Avoiding Mechanical Disaster
By Kevin Hodgson
Why worry?
If you decide to undertake a major offroad tour you will be relying upon your mountain bike as your sole means of transport and luggage carrier. If your bike breaks down in the middle of nowhere then your tour will almost certainly have to be abandoned. Arriving home by train after only two days of your epic coast-to-coast ride, that you have been planning for six months, is not a good way to impress you friends /spouse /girlfriend!
In many of the areas which contain the best riding terrain, bike repair services will be difficult or impossible to come by. Scotland is one of the most remote places in Europe, and the nearest bike shop could be up to 100miles away. Do not expect to be able find anything more sophisticated than a puncture repair kit for sale on your travels.
But why is my bike more likely to break down on a tour than any normal weekend? Well, firstly the bike will be ridden for a week or more without any proper cleaning or lubrication, and this will take its toll on drivetrain components and brakes/rims.
Also 6 days on a bike is a lot longer than you might think. Let's say you ride for 8 hours on an average weekend, therefore if your 6 day tour involves 8 hours a day, that equates to 6 weeks of normal use! How much maintenance do you normally perform in six weeks?
The final nail in the coffin for bike disaster is the extra weight carried. Whether this is carried in panniers or a rucsac, it will usually mean extra weight on the back wheel, which is already very highly stressed.
What could go wrong?
Here is a list, taken from bitter experience about what could break on your bike during an offroad tour:
- Rear wheel failure. If your rear wheel is loosely or poorly spoked, the spokes may well come loose, and the wheel buckle. If the wheel is spoked very tightly, then the rim could crack and split around the spoke eyelets.
- Brake blocks wearing out. Remember what I said about each day being equivalent to a week's normal usage. You could get through a set of V-brake blocks in 3 or 4 days.
- Rear rack collapse. If you use panniers offroad then your rack will be under extreme pressure. It may crack at a weld, or the fixing bolts could loosen themselves.
- Transmission wear. By the end of the ride you may well be experiencing chain suck due to a worn inner chainwheel and/or chain. You will be using this small ring a lot, and without regular cleaning and lubing of your chain, it will wear incredibly quickly.
What do I do about it?
- Get the best back wheel that you can. Never use a machine built wheel, and never use a brand new wheel, which will not have 'bedded' in yet. Go to a good wheelbuilder and insist on top quality double butted spokes (DT or ACI), and a good rim (Mavic). If you are heavy, or plan to carry a lot of luggage, then it could be worth fitting a heavier rim (such as a Mavic freeride or downhill type), and DT 'alpine' heavy duty spokes. Do not use plain gauge spokes as they are actually weaker than double butted. 36 spoke hubs and rims are a good idea, but difficult to come by nowadays, so using them may well cause compatibility nightmares in the future.
- Make sure both brake blocks and rims have very little wear on them at the start of the ride. Also take spare brake blocks and the tools to fit them. XT V-brakes and Hope disc pads weigh very little, but they use split pins to secure them, so you need pliers to change them. Pliers can be scrounged at most garages for this purpose, or replace the pins with soft wire, which can be changed by hand. Magura brakes are the best for touring as the pads can be replaced in seconds without tools.
- Buy the BEST rack you can, e.g. Blackburn. Check ALL the welds for cracks before setting off. Use loctite and/or 'nyloc' nuts on all the fixing bolts and carry spare M5 bolts. You will be amazed at the ability for rack bolts to work themselves loose.
- Make sure that the chain and inner chainwheel are little worn before you go. BUT, never ride on a brand new chain, as it can often skip or chainsuck very badly, before it beds into the old cogs. Also take a small amount of oil with you, perhaps in an old tippex bottle. Use cheap cycle oil, as you will be applying it to a dirty chain anyway.
Remember, this article only contains the information necessary to avoid a major disaster. Please consult future articles which will detail how to avoid minor mechanicals, which spares and tools to carry, improving comfort and handling, and my specification for the 'perfect' touring mountain bike.
Also, if you happen to be particularly light, and plan to ride with a small rucsac only, then much of this doom-and-gloom may be unnecessary for your purposes.
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