Bike maintenance

Mark A · 14 Sep 2006 at 17:38

Raymond Lin said:
white goo? try warm soapy water and elbow grease.

Thats what i did and its nice and clean now

, was just wondering what it was. I also used a metal brush attachment for my dremel to get the small rust patches off.

Mark A · 16 Sep 2006 at 15:29

Ive got the chain back on and its nice and shiny now but there seems to be a weird sound coming from the bottom bracket. Its a quiet grating sound, the best way to describe it would be a few grains of sand trapped in there.

Do you think its just a bit of grit in there and nothing to worry about?, i dont think its a broken BB as it still turns easily. I don't want to disassemble the bottom bracket if i can help it, plus the bike isn't very old so surely it wont need any maintenance yet.

Thanks

Mark A · 16 Sep 2006 at 17:42

mp3 of the sound

It doesn't sound as loud as this but thats the sound coming from my bike. I think i may have to disassemble as its annoying me now.

Raymond Lin · 18 Sep 2006 at 04:28

did you degease it too much? or try go out on a ride for a couple of miles and see if it goes away.

Mark A · 18 Sep 2006 at 10:12

Raymond Lin said:
did you degease it too much? or try go out on a ride for a couple of miles and see if it goes away.

No i never touched the bottom bracket, but funnily enough i went on a ride last night to post some DVDs back to Tesco and the noise wasn't there

. Must have just been a bit of dirt or something that has been forced out as i was riding. It seemed a lot quieter to ride as well with this wet lube on the chain.

Raymond Lin · 18 Sep 2006 at 13:56

Mark, you got some PTFE? It's best to spray some of that on after cleaning before lube to get rid of all the water. Just in case it isn't dried out.

I am going to get some today, think they are like £3 for a big bottle.

Mark A · 18 Sep 2006 at 14:49

http://www.electricbikesdirect.co.uk/productdetail.asp?category=2&id=647 Is this the stuff you mean?, i was thinking of getting some of this for cleaning my bike.

Raymond Lin · 18 Sep 2006 at 16:19

Mark A said:
http://www.electricbikesdirect.co.uk/productdetail.asp?category=2&id=647 Is this the stuff you mean?, i was thinking of getting some of this for cleaning my bike.

That's the stuff i just got from my LBS for £2.99

Mark A · 18 Sep 2006 at 18:14

Cheers, i think I'll get some from ebay for £3.75, my LBS is like 2 miles away and will prolly be a fiver or something ridiculous if they even sell it. Should come in handy for giving the frame a wipe down after a ride.

Raymond Lin · 18 Sep 2006 at 18:28

another thing to get is Car shampoo, for cleaning the frame as normal detergent can wash off the waxy shine the frame has on it. Well, at least on mine, i think the XTC have a matt satin finish.

Mark A · 18 Sep 2006 at 18:55

Yeah its a matt finish, looks like powder coated or something. Ive just been using fairy in warm water so far, seems to do an OK job. I keep getting spots of black oil on the frame, I'm hoping that GT-85 will get them off. Ive been using BBQ lighter fluid to get the oil off the frame so far

, does a good job but id rather have the proper product for the job.

Jonny ///M · 18 Sep 2006 at 19:48

Gt85 on my frame and rubbed it in made my frame come up quite shiney. It has a sort of matt finish to it. I will look into some car stuff to get her looking good though,good idea.

Mark A · 18 Sep 2006 at 22:02

Yeah you can get wash & wax car wash, i bet it would be a lot easier to clean with a fine coat of wax protecting the paintwork. Might look into that myself.