but it's not good for using on bike lacquer bike surfaces the first thing I do when I get in is immediately fill a bucket of hot water with washing up liquid you know car you wouldn't use it on your car it's gonna Mar it it's gonna dull it it's gonna damage the lacquer it's gonna take off any wax or special stuff that you put on to help keep the paint cleaner for longer it's just bad news just don't use it it's too it's just too powerful you want something that's got surfactants that's specially formulated for use on a bike [Music] okay ran over onto the next ramp using the wrong lube and in the wrong places see this all the time but it's amazing how many people who are really good cyclists just don't have a clue about lubing so first up when you're lubing your chain you want to lube the links and the rollers you don't want Lube on the outside plates of the chain you don't want Lube all over the cassette excess Lube is bad news it's just going to attract dirt and cause unnecessary and accelerated wear of your expensive components like your chain Rings you can set and you change and all this stuff is super expensive so we don't want to do that next up is putting Lube on top or the wrong type of loop on top of lube that's already there by putting too much Lube on and Lube on top of fresh Lube on top of dirty Lube you're again attracting too much dirt which is creating this grinding paste and this buildup of lube which is just gonna cause accelerated wet cost you money what you want to do is ideally wax your chain big fan of it because not just the fact that it makes you drive train faster but the fact that it you know causes lower rates of wear and it's also very good in dry conditions because it doesn't attract dust and dirt however it does take quite a lot of time and not everyone can be prepared to wax their chains and they might not have the setup or the time or the inclination furthermore if you're riding in purely wet conditions using a wet Lube is probably going to be advantageous however properly cleaning and degreasing your chain and then applying fresh Lube rather than Lube on top of lube is the way to go you can do it really quickly with a good Degreaser and if you're not prepared to wax your chain to in a full traditional sense I would suggest using a drip on wax product like Silk is super secret it's the next best thing it's not quite as good as a full-on wax because it doesn't penetrate as much into the links and rollers to the same degree as waxing your chain in a hot melt wax but it is better than a dry lube and it doesn't attract the dirt in the way that wet Lubes and dry Lubes do so yeah a drip on wax that's the way to go next is brake contamination now the the principal reason why this absolutely winds me up and like oh my God is because of the noise like the noise pollution that's created from disc brakes squealing because they're contaminated and so more often than not it's just easily avoided so something I see people do all too often is touch brake rotors with their fingers the oil that's on your skin is enough to contaminate a breaking surface of a brake rotor which is then going to cause it to squeal next up is just spraying cleaning chemicals which leave residue all over your brake rotors people spraying like PTFE sprays around to lubricate their bite which is already like John why are you doing that and they're spraying it around like it's deodorant or Febreze and it's just they're getting overspray Mist going on the rotors and the brake pads which is again contaminating them causing them to squeal it makes them less effective it can if you actually get a load of sort of oil or lubrication on there it can be dangerous because your brake isn't going to stop in time and then it's going to cause you to have to replace your rotors or your pads more frequently because you're gonna have to then rub down your pads to decontaminate them and take some of the surface off with some sandpaper oh just when you're cleaning your your bike just be wary of Oz rate if potentially take your wheels out if you're going to be spraying stuff around apart from disc brake cleaner on the rotors oh God next up damage from bike bags and bar back look I understand that some of you are hipsters and you need somewhere on your bike where you can carry your artisanal beard grooming products and your collection of vinyl from bands that nobody else has heard of and you're you're Craft Ale supplies but when you put your buy bags on they often rub against the frame causing like damage to the paintwork and in some cases it can rub through the paint and the lacquer and just damage the actual frame material underneath this isn't just unsightly but it's causing structural damage in some cases to the bite and it's nice just oh why would you do it so this is exacerbated when you're in wet conditions and also your bike is dirty now the solution to this is simple just apply some paint protection film to your bike you can buy this cheaply in sheets 3M make it and it's just clear sheets and you can cut it to size and you can apply it in key areas where your bike bags and straps from those bags are making contact with your frame it's just going to save you a bunch of money in the long run 100 do it easy how and lastly this is something that I see on group rides at Cafe stops all the time and it oh God it is just the most annoying leaning your bike up against the the top tube or the the seat stay or the head tube in a way that's going to scratch it and damage it when I see this it's just like ah just lean your bike up against like the hoods or the bar tape or the saddle or the the rear tire something that's soft where it's not going to damage the frame and the paint oh if I see any bike that's like instant I can speak for Alex too if we see any bike which we see all too often that are like bike Vault submissions where they're lent against the top tube it's an instant no entry to the bifold today you've been warned right I hope you found this video useful and from watching this you can stop destroying your bike let us know your other suggestions in the comments for things where people are destroying their bikes and that are really annoying and um well I'll see you in the next one love you bye

Channel: GCN Tech

Views: 503,619

Keywords: mistakes, tips, tips and tricks, bike mistakes, bike tips, bike cleaning, bike maintenance, bike cleaning mistakes, ruining your bike, damaging your bike, cycling mistakes, how to clean your bike, GCN Tech, GCNTech, GCN, GCN Cycling, Bike Tech, Cycling Tech, Cycling, Pro Cycling, Road Cycling, bike tech, cycling tech, cycling, tech, road, bike, road bike, bicycle, maintenance, bike repair, Ѡ, 5019, ѭ, ҩ, Ѵ, Ҁ, Ѿ, ӓ, Ѫ, sca15, gc21s, ិ, ꗧ, ꗶ, ᠫ, n1, ោ, ホ, ፕ16, ଙ, ସ, g3, ሙ, ළ, ዮ, monday mainenance, 𑣬‎

Id: bbeZ650L6pk

Length: 10min 37sec (637 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 03 2023