Turbotandem

In our part of the country we put the road tandem on the spinner and get our our trail tandem this time of year. What all are readers doing to their tandems for off-season maintenance? I do drive train maintenance every couple weeks, so I don't think there is much to check there, my intent is more about the harder stuff to do that is more on an annual basis.
Here's my plan:

1. Remove the wheels, seat posts, collars, BB, EBB, bottle cages, and fork
2. Let frame air out and Spray inside frame with frame saver
3. Touch up paint and buff out abrasions
4. Apply anti-sieze to bearing threads and parts suseptible to sweat: BB thread, face of BB shell where BB pushes against it, top of seat tube where seat collar rests, bottle cage bearing points
5. Replace a couple BB bearings
6. Sonic clean belt, rings, etc.
7. Check chain wear and diesel clean chain

Thoughts?

nfmisso

what is an off season ???

waynesulak

We ride year around but each December I usually:

Main Bike:

-Pull seatposts, wipe an insure coated with grease, usually still is.

-Pull eccentric and same as above (I do not adjust eccentric during year so it has just been sitting there)

- Apply Boeshield spray as a frame saver

-Feel bearings in wheels, headset, BBs for possible change out. We have about 10,000 miles on the captain's BB so thinking about a proactive change out but may try to make it another year. (This bike not ridden in rain much)

- Swap out Campy shifters for spare rebuilt shifters. I have a spare set and rotate these so I can rebuild the unused set when the mood strikes me.

- Replace all cables

- Good detail cleaning paint touch up.

- New bar tape

- Chains just stay on normal routine. We have four chains I rotate through, wiped and waxed once a month.

- Tires and tubes just normal weekly inspection and once a week inflation.


2nd (rain) tandem

- Pull seatposts, wipe an apply thin coating of grease if needed

- Pull eccentric and coat with thin grease (I do not adjust during year so it has just been sitting there)

- Feel bearings in wheels, headset, BBs for possible change out.

- Apply Boeshield spray as a frame saver

- Check mileage log and if over 6-8K miles since last swap I will swap out shifters and cables

- Check brake pads possible replacement Clean rim brake tracks

- Check cables if not replacing shifters

- Check fenders for good attachment and tire clearance

- Check chains for wear wipe and lube

- This year I will add tubeless liquid sealant to tubes (I hate changing a flat in the cold or rain)




Question:

Other than wax, what frame protection is a good idea? Most good car wax melts at about 90-100 degrees and does not last long in the summer.

Turbotandem

Yes, we can't help but ride year round, we just change up the tandem! In our case the cyclo-cross tandem is on duty in the winter so before I put the road tandem on the trainer I have a chance to do the big chores.

For a paint protection, I am not sure. As powder coat, it does not really take wax that well. I've been happy with "Bike Lust" a silicone sort of sealer. Seems to work well with the powder coat.
I also use "crank savers" or clear electric tape, on the frame for areas that get abrasion, like under the bento boxes on or the chain stay. In the winter I peel them off, buff what abrasion was no prevented, and in the spring will put on clear pads again. For buffing I use foam pads on a buffer and McGuirs light cut and swirl remover. For carbon cranks I use McGuires plastic polish (I think number 31?)

mkane77g

My motto is if it aint broke don't fix it.

waynesulak

On the tandem, like an aircraft i like to fix it before breaks.
Especially in the case of brakes!

zonatandem

Quickie inspection before each ride (spin wheels, check brakes).
Several times a year check tire wear and eccentric tension.
As needed, re-wax chains, usually every 5,000/6,000 miles or so or at the first chain 'squeak.'
Sealed bearings means not much maintenance.
Every 3 months or so, use Pledge wax on our c/f tandem.
We do not have an '0ff' season here in Tucson.

gsms

Well being from Colorado originally I think I remember an off season.... but after right at 20 years split between southeast Arizona (Tucson) and St. George, Utah "off season is a very, very distant memory.

