elcruxio

So as the title suggests I'm looking for opinions on what I should do to our current tourers before our next tour. Never been worried before, but since this next one is going to be such a long one I'd rather minimize
1) possible issues and breakages
2) on tour maintenance needs.

Let's start with hubs. We have 3 Shimano cup & cone hubs and one Hope rear hub. I have ordered new bearings for the hope as spares, and I'm taking 3 cartridges with me just in case (since the 17x28x7 cartridges are almost impossible to find, the other 2 are pretty generic) . Not sure about taking tools, as the brearings can be swapped without them, just takes significantly longer.

Anyways, to reduce the possibility of a bearing swap in the hope I was thinkin on opening up the hub, opening up the 4 bearings out of 5 that can be accessed without removing bearings, and pushing them full of new grease if they seem dry (hope has had a bit of issues in this regard).

The Shimano hubs I was thinkin on opening up anyways, washing away the old grease and putting in new one as while my front hub is XT and pretty well sealed, my GF has M525 bearings which have practically no seals whatsoever. I'll push them as full of the stuff as I can possibly fit in to reduce the risk of water migration.

But about the grease. It is said that white lithium grease is a big no no. However when i looked into it, most marine grease I can find is either lithium soap or calcium soap based. Is the lithium marine grease still a no no, or can I use that. Other options are Red Line CV-2 (expensive, fully synthetic, supposedly good with water) and CRC super adhesive grease (called marine grease in my country, semi synthetic, affordable, lithium soap based). So, what can I use?

This much though goes into the whole grease thing, because I do not want to open up a hub in the field

I was thinking of getting copper grease for the bottom brackets, but if I get a grease with enought water resistance, I think that'll do as well. Or maybe copper grease?

I'll swap chains, shifter cables and housings, brake cables.

Every nut and bolt has loctite and I think I'll get away with 8.8 grade chromo bolts on the racks as we're doing road / gravel touring with moderate loads.

Headsets are getting packed with grease as well. Frames are framesaved and any gaps in the paint have been filled with nail polish, both in the racks and frames.

I had one thing I needed to add, but I forgot what it was. I'll add it when I remember.

It's a long text, sorry about that. Comment what you will, some of the stuff might seem like a statement, but this is all really just a big question and all input is valued.

staehpj1 

I think you will be well prepared but are probably overthinking things. I am far more cavalier on pretty much all fronts and have not had it cause me much grief despite having done quite a few multi week and multi month tours.

My point isn't that you should be as cavalier as I am about it, but that it probably isn't something to get too carried away with.

As I started doing more tours I stopped doing much maintenance specifically for the tours. This is especially true for longer tours. I tend to only do whatever pre-tour maintenance is almost due any way. This is especially true for replacing parts like chains, tires, and other more consumable parts.

It is less true for repacking bearings. I will do that before a tour if it would be overdue to be done while on tour. I typically do that once a year on bikes that are being ridden much.

The longer the tour the more likely I am to just plan on doing maintenance along the way when it is needed.

I am much less inclined to worry over the details. Grease isn't something I obsess over. I buy a tub of boat trailer grease and use it for any and all bearings that get packed. I think the white lithium grease prohibition is only because it is so thin and needs to be repacked far more often. I never replace a chain until it measures 12-1/16" for 12 full links. I replace cables only if there is fraying and housings almost never. My bike doesn't have a drop of loctite anywhere. I couldn't tell you what grade bolts are on my racks. I have over my almost 60 years of bicycling never used frame saver or bothered to fill pain chips.

