travbikeman

Had my Crosstrail in this past Saturday at the LBS. It had a clunking kind of noise coming from the crankset only when going up a hill. Plus I was getting the free tuning since I was going on a long ride on Sunday.

Come to find out that my bottom bracket will need replacing soon. Along with my chain, it's stretched to it's limit. Plus the rear cassette is showing some real signs of wear. The LBS told me that the parts are good type of parts (but the way they said it made me think they were saying I could get better stuff and should).

Now I realize these parts are not the more expensive stuff out there. Plus if I wanted to replace them with like items, it would be cheap. But is it normal for these items to wear out so quickly? I've been doing anywhere from 100-200 miles a month this past 4 months. Plus had it on the trainer for the 2 months before this.

I also wanted to hear suggestions on more durable chains, cassettes and bottom brackets. Thanks!

Doctor Morbius

So your bike has less than 1,000 miles and the chain has stretched and BB is almost in need of replacing? Wow. Sounds like a dud BB, but the drivetrain wearing out is another story.

Are you not regularly wiping down your chain after your rides? Do you spend much time cross chained? These two things will wear down a chain with a quickness.

travbikeman

Yea, that's what's confusing me. I do clean this chain and cassette often, not after every 6 mile ride. But do weekly or immediately after a long trail ride. I typically use the middle gear on the crank set and move throughout all the gears on the cassette. The larger gear on the crank set, I only use the smaller 11 tooth gear on the cassette. I've only used the smaller gear on the crank set once and thought it as a waste with my style of riding.

I did get the feeling from the LBS that the BB was a dud and goes out often on these bikes.

Little Darwin

I have a bike with far more miles on it than that since I got it 2 years ago (used) and swapped parts just to know they were new. I am nowhere near wearing out any of those components. And by the way, I rarely clean my drive train, and only lubricate when I start hearing noise. I ride mostly dusty rail trails, but I am a fair weather rider (so never very wet), and weigh over 300 pounds.

I suspect one of the following:

1) You ride more in your sleep than when you are awake

2) Someone swapped your newish parts for their old ones

or

3) You use rubbing compound instead of lube.

But more seriously, no parts should wear out in 1,000 miles, even the expensive, stupid light, stuff that might wear more quickly... otherwise some road riders would have to replace their drive trains every month.

Doctor Morbius

That's over the top then. I have no advice to give, but I've not had a chain stretch that quickly or any of the other related problems in such a short amount of time, even when I neglected my bike back in the '90s.

Is there any warranty on any of those parts? Seems like it would be reasonable to expect more miles (many more!) out of a drivetrain before needing to replace anything.

travbikeman

Could it be my weight? I am down to 320lbs, was around 372 when I got the bike back in March. I do really crank hard up some of the steeper hills. This will be the first bike I've ever owned that I have to replace these things on. I've never had to do that on my prior bikes but I was not overweight on those bikes either.

avidone1

I was agreeing with the "should never wear out this quickly" crowd, but seeing your weight I am now in the "I don't know" camp.
I believe that the "Clydesdale" forum is the best place to post this. I am sure there are other heavy riders on there who will be able
to share some experience. Good luck on your continued weight loss

quicktrigger

FWIW,
I think the BB on my Sirrus is a dud as well. Started doing what you described when climbing a couple hundred foot hill for the first time. It doesn't do it all the time, so waiting a bit on replacement. I have wondered if standing on the pedals (therefore on the cranks to the BB) and going over speed bumps may have been part of the issue. BTW, started out at about 250. Therefore I'm willing to give this one the benefit of the doubt. The other thing that occurs to me, if your BB got out of alignment, then it could possible forcing the chain to rub, resulting in wear, but I would have expected you to have heard that. Maybe you did, and didn't know that it wasn't normal. Could be something was bent during shipping, or someone "test" ride. But I'm guessing. In any event IMHO, replace the BB, and have someone else look at the chain etc. Even with the things I mentioned, the drivetrain should not wear out that fast IMHO. Don't tell the second mechanic what the first one claimed. Just take your bike in as normal. I have run across one guy I know I would not trust. My female counterpart bike came back far worst tuned, and I'm sure the next visit would have been that XYZ needed to be replaced due to wear. I then turned it in 10 minutes and it worked great. I have also run across others I would not trust to know what they were talking about.

