Fixie Maintenance
 

I rode a friends fixie several months ago and fell in love. I decided to
build my own and just recently finishing doing so. I haven't ridden a
bike much at all since I was a teenager and at the time I didn't even
give maintenance a second thought.

I've committed to riding at least 5 miles a day, once I get that down
cold without getting tired I'll go to 10 etc until I can ride FOREVER ;>.

I do my ride regardless of wind, sun, rain, snow, sleet etc and the
past few days it has been pretty rainy. My question is what should
I be doing for regular maintenance on my bike? Especially after a
ride in the rain.

Thanks in advance, I've fallen in love with biking again and I want to
keep my baby in good operating order.

Kaz

Wipe your ride down with a dry cloth after riding in the rain. Clean your chainline if it gets too noisy, and periodically check that chainring bolts are still tight.

There's not a lot to do.

From Sheldon Brown: Chainline - This refers to how straight the chain runs between the front and rear sprockets.

I wasn't aware that you could clean that. ;)

Anyway, jordache is right in that there just is not a lot that needs to be done. Make sure you have the right chain lube for the weather conditions, because some lubes will come right off in the rain, and certain temperatures make some lubes very noisy, etc. I use Finish Line Cross Country in the wintertime when it starts snowing. It's messy and gross, but it's also quiet and lasts a while. I use DuMonde Tech in the spring/summer because it is not messy at all and does the job perfectly in warmer weather. Other than that, I've only seriously cleaned my chain twice since purchasing my IRO back in September, I've taken it to the car wash once after an unexpectedly wet dirt road ride, and I wipe it down occasionally when I start to have trouble reading the "You Only Need One" on the chainstays.

Maybe I meant to say clean your chain, adjust your chainline. Depending on weather conditions I lube every couple weeks, and degrease and lube once every month or two.

Also a good idea to wipe your tires down after rain, because that's when debris on the road is a concern, and you could have picked up fragments of glass that may puncture later on.

if something starts making a weird noise oil it up. if that doesn't stop the noise, take it off.

Keep your fingers away from a moving drivetrain, or they'll get chopped off.

word.

one place to take notice of is your front fork. depending on the build of the fork, there may be tiny holes that go through to the inside of the tubing. in the rain the force of the spinning tire can cause a good amount of water to get into the tubuing. (ask judah on here about it... he turned his fork upside down after a rainy ride, and tons of water just poured out)

secondly... make sure your stem and seatpost are greased up nice. if the frame is steel and your stem and/or seatpost is alloy... theres some crazy chemical reaction that could cause the metals to bond. (do a search on here for "stuck or frozen stem". thats how i found out about it).

just good commn sense as well, i guess. anywhere theres gaps for water to get into, especially around bearings, just make sure they are lubed up nicely. cheers

And you would know, wouldn't you? ;)

Since taking the chain off is so easy on a fixie I was thinking about going old school on the chain lube. I'm thinking of dipping my chain in melted parafin wax. Still it makes me wonder if the technique was all that great why folks don't still do it.