Squeezebox

I agree with Staehpj1.

imi

I use SKF ball bearing grease.
SKF are the world leader's in ball bearing manufacturing, so I guess they know a thing or too about grease as well.
https://www.skf.com/group/products/lubrication-solutions/lubricants/high-performance-high-temperature-grease/index.html

As it happens their factory in Gothenburg, Sweden is just down the road from where I live

Apart from that, sounds like you've got it covered. Wheels retensioned? Sorry, maybe you wrote that already...

bikemig 

I would do an overhaul before a long tour. There are long threads here where people argue over which grease to use. I suspect there are plenty of different kinds which are just fine. I like park grease; it's not the cheapest but a tub last me a long, long time and it's very good.

elcruxio

My wheels are built by me and still straight as arrows so likely no need for retension. I've tensionded my GF's wheels but I'll probably go through them again at some point before the tour (as they are bontrager and I don't completely trust them)

elcruxio

Had to do a requote of the same comment but different section since I did a bit of googling about the SKF greases. I think the SKF LGHP 2 ceramic grease may be a bit overkill for bike bearings, especially on tour (and it's quite expensive) but the LGMT 2, which is a car bearing grease seems really promising. It would seem SKF really tests their water resistance and the LGMT 2 seems to be perfect for everything but full salt water immersion activities (the LGMT-3 can be used in boat propellers, but is also quite thick and intended for bearings bigger than 100mm)

Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll go with SKF from now on.

imi

Yeah, sorry, I didn't delve into all the different greases differences, just linked to the first one that looked like a general grease for ball bearings. I'll check in the garage and see which exact one I have a tube of. It was nothing expensive, but specifically "ball bearing grease"... Will post in a bit...

bikemig 

That is some of the most expensive grease I have seen. Not that easy to find but a google search shows prices running from $50 to $70 for 125 ml. Wow. I realize though that prices could well be different in Scandinavia or for that matter in Turku, .

imi

Haha! Sorry for wrong link... but wait 'til you hear what a beer in a regular bar costs here
Here's the grease I have... general purpose, bearing grease...



LGMT 2, yes, the one you found too, elcruxio... Well googled!

elcruxio

That's the stuff I was thinking, LGMT 2.

Our beer is usually 5e for 0.4l, 6e for 0.5l (and we're talking regular lager here)
Specialty beers such as exports and micro breweries are regularly 7-8e per pint.

Anyways, I remembered the one point I couldn't remember before.
Bar orientation
Bar tape
Brake hood orientation

The weird thing is that my road bike has brifters and never gives me any grief. I use thin fizik microtex bar tape with single strips of extra padding gel tape on the whole top side of the bar.

With my LHT I can't make the brake lever and bar combo work. The brake lever isn't as big of chunky or long as the Sram brifter and I think that might be the problem. With my road bike I have the bar tilted up just a tiny bit, almost horizontal and the bar / brifter combo creates this horizontal line where it's easy to rest my hands.With the cane creek drop vee levers however I can't get that smooth horizontal line. I have to move the levers back quite a bit to get rid of the dip the lever causes on my compact bars.

So asking about how I should place the bar, the levers and should I use double wrap bar tape?
Should I put the bar so that tops from the side are horizontal, or is it ok to tilt it up a bit so the tops (or ramps they might be called) corresponds more with the stem angle?
Should the brake levers point directly forward or should they point slightly out, slightly in?
How up can the brake lever even point so that it makes sense?

I know this is all personal preference but advice about how it's traditionally done, how it works for other people etc. may help in elimination some of the multiple variables at play here. It might just be that I need double wrapped bar tape and nothing else, maybe move the lever back a bit and level the bar. And also maybe point the levers in a tiny bit.

imi

I got muddled, thought you were in Germany not Finland
At least it's not Norway, the prices there are beyond ridiculous!

edit... this is purely personal, but I angle my bars so that the angle of the (quill) stem makes a continuous straight line with the top part of the bars. Hope that makes sense.
The bottom of the levers are in a straight line with the bottom of the bars. I hold a piece of wood under the bars to get this straight.
Brakes I have ever so slightly angled inwards from the line of the bars (Ritchey Comp Road Logic). My goal is to have a perfectly straight (ergonomic) line from wrist to hand when holding the hoods.
I like symmetry ;p

That said, there are no rules (well maybe there are in the velominati or whatever it's called), but comfort and fit are of course first priority

Angling the bars, and moving brakes up or down, changes the "reach", and having comfortable reach is a very important part of "fit"... If you're angling them up radically, it could be a shorter (and/or taller) stem is needed. OTOH if it looks goofy, but fits and works... well, who cares!

elcruxio

That's why we BYOB (bring your own booze) everytime we to Norway.

