11 Ways You're Wrecking Your Bike | Don't Let Your MTB Cost You Money

Mountain Bikes are expensive things! Yes, they're a tool to be used and abused in the woods in the name of fun and we're not suggesting that you wrap it up in cotton wool, never to be ridden in anger! But there are several ways that you can give your bike that little bit of extra care and attention in order to save money on maintenance or resale value in the long run! Neil and Anna are here to explain.

⏱ Timestamps ⏱
0:00 - Not Washing Your Bike
0:49 - Over Washing Your Bike!
1:24 - Too Much Lube
2:18 - Snapping your Chain
3:23 - Not Looking After Your Threads
5:23 - Never Bolt Checking
6:47 - Not Padding For Transport
8:21 - The Wrong Parts For The Wrong Bike
9:20 - The Wrong Compound Tyres
9:44 - Using Protection Spray Wrong
10:27 - Leaning Your Bike Wrong
10:49 - Putting The Bike Upside Down

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What's your trick to looking after your bike that you don't think most people will know? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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[gmbn]

What's your trick to looking after your bike that you don't think most people will know?

[Wallstreetavarice]

Depends completely on what kind of bar you have when it comes to flipping it upside down. Mine rests on the grips and edge of the seat since the oneUp bar has a rise to it. Both of those are replaceable high wear items so resting the bike on them really doesn't matter at all and makes accessing parts of the bike easy when you don't have a lift

[Durwood]

Trying to keep your bike in pristine condition is futile because, given the nature of mountain biking, if you ride your bike anywhere off road, it's going to get banged up, guaranteed. There's no avoiding it, and, frankly, there's no reason to. It's just part of the hobby. Also, I flip my bike upside down all the time to work on it, and I've never damaged the saddle, so there's that.

[Kim_Miller]

Two things come to mind on turning the bike upside down.
First is advice I've seen for those who don't ride very regularly. Turn the bike upside down overnight before a ride. This brings the oil in the fork shocks in contact with the seals and makes sure they are lubricated and working well the next day. I don't know if this is worth doing or not.
Second thing is that leaving it upside down too long can allow air to pass the diaphragm on top of the brake reservoirs and result in bubbles in the fluid, reducing braking effect. It sounds a bit of a long shot, but possible.

[jonpoon]

I actually don’t lean bikes drive side out as often anymore. If it’s drive side out and some knocks it over, then it’s falling onto the drivetrain

[jordanr]

Crank/pedal cross threading....guilty as charged! The cross threading/hack from installing backwards like shown on the vid really works!

[luisguevara]

Great advice. Now you need a video on how not to ruin things with your bike. I leaned my bike on my car and the hand grip caps did nice little circular art work on the door as it slid down. 🤭

[bicyclingbum]

Trying to service your bike because your bored or its raining then heading to the bike shop a week later to pay someone to fix it ...

[zvwoxdh]

Not crashing your bike is the best option.😂

[alhypo]

My favorite thing to do is to never check my thru axels which eventually come loose. Then my wheel gets a little wobbly and I start popping spokes.

[VictorElGreco]

Look over your tires after each ride. You may find all kinds of sharp objects embedded, thorns, thistle, goat heads… Same with weeds caught in the drivetrain.

[johnlopez]

Great video. I’m just starting my big wheel biking career. I’m a long time BMXer. I have a lot to learn about the big bikes. Thanks for the tips👍👍

[MrJacquers]

Not sure if this is specific to Reverb dropper posts, but I've heard that you shouldn't hang (and probably pick them up) by the saddle when the post is down as this could cause air to get into the system and make it not work properly.

[williamdistasio]

What about over-tightening or over-torqueing bolts whilst making sure everything is tight and rattle-free?
It's agood way to ruin your bike parts fast!

[Bear]

Thanks heaps for the great Info on keeping my Beast in good shape Legendary effort Guys n Gals

[wanderer]

Flipping your bike is the only way to make some diagnostix (drivetrains for example), without having repair stand, why not to do it in your storage with a clear floor and some soft mat

[RustyNipples]

I find that every time I've inverted my bike for maintenance I have to bleed my hydraulic breaks again afterwards. I now have a chain hanging from the ceiling in my garage with a large metal ring on the end of it. I can then just hook the front of the seat in the ring to hold the rear wheel off the ground for servicing the drive train. The chain hangs on a hook at the top so I can shorten it as required.

[stujm]

Rethreading from the back of a crank, that’s an old engineering trick. My dad taught me that when I was an apprentice. Just been through my hardtail with a fine tooth comb too, my derailleur hanger was loose… good job I checked…

[kimkimkim]

Thank you for some good advice. Especially the pedals.

[garethhughes]

i never wash the bike itself because i am fully aware of higher pressured water damaging seals, however the only parts that i do clean are fork/shock/dropper stanchions, and chain. literally nothing else needs cleaning. never had rust and had 1 bike nearly 25 years old now with no rust anywhere. also, i would like an opinion on roof racks, as driving with the bike on a roof rack in the rain would be equal to doing a jet wash at motorway speeds wouldn't it?, also, what about the stones being kicked up by the cars in front? surely there's a possibility of a stone destroying your forks or denting your head tube. I've always put my bike in the back of a car for fear of this happening, but there is a problem for me now as bikes are getting bigger and bigger and i can no longer fit them in the car.