What to do to 'maintain' my Bicycle?

On Apr 18, 7:27*pm, "Bill Sornson" wrote:
You didn't oil your chain for 15 years and now you make such a big
deal of it?

well, like I said in my first post, Im not a big rider.
I got the bike when I was in junior high school, rode it around, when
I got a car in high school, I stopped using the bike.
Like most kids I never maintained the bike.
Now I have not used it in 2 years, but I want to start getting into
better shape, so I figure I probably need to oil the chain, since it
was sitting unused for 2 years.
At least previously, I used it once in a blue moon, so there was some
movement on the chain.

Slap some oil on it, let it penetrate for a couple of
hours, wipe off the excess oil on the outside of the chain and done
with it. It is no rocket science you know.

This is the problem with a lot of people with hobbies.
They think "its not rocket science" because they've done it for a long
time, but I have NEVER oiled the bike (or anything else, mechanic does
my car, super does my apartment), so to me its complicated.
Its like learning how to box, if you've never thrown a punch, it seems
hard, but to a pro boxer its simple, just "throw the punch".

{Sniff.} *Neither is trolling. *{Sniff.}

Are you accusing me of trolling?
If you're in NY, I would be happy to bring my bike over to you and you
can oil it up and you can see Im not trolling. (plus it would save
the $60 the bike shop charges)

On 2008-04-19, wrote:
[...]
Slap some oil on it, let it penetrate for a couple of
hours, wipe off the excess oil on the outside of the chain and done
with it. It is no rocket science you know.

This is the problem with a lot of people with hobbies.
They think "its not rocket science" because they've done it for a long
time, but I have NEVER oiled the bike (or anything else, mechanic does
my car, super does my apartment), so to me its complicated.

I've never oiled my apartment either.

To answer your original question, I would use the method described by
Sheldon Brown. Spin the cranks backwards and drip oil onto the inside
surface of the chain. Seems to work fine and is very quick to do.

Any cleaning you can be bothered to do beforehand is a bonus.

wrote:
On Apr 18, 7:27 pm, "Bill Sornson" wrote:
You didn't oil your chain for 15 years and now you make such a big
deal of it?

well, like I said in my first post, Im not a big rider.
I got the bike when I was in junior high school, rode it around, when
I got a car in high school, I stopped using the bike.
Like most kids I never maintained the bike.
Now I have not used it in 2 years, but I want to start getting into
better shape, so I figure I probably need to oil the chain, since it
was sitting unused for 2 years.
At least previously, I used it once in a blue moon, so there was some
movement on the chain.

Slap some oil on it, let it penetrate for a couple of
hours, wipe off the excess oil on the outside of the chain and done
with it. It is no rocket science you know.

This is the problem with a lot of people with hobbies.
They think "its not rocket science" because they've done it for a long
time, but I have NEVER oiled the bike (or anything else, mechanic does
my car, super does my apartment), so to me its complicated.
Its like learning how to box, if you've never thrown a punch, it seems
hard, but to a pro boxer its simple, just "throw the punch".


Are you kidding me? Explain to me what you find complicated to dripping
oil or whatever lube you bought on a chain? Believe me whatever 'method'
you use it leaves your chain in a better shape than it is now after 15
you without oiling it.

Lou

wrote:
Went to the bike store this week to buy some lube/oil.
The guy kept taking out bottles that were way too big.
I told him "I had my bike for over 15 years without oiling, I doubt I
will need to oil it more than twice"

Finally he found a tiny tube:
Tri-Flow, superior lubricant - 1/4 of an ounce.

So heres my plan, how does it sound.
1. have someone lift up the bike by the seat
2. I will turn the pedal while holding a napkin on the chain (to wipe
off the old oil)
3. Then turn the pedal while putting some of this lube thing on the
chain
Thats it.

Do I need to lube every link of the chain?
Or can I do half and then due to the chain turning, the oil/lube will
get on the gear while will then in turn get it onto the rest of the
chain?

Now whats the best way to oil:
1. Turn the pedal and as the chain is turn, put the bottle mouth on
the chain and squeeze
OR
2. dab the mouth of the bottle on every link, then when Im done, then
turn the pedal to turn the chain?

Just prop the bike against a wall, put the oil nozzle against the chain
rollers on the top of the lower run, and squeeze a little oil while
rotating the pedal backwards (slowly). With a bit of practice, you can
do this quickly without making a mess. Until you get to that point, you
can just squeeze a drop on each roller. You can also oil in sections --
10 links or so, then move the chain, etc.

Before starting to oil, hold a rag around the lower chain run and rotate
the pedal backwards* to wipe off as much crap as possible so that the
oil won't carry it into the links. After oiling, spin the pedals
backwards for several rotations to work the oil into the chain, then
repeat the wiping operation to remove the surplus. You may need to
repeat the wiping before your first few rides to clean off any excess
oil that seeps from the links. The idea is to have the chain well oiled
on the inside and as oil free as possible on the outside. This is both
to prevent nasty grease marks on your leg and to keep the chain from
picking up road grit as you ride.

*When rotating the pedals backwards, try not to tug the chain in or out,
as you'll make it "change gears". If this happens, just lift the rear
wheel and rotate the pedal forward until it jumps back into gear.