Could be 'bring our own booze' too, but that might get caught by moderation....

bikenh

I always start a new tour with as much stuff done as possible. At least the usual stuff you know could easily go wrong in a long tour. I guess since I live in a sales tax free state I don't want have to spend an extra 5-8% sales tax to go out and have to buy stuff in other states. I always start a tour with new tires, new chain, new cassette and depending on how things look even maybe chainrings. I try my best to keep things from failing on me. I don't want to have to waste the time or effort trying to find a bike shop so I can get things fixed.

I generally don't go as far as regreasing headtubes or anything like that. It's not something that generally goes wrong during a trip so I don't worry too much about it.

Other than flat tires out the rear last year I only had to replace one wheel and one chain while on the trip. Admittedly I was on a new bike with only 500 miles on it before I left. The previous three years I think I only replaced one chain while on the trip. I had the chain with me the whole time since I generally always carry a spare chain on me when I leave from home...again don't want to have to hunt down a darn bike shop and then pay sales tax on top of that. A penny saved is a penny I don't have to earn.

imi

Just thought of another one mostly in case you're flying... remove pedals and regrease. Even seatpost... hell while you're at it regrease the headtube as well!
edit: sorry I've definitely had too much coffee today!

disclaimer: I don't work for the SKF grease sales department

Tourist in MSN

I like Phil Wood grease. I usually do not bother to clean out grease from hubs if it is not that old, just add it. Shimano sometimes was stingy on grease in front hubs.

Grease your seatpost to keep rainwater out.

Ride your bike around home at least 100 miles (150 km) after you do the cables, and do a few practice panic stops to make sure your cable stop bolts are tight enough to prevent slippage if you really need to crank down on the brakes later.

My last tour was almost a thousand miles and my wheels were 10 years old (I built the wheels myself). Before the trip I took them into a bike shop where a friend of mine wrenches, we checked spoke tension. It was spot on, but I was glad I had it checked anyway.

If you are shipping the bikes, make sure that your pedals are not too tight for you to remove later. Later, you might not have a long arm wrench to get them off.

I worked in a bike shop years ago, I built up my bikes myself. I try to keep them maintained well enough that they are always ready to go. But since I am more likely to ride in the rain on a bike tour than I am around home, things like grease in the seatpost is more likely to be neglected around home. Most of my bikes have painted seatposts so I do not need to grease to prevent dissimilar metal corrosion.

If you trip is long enough that your chain could wear past the point of no return during the trip, check your chain stretch first and decide if you need a new chain. If you put on a new chain, ride it a few times to make sure your old cassette is good, you might need a new one of those too.

If you expect lots of hills, maybe new brake pad inserts. The photo is of the brake pads that I had when I got home from my last tour, there were not many hills left on those pads. I like to clean up my brake pads before a trip by filing down the pad to get to good rubber instead of coated with aluminum oxide.



Bar angle and brake lever hood angle, completely personal preference. I like the handlebar top to be horizontal and the brake lever hoods angled up about 20 degrees. But some people like the hoods to be horizontal, do what feels best to you.



Usually when I set up a new bike handlebar configuration, I ride with it a couple days before I put the tape on so I can get all angles perfect before I lock in those adjustments with new bar tape.

elcruxio

Quoting just this part does not mean, i did not read the rest of your post. You had some really good points there. I just would like to ask a bit more about the brake lever configuration.

Do you experience any issues with braking on the drops? The lever seems to be a bit far away from the bar. For me this would not be a problem, but as I'm also configuring my GF's bike (as per to her wishes to the extent she can express them, she's not as interested in this stuff as I am) and she has much smaller hands than I do.
I might have to look into possible adjustments in her levers...

imi

Here's mine: I actually noticed while taking the photo, that my bars are angled slightly down from the stem line OMG!!!

