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Old 08-08-16 | 02:25 PM
  #33  
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79pmooney
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Joined: Oct 2014
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From: Portland, OR

Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder

Originally Posted by wphamilton
Which reminds me to ask, just how often do you lube it? I've had my fixed gear since December, with chain case, and lubed once (although it didn't seem to need it, and I just had the case open so I lubed it). Maybe around 1600-1800 miles, no noise and when I check it looks fine, but do you ever just wipe it down and re-lube?
I treat my two fix gears quite differently. The good one gets the synthetic yellow lube that dries on to a form of plastic. (Well, I have never gotten it to be completely clean, but it is radically better than anything but wax.) This so I can do road gear changes and stay clean. (Flip-flop fix-fix hub.) I also carry a cog wrench and a third cog on big climbing days. My winter fix gear gets the wet MTB Finishline lube as needed, never taking the chain off and cleaning.

My days of salted winter roads are 30 years past and the lubes and schedules never recorded. Edit: Rims, spokes and entire drivetrain went one year, April to April. My heavy sewup rims would be polygons supported by spokes with solidly frozen nipples. some spo tight they'd be pulling through the rims and other completely loose. New wheels and drivetrain and the bike felt like new and was again a joy to ride. Early winter I got to ride good stuff. By late January the "nice" was gone. By late February the chain was pretty sad and the wheels funky. By late March it was amazing that the bike still worked. Every March I would fall into a bottomless pothole. Thank you, CX tubulars for not pinch flatting. I rode home more than once on completely square wheels (well dents well over an inch deep). Pull 'em out (I built a special tool to do that) and ride 'em the next day.

Ben

Last edited by 79pmooney; 08-08-16 at 02:39 PM.
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