(just some of the) Things that can go wrong with your bike.........
and how you could go about fixing or preventing them in the future

Bikes comprise of a complex system of metals, polymers and composite materals that interact with each other and the human(s) (which intern propells it forward) in such a way to provide forward motion, or at least that is the thoery. As such with so many components stuff goes wrong but not to dispare things can be rectified! so I've provided just a selection of stuff that went wrong with the bikes before during and after the summer.

Greasy Drive Trains

As I tell the young people who hear the bike shop talk I give before they head out on trail there are three enevitablities in life Death, taxes and pannier rack bolts will come loose. There is a fourth but conditionallyyYour drive train (all that stuff connected to the chain) will get horribly greasy if you don't wipe off excess lube Figure 1.0 is case in point.

Prevention is better than cure they say, so when ever you lube up your chain and jockey wheels always, I repeat always wipe off the excess lube and greasy drive trains should be nothing more than a distant memory.

So how to fix it a greasy chain? There are a number of alternatives...........

Tools you will need if no power link (that thingy that can brake the chain without a chain breaker): Chain breaker, environmentally friendly solvent

A: If you have a Park Tool (or any other brand) of chain cleaning device with perferably an environmentally friendly solvent to clean the chain this is the best option in terms of not getting any of the grease from the chain onto yourself. If you have a scram chain with a power link to make removal of the chain easier either way break chain then proceed to put into cleaning device. wipe down with a rag then reattached to the rest of the cleaned drive train.

B: Find yourself an empty container (ice cream punnets are great) and fill with a preferably environmentally friendly solvent then soak the chain for a while and use a old tooth brush to scrub in the hard to get at places then wipe off and hang out to dry for a bit and then reattach chain to the drive chain (assuming it is also clean (detalis of cleaning rest of drive chain below)

C: If you really can't be bothered breaking the chain or lack the required equipment then dip a tooth brush in solvent and scrub chain then wipe down with a rag. If you lack any slovents just use the tooth brush and rag sans solvent.

For the cassette (that thing with 7,8,9 or if you really keen 10 gears on it) if you can't get the cassette off, due to the lack of a chain whip and correctly fitting cassette removal tool. Then just dip a old tooth brush in a solvent then wipe off solvent with rag.

For the jockey wheels (the little wheels with teeth) get the right size allen key and pull it the rear derailer apart like in Figure 1.0. Proceed to further pull apart the jockey wheels and give a good clean with tooth brush dipped in solvent or rag then wipe down. While your at it wipe down all he surfaces of the derailer. Don't forget to reassemble the cleaned up rear derailer.

For the chain rings (the really big rings (either 1,2 or 3 of them depending on the bike) with teeth on them), If your really keen and have the approite allen key (helps to have a chain bolt remover tool as well) proceed to undo the chian blots and remove the chain rings from the chrank and clean each individually with a tooth brush dipped in solvent and the wipe down with rag. Most cheaply priced bikes won't have chain bolts them in which case just use a tooth brush dipped in solvent.

So there you have it (more or less)

Figure 1.0 Greasy, greasy, greasy rear derailer, jockey wheel and drop out.

Gear and Brake cables fraigning

If your gear cable looks similar to the one shown in Figure 1.1 I would strongly recommed replacing it because it (either yourself by buying some cable or taking it into the bike mechanic to look at) will be a matter of days if not hours of use before it breaks unless your happy with only having the use of the inner chain ring (in the case of your front derailer). If your brake cables look like this its even more critical to replace because breaks are kind of good to have perticulary if you are going down a hill or really fast!

As far as prevention just don't down crank down on the cable which flatterns it and exacerbates the friegning. You want the bolt tight enough that the cable won't slip but not to tight that you are squishing the cable.

Figure 1.1 Holding on by a prayer and strand of steel cable

Cable housing gone wrong

This doesn't happen (B) all that often at least not to this extent and not quite sure as to exactly how it happened but kind of cool. Kind of looks like it got melted or something if you have any thoeries on how it got like this please forward them to me. You would know you have a problem if you found it really hard or impossilbe to change gears (or brake depending on what kind of cable) as such check that the housing is not bent or that there is not grit in the cable housing.

As far as prevention I don't really know other than having the housing the correct size in the first place which would make it less likely to bend in the first place.

Figure 1.2 Normal gear cable housing (A) not so normal gear cable housing (B)

Bolts

If bolts are put under alot of stress (technically speaking a load or loading) either constant or cyclical loading cycles the result is something like Figure 1.3. things bend then at a certain point they break. this probbly happened because it was screwed in at an angle putting added stress on the bolt and causing it to bend over a period of time.

This is a replacement job rather than a fix it job. In terms of prevention make sure the bolts are inserted correctly and that the thread of the bolt mates correctly with the thread in the hole and you should be good. doesn't hurt to grease up the thread before inserting the bolt as well.

Figure 1.3 Thingy that goes in the rapid fire housing to change cable tension, horizontally challenged

Chains

Chains get put under alot of different stresses as such over a period of time they actually stretch and wear. If streched too much they will slacken making clean shifting more difficult, also more likely to break as such perticulry if the pins were not reinserted correctly after breaking the chain.

This is a replacement job you could either just remove the the broken link and recheck that the chain is not too short but if you have the money feel free to replace the whole chain as well as the cassette as they wear together and may cause shifting issues (i.e chain skipping or getting "stuck"), as the chain is probably on its way out anyway.

Prevention wise just make sure you reinsert pins correctly (i.e no tight/tough links) and that both sides have the same pin protrusion.

Figure1.4 The broken link in the chain.

Spokes getting messed up

This can be caused by a chain falling off on the spoke side of the cassette or even bungie cords/ocky straps coming loose from the panniers and the metal part getting stuck and digging into the spokes.

All you need to do is replace the offending spokes by removing the cassette using a chain whip and cassette remover tool. If you do not happen to have both just get it taken into a bike mechanic and they'll do the rest. Requires the

Prevention wise, use a spoke procector those plastic (polymer if you want to get technical) thingys that you find on alot of bike rear wheels and you shouldn't have this problem. In addition check the setting on the Low limit of the rear derailer.

Figure 1.5 Rear cassette side spokes, chewed up and spat out.