JMHO
QT

travbikeman

Thanks everyone! I checked on the Clydes side and it is sounding like the original BB that comes on these bikes are known to falter. The guys at the LBS did have to adjust it for me when I took the bike in on Saturday. It did run better on my 46 mile ride yesterday. But will admit I was worried much of the trip on whether this was going to fail on me.

For the moment I'm going to keep my trips under 10 miles until I replace the drivetrain with something a bit stronger to better support what I do to the bike.

Bill Kapaun

That can certainly exacerbate wear.

RickGr4

Bikes do have weight limits. Some manufactures post them. My Giant Fastroad says 300lbs is the limit. I weigh 260lbs. However don't worry. Your bike isn't "worn out".

That being said, my bike developed a click from the BB and my LBS had to rebuild it. But it is fine now.

a1penguin

While your weight does put additional stress on the bike, I would expect wheels and brakes to get the brunt of the stress. Do you ride with your butt off the seat a lot? That might be a source of stress for the bottom bracket. Congrats on the weight loss!

CliffordK

If you have a cartridge bottom bracket that is wearing out... riding it won't damage it, although I suppose it could self destruct and leave you walking, but I would imagine it would just progress from marginal to really bad.

As far as the chain. Many will wear out around 2000 miles. A thousand is a bit on the low side, but not too far out of spec. MTBs apparently wear out the chains quicker than road bikes due to dirt contamination.

I've been buying Shimano HG73 chains for my 9s bikes for about $10 each, and installing them myself.

As a general rule, if you change the cassette, put on a new chain.
However, don't change the cassette for every new chain.

I've heard some bike shops overestimate chain stretch, and are quick to suggest replacing the chain, as well as the cassette.

I'd probably go ahead and replace the chain, but only replace the cassette if you have problems such as skipping due to cassette wear.

travbikeman

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will be replacing the BB soon since I have plans on taking many more trail rides that will be 50 miles and I don't feel like getting stuck. I'm also going to replace the chain. Since it appears the way I ride wears the chain out this often, I will take some of your advice and wait to replace the cassette on the next chain replacement. The more I think of it, I highly believe that I stretched this chain on my rides on the steeper up hills that I push my self on.

To those of you asking, I don't stand at all on my bike when riding it up. I'm too afraid to do that with my weight. If it gets to a point that I can't pedal, I get off and walk it up.

I'm on track on continue my weight loss journey! Going down to 320 lbs since starting to ride my bike. But, my overall weight loss has actually been closer to ~220lbs. Before starting to ride my bike, I walked alot to get down from 537 lbs which was at my worst. I'm hoping to be down to 285 lbs by December!

My biggest reason for losing weight, was to get biking again. I missed it and am really enjoying this once again.

travbikeman

My LBS told me the same about how MTN bikes chains wear out quicker. Especially with the way I've been riding in the mud and very sandy or dirty trails. I'll still buy this from the LBS since they offer free installation if I buy it from them.

The Cassette isn't skipping, yet....so that is leading me to believe, that yes it maybe wearing down, but it can wait until my next chain replacement. I've looked it up on Amazon, the cassette my bike has is only like $25. But still that's money I could use elsewhere.

Little Darwin

As far as the weight, I bought a Giant Sedona DX in 2003, rode it for 10 years, including a few metric centuries when I was riding more than I am now, and weighing between 365 and 310 pounds. I replaced the chain and rear cluster once in those 10 years. The bike still has the original cranks, BB and chainrings. I changed shifters a few years ago (but only because I wanted rapid fire instead of grip shifters) and changed to a rigid fork. Oh, and I had one spoke replaced when it broke. The bike was my primary bike for 10 years before I bought a used Trek FX to replace it, and it is still completely functional and is my backup bike/loaner. Some of those years I rode well over 1,000 miles, and others I rode only a few hundred.

So, something is drastically wrong with your bike wearing so quickly.

Little Darwin

Congrats on your weight loss so far, it is encouraging.

However, as far as riding hard on hills stretching your chain, unlikely that is the cause. Chains don't stretch in the same way things like belts do, the stretching of a chain is actually due to the pins and/or bushings getting worn, and the extra pressure when the chain is pulled when climbing wouldn't necessarily increase that as much as you would think since at that point, through most of the top of the chain where the stress is, the pins/bushings aren't moving, so friction may not be as big an issue. In fact, I think that spinning may be harder on chains because the chain goes through more bend/straighten cycles.

