Winter maintenance

[lewis noble]

During this spell of cold, windy and wet weather here in UK, having a good look and sort out of my bike.

1) Frame rust prevention - removed seat tube, turned bike upside down to drain out the (very) small amount of water collected in there.  I will get the forks out as well.  What do people spray inside to reduce rust etc?  People recommend Wiegels Frame Saver, but not easy to get in UK it seems.  Waxoyl?  I've got plenty of GT85, which I hardly ever use now on bikes . . . . Any advice re something not too hard to get hold of?

2)  I have a Deore triple chainset, external bearings - are they supposed to have a sort of end cap at each side?  None now - I thought there was one last time I looked!! Is one needed??  or leave well ventilated and open? 

Lewis

[mickeg]

I use Frame Saver, but it is easy to get where I am at (USA), sold in several local stores.  I have heard that linseed oil is also used, but if you use that make sure you do not store any rags where they could ignite, linseed oil soaked rags are subject to spontaneous ignition.  I however have never used linseed oil on frames, so if you try it you might first research it on the internet.

When you reassemble, I noticed when I bought my Nomad frame that there was a piece of tape inside the head tube that covered the holes for the top tube and down tube.  That was intended to prevent any water that came in past the headset to get in those major tubes, which I thought was rather brilliant.  You might want to do the same.  Also, put some grease on your water bottle cage bolts, especially the ones below the down tube if you have any down there, that can reduce water ingress from capillary action.

On the crank, sorry, can't help.  I exclusively use square taper.

[lewis noble]

Thanks, Mick

Looking again, what seems to be missing, or at least may be missing, is the end cap that fits in the bearing.  There is one on the drive side - which looks as though you are supposed to use a special tool to remove it!!  but nothing on the non-drive side.  Is that supposed to be open??

Lewis

[triaesthete]

Yes Lewis it is supposed to be open. All the 9 and 10 speed hollowtech ( external bearing) deore cranks have the plastic adjuster plug on the left crank and nothing on the right (driveside or spidered crank) where the axle hole goes right through.

Doesn't do any harm, but most of the road cranks of this type are covered and the axle hole is blind.

Hopefully clear
Ian

[lewis noble]

Yes, very clear, thanks Ian.  No need to do anything, that suits me!

[Danneaux]

Hi Lewis,

Ian is indeed correct; you can sight right through the center of the spindle on a Shimano Deore EBB crank. No covers or caps are employed. There is a notched adjustment ring on the left side, intended to remove excess play when installing the crank, and it stays in place. The center remains open on it.

As for the covers, you might have remembered seeing the ones I made for Sherpa (shown in the Danneaux's Sherpa gallery, attached below) and now the same kind of caps on both sides of the the Nomad's Deore crank. I made them from junction box covers.

They really do help in the talc-fine dust of the desert areas where I travel and came in especially handy during a dust storm recently while tour-testing products in Central Oregon. I stopped to repair a rear puncture (caused by a strand of barbed wire hidden just beneath the surface of the gravel) and was overrun while I was making repairs and had just enough time to don a filter mask. Photo taken before I put the phone away in its dry bag to prevent damage; it got much worse seconds later. Temps were right at freezing, so it was a challenging patch job with cold fingers.

The covers did a well keeping nearly all the alkali dust out of the crank spindle's interior, important because if it later becomes wet, it concretizes and becomes very difficult to remove. It is also why I have rubber plugs in my allen bolt sockets. Ordinary use requires no covers and none are included, Lewis, so you're fine.

All the best,

Dan.

[lewis noble]

Thanks Dan - whether or not they are strictly necessary in the entirely non-desert riding I do (up to now . . . .!) they certainly look very neat and smart, and a good idea.

Lewis