Like Rudy, I do quickie inspections before each ride and maintenance every 2 months. Have done a complete tear down in years, the ol' Cannondale has been a workhorse. But it only gets about 8000 miles a year in use.

So like nfmisso said, "off season, what off season?"

Scott

p.s. Come here in the winter Turbo

Turbotandem

I can't seem to be clear here. We do ride year round. In fact, we have a home in Tucson and ride there on a Tucson tandem in the winter. For me anyway, Tucson WOULD have an off season in the summer when it is too hot for me. And we ride in Colorado 12 months a year winter as well, but on our cross tandem to get off the roads for 4 months. And we spin inside when none of the above work. But all that said, there is an opportunity to do annual maintenance on the bike about this time of year as we change up our steads.
So far sounds like 50/50 do preventative maintenance like bearings, and frame sealers, and the others let it ride till it breaks. For my riding, which consists of races and endurance events, I don't want to leave it to chance and need the bike to perform, thus I do preventative maintenance. Along with weekly check-ups on drive train and wheels, etc.
Thanks for the tips so far.

mkane77g

Nothing ever breaks. Things might wear out. The last time we had a parts failure was back in the early 90's and was wheel related. BB eccentric needs greasing 2-3 times a year but that's about it.

Paul J

Because where we are mileage wise on the bike my plans are to give it a good cleaning and check everything over. But mostly we will continue to fine-tune our set-up. I'm going to switch over to Dynad rims on both sets of wheel, our regular set and the set with the drag brake. Hang on to the Deep V set for a while to see how things go and then maybe sell them. Also add wider captain's bars being a big boy I'd love 46 the current ones are ctc 43. And finally, hopefully figure-out saddles. This is the second year for my stoker on her current saddle and she has gotten much more fit and can probably move away from the more comfort type saddle. She has been riding a men's Aventir City 100. She has some tail bone issues which go back to child birth which gives discomfort when her tail bone hits the seat. I'm wondering if a saddle with a pronounced split at the rear might help. Hope this doesn't derail the OP, if so sorry.

gsms

Andy I have read about the competitive riding / racing you do and if I were at your level of riding I would certainly pursue a much more rigorous level of maintenance. However with that in mind, honest, I was just playing around with the seasonal aspect of it because I feel very fortunate having the great winters we have here in St. George (and good riding, if you like plenty of hill work) and was smuggly bragging that up. I wish I had myself, and stoker at your level of physical condition because even though I'm just an old guy now I still have a pretty wide streak of competitiveness in me. I admire your discipline.

Anyways, being in the land of no other year round resident tandem riders, my stoker and I ride, always on the lookout for other performance tandems and even better singles when we are on the flats and down hill. Hope to see you out here one day, Enjoy, Scott

Philly Tandem

You all are making me feel guilty that I don't treat my big bikes better. Before I became a parent, I would literally strip the tandem down to the frame each winter and rebuild it, replacing cables and whatnot. Haven't done that for a while! And now we also have a triple, so that makes me feel even more guilty.

justcrankn

My experience differs. Every winter I pull the freehub body to clean and grease the pawls and ratchet. Malfunctioning pawls can destroy the hub and leave you stranded.

Turbotandem

Thanks for the kudo's. BUt I'll pass them along; my stoker and I are always surprised at the caliber of tandems we find. Our own endeavors impress ourselves, and we show off in the local club's "A" group once a week; but compared to our tandem friends we're just making a dent. We helped organize a tandem Hill Climb race in both Old la Honda Calif (beaten squarely that day by the current leader as well as Brehmer and Merritt), and on Lookout in Denver, where the top tandem team smoked us. And some of those teams were then beat at Nationals by other tandems. It's nice knowing teams like that are out there!
FYI, it is in part the string of broken tandem parts at Nationals that got me thinking about overhauling our own tandem this winter.

