[freetime2]

I love cycling but absolutely hate maintenance. I’d always prefer to be riding my bike than working on it. Two recent enhancements that significantly improved my life are electronic shifting, and wax lube.

I haven’t had to mess around with gear indexing once since I bought a bike with electronic shifting (SRAM Rival) a couple years ago, and it always shifts perfectly. I do have to keep the batteries charged, but one charge a week is more than enough with daily riding - so never had any issues there.

With wax lube (I use Squirt) I spend a lot less time cleaning my chain. What used to be a pretty annoying weekly process of degreasing and lubing my chain now takes a minute or two: use a dry brush to scrape off any excess wax buildup and then apply more wax. Much quicker and much cleaner than the old dry lube I used to use. And the chain is cleaner and quieter too.

Other than that, I basically hose off the bike and wipe it with a towel after every ride, and align/clean the disc brakes occasionally. My ratio of ride time to maintenance time has never been higher.

[TaylorAlexander]

I pulled a rusted 2011 Fuji mountain bike out of the mud at burning man and spent the fall replacing every part on it except the frame, fork, and seat. I set up craigslist alerts for bike parts in my area, explored the local bike salvage shops, and found deals like a $35 dropper post that only needed a $6 bushing to be good as new. I installed hydraulic brakes with huge rotors, got the tires I wanted, and had an absolute blast wrenching on it while listening to Flip Bike videos on YouTube. I really found out how much I love wrenching on bikes that fall. After years of only road biking since my mountain bike was stolen and then I converted my new mountain bike to an electric city street runner, I finally had an analog mountain bike again and I built it all up myself. It was wonderful and the first mountain ride (my first in years) was transcendent.

But I’ve noticed that if what I want to be doing is be out riding my bike, I sure do hate it when something needs to be fixed!

[fulafel]

There's also the old low-maintenance way that is common for people who commute daily on city bikes - internal gear (or single speed) hub, and just ignore your chain apart from adding oil when it starts squeaking, and get it serviced once a year or so or when a problem appears. A newer variation is belt drive instead of chain.

[freetime2]

Yup I have a commuter bike with a belt and internal hub and I absolutely love it. Basically zero maintenance.

I think all city bikes should be belt and internal hub.

[ndsipa_pomu]

I'm at the other end of the spectrum and am always fettling my bikes and looking to upgrade parts etc. However, I've switched over to just using Squirt lube on my chain (on my road bike at least) as I previously tried the full wax treatment. That involved cleaning a new chain to remove the factory applied grease (using a cheap ultrasonic cleaning machine) and then using a cheap pan to warm up paraffin wax to which I added some micronised graphite (bought off eBay) for extra lubrication, although it turns the wax and your drive-train black. Soak the chain, then pull it out and let it cool off until the wax has hardened. I found that a treated chain would last for about 100 miles or so before needing a top-up (of squirt lube) or another dip in the wax bath, so I was alternating between two chains.

However, when I was topping-up the treatment with Squirt, I thought why not just use the Squirt and not bother with the whole waxing business. The problem I have is not being good at looking after my bike straight after a ride and here in the UK, that means the chain tends to get rusty so I end up getting through more chains than I should.

[nwatson]

I bought a bicycle with a Pinion gear box and a Gates carbon belt drive. No lube, no derailleur, no chain falling off, no maintenance, hose off after a muddy ride. The belt will last 3x longer than a chain presumably.

EDIT: autocorrect

[Quothling]

I think bike maintenance is one of those things that is similar to how you read about programmers who pick up woodworking here on HN. I know it's a zen thing for me, similar to other "craftmanship" (I'm not sure if this is the right english word for things like machanics, carpenters, plubmers and so on) like home improvement DIY, gardening or even cleaning the damn house.

It's just very zen. Both because it tends to relatively less tasking on your executive functions, is physical and provides tangible results that you can see and "feel" relatively quickly. It may also be because programming is frankly a craftmanship for the most parts. There are a few projects where I'm doing Computer Science, but for the most part I'm a digital plumber.

[freetime2]

I think I could enjoy it if I had more time to spend on it. It’s certainly satisfying when you’ve got everything clean and lubed and dialed in just right.

But for me it always just feels like a chore - something I need to get done before tomorrow morning or else I have to listen to some dreadful sound for the entire ride.

[Quothling]

I think that is a good observation. I'm not sure I know anyone who would like any of these things in situations where they "had" to do them, and make them work on a tight deadline. Changing a flat tire to have a functional bike for your commute the next day is the opposite of zen for most of us.

So you do it when you have the time to do it. Which of course involves making time for it. I tend to involve my children in most of these things. Like my five year old helped me spartle the walls in her new room. Similarly if I'm working on my cargo bike I'll get theirs out and let them work on their bikes beside me if they ask to join. A lot of the time... like with the spartling I'll have to "fix" it later, but what letting them join does, aside from being a join activity, is that it gives me time to actually do these things on a busy schedule.

[discreteevent]

There's no need to degrease your chain. In fact kmc recommend that you don't. Just give it a wipe once a week and apply a little oil. Maybe scrape some of the crap off the sprockets every few months.

[zikduruqe]

Just wait until you hot wax your chain. Take the chain off your bike, drop it into a crock pot full of wax, take a nap, wake up, put chain back on bike.

I personally love working on bikes. I'd replace my behind the keyboard all day tech job in a split second, if I could afford to do so.

Clean after every ride? That's way overkill. I only clean my bike when I need to re-wax my chain.

[freetime2]

> Clean after every ride? That's way overkill.

I tend to sweat a lot, and sweat is corrosive. If it’s not a sweaty ride, and the roads are dry, I’ll skip the cleaning sometimes.

[zikduruqe]

I dunno. In my many decades of cycling, I've seen more rust from water exposure than sweat. (Don't get me started on triathletes and urine soaked bikes...)

If it works for you, keep on keeping on.

[ndsipa_pomu]

You want to be careful with leaving paraffin wax unattended - it's got a low ignition temperature.