Watch the chain as it comes on/off the rear sprockets (gears) when
rotating the pedals backwards, any "jumps" may indicate stiff links. If
you find any of those, add some more oil and wiggle to get them to
loosen up.

If you don't ride in the rain, you may not have to re-oil for a long time

In article ,
"Bill Sornson" wrote:

wrote:
On Apr 18, 7:27 pm, "Bill Sornson" allegedly wrote:

You didn't oil your chain for 15 years and now you make such a big
deal of it?

Please be more careful in your attributions. I did NOT write the above.

Learn how to read attributions. The editing is unfortunate.
Nevertheless, the quoted text is not attributed to you.

--
Michael Press

In article ,
"Bill Sornson" wrote:

Michael Press wrote:
In article ,
"Bill Sornson" wrote:

wrote:
On Apr 18, 7:27 pm, "Bill Sornson" allegedly wrote:

You didn't oil your chain for 15 years and now you make such a big
deal of it?

Please be more careful in your attributions. I did NOT write the
above.

Learn how to read attributions. The editing is unfortunate.
Nevertheless, the quoted text is not attributed to you.

When someone says, "Michael Press wrote:" and follows it with text, I'm
betting you'd want (expect) said words to be yours.

It's really not that complicated, Michael, but thanks for your concern.

It has happened to me. Mostly I pass.
Look at the quote levels and know that it is not
attributed to you. Should someone mistakenly take
it as yours, then show them the quote levels. The
exact fact of the matter is that the line is not
attributed to you. For you to say so is to contradict
the true state of affairs.

--
Michael Press

On Apr 19, 8:16*pm, "Bill Sornson" wrote:
Fact remains that someone I never heard of (the anonymous "tforms" person)
made a post that began with "Bill Sornson wrote:" followed by words that
were not mine (and no others). *I simply asked this person to be more

Well, if you looked at the whole post you notice there are multiple
sets of quotes, each with a symbol in front of it.
The first set:

then a second set:


Yes, the original set was not yours, but the second set was.
I probably should have been more careful about keeping both names in
the post.

On Apr 19, 7:26*am, Lou Holtman wrote:
Are you kidding me? Explain to me what you find complicated to dripping
oil or whatever lube you bought on a chain? Believe me whatever 'method'
you use it leaves your chain in a better shape than it is now after 15
you without oiling it.

Well, part of the concern I have is: Yes I have not oiled it for 15
years.
And it ran fine, never had any problem. So whatever is/was on the
chain for all these years is just enough.
But now Im going to be changing the amount of oil on it.
What if I put too much oil on it, and theres a problem.
Or I wipe off the oil (what Im planning on doing first) then not put
enough oil on it, and theres a problem, etc...

Yes, I am a worry wart sometimes, especially with things I have zero
experience in.
Now if I started back in high school on maintaining the bike, Im sure
I would be much more "eh, just oil it, not a big deal, theres a
problem, just redo it"

In article ,
"Bill Sornson" wrote:

Michael Press wrote:
In article ,
"Bill Sornson" wrote:

Michael Press wrote:
In article ,
"Bill Sornson" wrote:

wrote:
On Apr 18, 7:27 pm, "Bill Sornson" allegedly wrote:

You didn't oil your chain for 15 years and now you make such a
big deal of it?

Please be more careful in your attributions. I did NOT write the
above.

Learn how to read attributions. The editing is unfortunate.
Nevertheless, the quoted text is not attributed to you.

When someone says, "Michael Press wrote:" and follows it with text,
I'm betting you'd want (expect) said words to be yours.

It's really not that complicated, Michael, but thanks for your
concern.

It has happened to me. Mostly I pass.
Look at the quote levels and know that it is not
attributed to you. Should someone mistakenly take
it as yours, then show them the quote levels. The
exact fact of the matter is that the line is not
attributed to you. For you to say so is to contradict
the true state of affairs.

Fact remains that someone I never heard of (the anonymous "tforms" person)
made a post that began with "Bill Sornson wrote:" followed by words that
were not mine (and no others). I simply asked this person to be more
careful in the future. (The quotes involved were completely innocuous; it
was more a heads up about proper posting format.)

That you would make a big deal of the technical difference (distinction is a
better word) between misattribution and misleading quoting says more about
you, I submit, than the issue at hand. I could understand if you were
directly involved in the exchange, but you were not.

This is a technical news group. When correcting him or her
you must be meticulous. You said "Please be more careful
in your attributions." It was not in attributions that
the poster erred.

--
Michael Press

In article ,
"Bill Sornson" wrote:

Bill Sornson wrote:
Michael Press wrote:

This is a technical news group. When correcting him or her
you must be meticulous. You said "Please be more careful
in your attributions." It was not in attributions that
the poster erred.

It's that very anal attitude of yours that brings me to correct some
of your tiny errors (spelling and grammar, mostly).

As I said, whatever.

BS

PS: The group is technical as regarding bicycles. In other respects, it's
just plain ol' Usenet.

Also, I find it ironic or at least curious that you would jump in an
exchange in which you were not involved to make a peevish, picayune point,
but when I or someone else corrects YOUR frequent mistakes you invariably
remain silent -- offering neither refutation nor even acknowledgement.

What...ever.

I jumped in because you misrepresented the state of affairs
and it matters.

--
Michael Press