How To Save Money On Consumable MTB Components | Mountain Bike Money Saving Tips

Mountain bikes eat through components - especially if you ride in wet and muddy conditions.
It can be costly at the best of times keeping your bike off the road, so Doddy takes a look at some of the consumable parts on a mountain bike, and how you can avoid spending an excessive amount when replacing them 🔧

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Do you have any more money saving tips? Let us know in the comments!

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[willcolumbine]

When Doddy said 'mud will hold it together' it reminded me of the time I took apart the rear derailleur on my mums old road bike and, what I thought was a washer, turned out to be a ring of compressed mud!

[Matahalii]

Tires: If you avoid riding the "Newest shit" and use last season stuff instead you can easily save 50% or more by losing fractions of performance.

[Rzarecteh]

The advice on keeping your old drivetrain for winter is actually really clever, cheers Doddy

[bugboy]

#GMBNTech "Clean your bike!" Amen Doddy. I think I enjoy cleaning my bike as much as riding it. Seriously proud of how mint my bike looks and how long my drive trains last.

[newttella]

When you buy a new bike for that big stage race like BC Bike Race, right away you put on cheaper chain, chain ring, cassette, and maybe even disc rotors. Then train all spring in the rain and mud on the cheaper consumeables. Then a week before the race put the original high end light weight parts back on, get new brake pads and gear cable. It'll be like having a new and lighter bike for the big race week.

[gavgreen]

Rotating chains is a good one to help preserve the life of your drivetrain. I run 2, ideally 3, chains & rotate every 4-6 weeks to even out wear, introducing a new chain when one reaches 60-75% wear. I've got hundreds of extra miles out of a cassette using this method. I also lube with wax all year round.

[louisnewton]

Doddy: rotate ur front and back tyres

Ppl with mullet bikes: 🤧

[andyjack]

An absolutely, brutally honest review of consumable components from Doddy. More major channels should be like this, not being so concerned with sponsors or advertising. Doddy, you are an amazing oracle of MTBing with your little nuggets of information.

On a side note, I will hopefully send photos of my bike for top mods. Unfortunately, not got my new handlebar yet but apart from that it's pretty much sorted.

[Evertb]

I used to ride with several, somewhat season bound tire sets. For the winter I switched to tires more fitted for wet conditions. I have stopped doing that when I started to ride tubeless. Cleaning up the old latex and adding new latex is to much of a hassle for me. And I am not sure if you save money that way. I mean, I don't get my latex for free.

I do save money with my Shimano cassette (11 speed 11-42). The 11, 13, 15 sprockets wear out long before the rest of the cassette. Luckily I have found an web shop that sells them separate. So when my cassette wears out, most of the time it is sufficient to replace the three smallest sprockets and I am good to go again. Setting me back around 11 euro's and not 50 euro's. I can do that two or three times before I need to replace the whole cassette. If needed the 17 and 19 sprocket can be ordered and replaced separate as well (costs around 4, 00 and 3, 00 euro).

[raheemgahelable]

Love the video, also, I'd like to mention that Sram XO1 lasts A LOT longer than GX, and I mean A LOT. There's a reason besides just lighter weight to the almost double price between the two. And speaking of Shimano SLX and XTR, I've no idea because I've not tried the new ones yet. To my experience, with Sram.., the more expensive stuff is made from higher tolerance materials and even coated with a harder anodized layer that makes it harder, shifts smoother and last longer, in my book, .. that's worth every penny, and remember... You only live ONCE, only ONCE. Enjoy yourself while you're still alive! 🤘🤘🤘

[OverwatchPlaysGames]

I realize this is an older video, but I thought I would put this here for anyone watching. Sometimes running a nicer chain and cassette can actually save you money. For example, I switched from a GX chain and cassette to XO1 and found that I got triple the life out of the chains, and nearly quadruple the life on the cassette! On top of that, they look pretty and shift much smoother!

[jonnyrae]

Chain waxing keeps chain clean on the muddy rides 😀

[jimmie]

i have SO much to learn as a i am a roadie, so all this is a whole new world and i make money fixing bikes so this is gold to me. Thank you Mr doddy

[doncrescas]

The Sunrace 12 speed cassettes 1) are not that much cheaper than Shimano Deore and SLX and 2) have the old issues with backpedaling and shifting under load that Shimano has solved.
There's a reason why Marin dropped the Sunrace cassettes this season now that more micro spline hubs are available.

[henryvaneyk]

Be careful when washing your drivetrain with degreasing agents. I managed to stuff up the pivot bearings on my first full sus because it washed out the grease from the bearings. That can be fixed though by packing them with CRC Marine grease (light blue) which is the same grease Enduro uses in their bearings.

[dennispikephotography]

I have a relatively budget hard tail and upgraded to a Sunrace cassette for better ratios on a 9 speed (12-38 tooth swapped to a 11-42). Huge improvement for me. Shifts better than stock did and makes climbing a lot easier.

[rusty]

Did a full bearing swap on my four year old Lapierre Zesty last summer. I could not believe the amount of crud in the races. Definitely a thing to watch.

[Montblanc]

Doddy is spot on! Cassettes aren't a life long component unless your using the largest cogs all the time and they are super clean. On my winter hardtail I put a 5 dollar Bell brand chain on it and its working!

Sram brake pads cost more than pads for a car...

[dz]

Riding 20yo bikes. Guess how much I saved already! :D

[scylladub]

One tip I’ve discovered this year is to use an all weather lube during winter (Weldtite tf2 or similar). It may sound obvious, but I’ve often found myself on winter a ride and it’s not actually raining, but there’s a few more puddles than expected.

In the past I’ve found Dry lube can wash off too easy and wet lube attracts too much grime, even if it’s wiped off before the start of a ride. I think the worst bit of winter riding is cleaning off that black gunk off the drivetrain, also that stuff kills your expensive cassette and chain! now I just use all weather lube throughout winter, it’s so much easier to clean and doesn’t make your chain look nasty after every ride. I now only use wet lube when it’s actually raining.

Hopefully helps someone out there 👊