As far as standing, I would suggest that you give it a try. I am about your weight, and I stand periodically. I actually stand most to relieve pain on the posterior or to go over speed bumps etc, and then I am usually coasting, but as of last year, I started working on standing, just to have more fun. What I do to get used to it is to cruise on a flattish section of rail trail, and then shift up 2 or 3 gears (on the rear) and as soon as the shift is complete stand up and sprint. After doing this for several rides, I found that I was also able to stand on hills. I don't necessarily stand to avoid pushing (I don't usually ride hills big enough to need to push) but to work on different muscles. I don't know if typical riders shift while standing, but I haven't approached that yet in my riding.

blue_cheese

I too felt that drive train components on my DS 8.4 wore out kind of fast, 3000km and two cogs on the cassette were chewed up and the chain was stretched, disc brakes needed servicing as well (front could no longer stop my pedaling force). While not as much as you, at 220lbs I am no feather, I am sure that the force of my pedaling strokes damaged the power train. I am trying to be a more conscientious not to pedal hard during a shift and as well as gradually pedaling up when going from coasting or low cadence to hard pedaling. My two small cogs on the cassette had several teeth that looked like they were bashed with a hammer from the inside between the teeth.

I have noticed that with a good pedal push I can twist the entire crank from left to right... so I try not to do that. Riding cross chained is also a quick way to end the life of the power train (esp the chain), not sure if you are doing that.

Your mass certainly would put additional wear on the bike, also watch your wheels, if they go out of true you may end up snapping spokes much easier than someone lighter.

travbikeman

Thanks for advice! I may wait until I get under the 300 lb mark before I attempt to stand like this.

You don't ride hills to push? Wilke-Barre is in middle of a mountain range! I know it's in middle and flat in the middle.........just messin. My in laws live in the Berwick area and I somewhat know of the area.

travbikeman

I have been trying to keep it easy on my shifts, but am thinking maybe I need to do better. I'm wondering if that is a good portion of why this is happening. I'm grinding my gears too much.

I haven't tried to twist my crank like that, but the LBS did to check it's strength. They were bending my bikes frame, the crank wasn't bending. It was nearly freaking me out when they did that.

Also trying very hard not to ever cross chain, always knew this to not a be a good idea to the chain.

Fortunately, wheels seem to still be good. I'm so looking forward to losing this 100 lbs!

Little Darwin

I ride mostly rail trails and levees... no real climbs on most of my routes. My favorite ride is a pretty constant, but mild grade, the Black Diamond trail from White Haven to Mountain Top.

travbikeman

Yea those type of trails are my favorites as well. I can ride much longer.

quicktrigger

I can't help but to begin to wonder, if BB are dying so fast, teeth on a cassette are bending, chains going to pot, brakes crapping out etc., just what we are paying the extra $$$ for? This is beginning to sound like Wal Mart/Target bikes for twice or more the price? Are the accountants so taking over that the name brand bikes are so as everything else? There is a true story about a coffee brand that was excellent and high quality. Eventually, accountants convinced others to use a slightly low quality, claim customers would never notice, then a lower grade again, and then a lower grade etc. all to "cut costs" and increase profits. This was fine until there was little competition, and the competition cooperated to do the same, until Starbucks and similar emerged, and imported brands began to fluid in, at which time sales plummeted because customers realized they had been paying a premium for swell. Of course this is not unlike the American automakers in the 70's-80's. I have to wonder if the same thing is not developing yet again with bicycles, at least for some brands. "Cost cutting" to inflate profits, while selling a lesser product than just a few years ago.

QT

mr_b

I would write/email Specialized to complain. I would think that this would be covered under some type of warranty being the bike is under a year old.

fietsbob

the bearings in BBs get contaminated by front wheel spew. full coverage mudguards reduce that .

drive train parts are "consumables" the wear is a natural consequence of riding , lots of cleaning and Lubricating

Extends the wear cycle. warrantee on parts is for Mfg, material defects, not wear and tear of using the bike.

using lower cost parts got the selling price down to what you were willing to pay.