Salamandrine 

Whatever you do, do it at least a couple weeks before you leave. Frankly it seems like overhauling is new to you, and you could easily do something wrong. Besides, you are likely to need to retighten and readjust the bearings after your first ride or two. You'll want to have some shakedown rides for sure.

Park grease or Phil grease is fine. Frankly even white lithium grease is fine - it was the standard grease for decades. It turns to cheese after 20 years or so, but who cares. The white color is useful for determining when your grease has gotten dirty, which is more useful on a practical basis than any subtle benefits you may get from high tech grease.

imi

Rule #46
//
Keep your bars level.
Handlebars will be mounted parallel to the ground or angled slightly upward. While they may never be pointed down at all, they may be angled up slightly; allowed handlebar tilt is to be between 180 and 175 degrees with respect to the level road. The brake levers will preferably be mounted such that the end of the brake lever is even with the bottom of the bar. Modern bars, however, dictate that this may not always be possible, so tolerances are permitted within reason. Brake hoods should not approach anything near 45 degrees, as some riders with poor taste have been insisting on doing.

#46 ]Velominati ? The Rules[/url]

Tourist in MSN

I have large hands. And, If am on the drops I am trying to be aerodynamic, and if I plan to slow down I am more likey to sit up higher and not brake from the drops. Much of my braking is from the interrupter brake levers.

Some brake companies (Cane Creek comes to mind) make levers for small hands. I accidentally bought some of those some time back and put them on my expedition bike, I thought they were normal brake levers until I went to install them. But they fit and worked, so I used them.



Click here: Brake Levers

The short reach ones are SCR-5C

elcruxio

I do have some experience in bike maintenance, mainly from doing all my own maintenance, bike building, wheel building, etc etc. for the last ten years. I've handled cup and cone bearings, although cartridge bearings are somewhat new to me.

While I do know how to do everything I suggested I will do, and have done so in the past (mostly), I'm asking the questions mainly because I want to know whether I should do all that I was thinking of, and also to get new perspectives on all this. I don't want to assume I know everything and then suffer from it on the road. Not when there's a wealth of information here in the heads of more experienced tourers and long distance riders. And this thread has already been quite successful in giving me good advice on various things and giving me pointers on things I may not have realized myself.

Hopefully this'll be useful for someone else as well.

I'd rather not use the white lithium grease since even though we'll be riding in the summer, you'll never know whether it'll be the rainiest summer in decades and our hub bearings will take the full brunt of European gale and sideways rain. Hence I'd prefer water resistance over lower drag of more fluid greases. Since this will be a rather long tour (planned distance 5500 miles, maybe, could be more, could be less, depends on a lot of factors, the main one being that we don't really have all that set a plan. Could be we'll get a third of our maps on the road or so) the quality of the grease is pronounced.

We don't get Phils or Parks here (sure there's mail order, but I like to get my grease locally as I can talk to the person who sells it to me), but if we did I would definitely consider them.

fietsbob

Boat trailer wheel bearing grease , lake studded Finland certainly has trailered boats.

Its been the Go To Grease for SF Bay Area Mountain Bikers since Repack .. Way Back.

Salamandrine 

That's good. Even so, it's a generally not a good idea to do any major maintenance the night before you go, for sort of obvious reasons. Try to allow time for a couple long rides at least to verify everything is working correctly.

IMHO do the cone and cup bearings, but leave the Hope sealed bearings alone. There's no reason to mess with sealed bearings unless they are obviously crunchy. Do take the spares with you though.

5500 is less than a normal service interval. You should be fine while on tour unless you're dragging your bikes through rivers, etc.

Parks is just poly urea grease - pretty normal stuff. I'd think that your local bike shop or even car shop would have something similar. Perhaps Park is even made by SKF. I like the stuff in tubes even though it costs more than tubs. There's no chance of it getting grit in it like an open tub.

veganbikes

I would certainly do a full overhaul and replace typical wear parts if they are old or will be worn out in the midst of the tour. However most importantly is you ride the bikes for a little bit post overhaul. Don't OH and then go right out because things might not be right and you want to address those problems before you head out.