I'd suggest you can pursue those singles you mention uphill as well; we best at climbing all but the top few in our "A" club, and the top tandems in my area beat uphill nearly all but the pro singles. The joy of passing a single in a climb far outweighs the flats and downhills. I'll often pursue a local peloton closing the gap for a long while, and then wait to pass them until on a climb; such fun!

We rode in St George this year for some spring training, here and here.

Turbotandem

Photos of my work last night.
1. Frame saver spray
2. typical wear between frame and external BB cups, a lot of water squeezes n and stands in this seem
3. Anti seize on face of shell against which installed BB cup will tighten
4. typical staining at EBB shell where, again, a lot of water gets in and stands in seem between EBB and shell. I brushed this off with a wire brush
5. anti-seize film applied to inside of EBB shell
6. spring clip from EBB with corrosion powder on it. I slimed each spring in anti-seize before re installing.

waynesulak

Very interesting pictures.

Is the inside of the EBB raw metal or is it finished in some way?
What type of EBB with a spring clip do you use?

What is your procedure for the bike after a long wet ride?

Wayne

Turbotandem

No, the inside of the frame is not painted, as I think no frames frames are. The face of the from EBB shell is painted since the EBB binds inside the shell. The face of the rear BB was painted, but the bearing pressure of the external BB cups turned down on to that paint I think "crush" or wear the paint so I use the anti-seize on that face. The interface between the external BB cup and the frame is notoriously wet from road splatter, and also sweat and spilled electrolight drink; those fluids caught in the seam between the cup and the face of the shell warrant extra preventative care.

The EBB is bushnell feather weight. The EBB gets even more wet since the front wheel, even with a fender, sprays right onto it. And from time to time I am caught in a storm without the fender. At times I think of caulking closed the holes in the EBB face to allow less water in, and/or caulk the whole BB in place since the wing-type mechanism does not really seal water out. The spring clip appears to be stainless steel with debris from the surrounding materials. The EBB itself is anodized, so it should not induce much or any galling of the frame, but to be safe I skim the interior of the shell. I had not thought of the spring before as the only exposed metal on metal surface un-anodized. The spring sits in a shallow groove so it would not seem to be in contact with the frame, but maybe when the EBB wings spread out to the frame the spring flexes against the frame.

A few weeks after Cripple Creek and its final 4 hours in the rain, I was carrying the tandem vertically and at least 4 oz of water poured out of the EBB. Darn it, I was carrying 4 oz of water around for a couple weeks including a hill climb race! So I guess I don't really have a thorough "post rain ride" procedure. The bike will finish such an event looking like a mountain bike. (picture below after 225m death ride and several hours of rain without the fenders, then some more with the fenders...)
I generally just clean the paint, and lube the drive train, tighten up some bolts, sometimes I sonic clean the belt in a tank I borrow from a friend, and re-silicone the belt. I had not been in the practice of "draining" the frame or re-greasing/antiseize the BB's.
FYI, I did open the sealed BB bearings and they were doing fine. I repacked them as part of this effort just to be sure.

waynesulak

I have likewise never seen the inside of a frame painted but thought they might have done the inside of your EBB rather than mask it off before powder coating. It would be great if some more permanent treatment could be done like anodizing to the inside of the frame. I never feel that I can completely treat a frame interior with spray.

On my steel bikes I have always been concerned about water in the boom tube which would have to go uphill thru a vent hole to evacuate into the BB. We generally store out bikes at about 80 degrees with the front wheel high on the wall but I am considering inverting the bike and loosing the fork after a wet ride so the water could easily drip out. This would be pretty easy to do.

Turbotandem

I hear you on the EBB shell vent hole. not only would the water have to go uphill, it would have to run around curve, really trapped in there. Fortunately our Di2 wiring involves a groove cut in the BB and EBB shells where they meet the bottom tube. Ground in place with a dremel tool. So that gives a way for water in the bottom tube to drain.