[Closed] The endless cycle (😉) of bike maintenance - how far do you go?

LBS does the vast majority of my bike maintenance. Fine by me as they are very good, and I have multiple bikes.

Drivetrain is basically left until it eats itself. Gets a clean now and again but only really the forks that get any maintenance. Used to maintain my Shimano hubs as they were cup and cone but cartridge bearings just get replaced now and again. I think I've cleaned a freehub once when it started getting sticky.

Constant tinkering so everything is perfect for me.  All my bikes are silent running, easy shifting, smooth turning .  I can't stand anything to be not 100%.  No one but me fixes my bikes unless there is welding or machining needed

I like to tinker so I keep both bikes running nicely and haven't used a bike shop for maintenance for as long as I can remember. I used to be a bit obsessive about keeping everything perfect but much less so these days - but still hate a mystery click or creak.

I find they need very very little work to keep bikes running, i can never work out why people seem to think they're expensive.

Like you op, I enjoy the tinkering so generally keep ontop of stuff.

Apart from bleeding the brakes. I hate bleeding brakes.

I like to keep everything working properly, but it's certainly the having a bike that works properly that's the reward, not the tinkering itself. Maybe if I had more free time I'd be able to enjoy tinkering!

Keep the drivetrain clean and lubed, but to hell with all that chain rotating nonsense. Run my drivetrains until the die then replace the lot.

Bottom bracket bearings get the seals popped and refilled with grease if the cranks are off, otherwise they’re run until they die.

Headset gets done if the forks or stem are off. Last upper bearing was completely shot when I replaced it but had never felt it while riding.

Rear hub gets a clean and basic lube once a year, but hope hub bearings seem to last me ages. Only ones I’ve had to change were the fat bike ones after 4 years use.

Full sus bike has grease nipple and gets a squeeze of grease once a year and the pivots checked when the bike gets cleaned.

Keeping the chain cleaning up after a ride is a good habit. Makes you look at stuff and gives the bike a regular look over. Anything needing done gets sorted then so bike is ready to go next time.

I do all my own work and they all run the best they can. Really hate my bikes not being "right".

the commuter which gets no love at all and just keeps on trucking.

Maybe you should take this as a clue and do less on the other bikes. Theres definately a thing called overmaintenace when you induce faults by tinkering unnecessarily.

Good cleaning and lubrication is my policy, including suspension air can and fork lowers occasionally. By doing this you tend to spot early wear indications and can deal with it before it get to the stage of failure.

when you induce faults by tinkering unnecessarily.

Give me an example ? Unless you've done something badly, why would this happen ?

I change brake pads, lube the chain and sometimes remember to replace a worn chain. Occasional power hose wash.

I used to tinker but never have time now. In fact I am so time poor if the bike does need anything else doing, even if I can do it myself, I'll just take it into the LBS. Recent example, broken spoke on rear wheel requiring cassette removal. I didn't have right size spoke, didn't have time, quite happy to support LBS with £20 for them to do it for me. Dropped off in morning, picked up in afternoon, rode that evening.

I make sure that I do the odd bit of daily housework (that my wife hates doing) so I can use that when the accusations of being in the garage all the time come my way.

I have  about 12 to 15 bikes to maintain- when ever I get asked how many bikes I have - I always reply "why - do you have some autistic counting symdrome?" that usually shuts them up.

Then theres the car collection......no excuse for that!

weeksy - I can give you one.  Decided to do a fluid change on my brakes and get the pistons sliding easily and equally both sides ( they were 99% but "preventive maintenence").  I chipped a piston pushing it in and out, had to replace pistons and seals.

So you did it badly ?

Tend to keep on top of most things. Although  not to change things like frame bearings as 1. I have nowhere to do it, and 2. I don't have the tools. Both things that my lbs has , so they do that. Everything else from brake bleeding to fork servicing, I'm happy to do myself (although it does still end up at the lbs sinetimes as I'm often time poor.)

Regular maintenance is important, but depending  how things are fixed together, not everything likes repeated dismantling.  Component design and material is an important factor, but I’d generally agree there’s a balance to be found between stripping and leaving alone before you start on possibility of slipping and breaking something.

Except for things explicitly designed to be stripped for maintenance every use - only real examples I can think of for that might be military kit - firearms etc?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If the drivetrain isn't grinding, the bikes don't get washed post ride. Over zealous use of cleaning products and hoses is about the best way to knacker bearings up IME. This summer's been great  - I've barely had to do anything

Likewise I'm sure we've all met the obsessive fettler "I'm just going to strip the..." who's bike never, ever, works properly, who's always late for rides because his bike is still in bits, and who's bike spontaneously dismantles itself mid trail because he rushed rebuilding it after not needing to take it to bits, having knackered all the threads by consistently overtightening things.

Personally - can't remember the last time I needed to service a headset (all are Hope). BBs maybe need a look at once a year (again Hope). Suspension bearings when they start to knock (maybe 18 months). Gear cables when the change quality goes - maybe once a year after winter. My Hope brakes haven't been touched since I fitted them (OK only 11 months), my Shimano ones need bleeding before every ride as they're oldish XTRs and the master cylinders leak like sieves, but I can't currently afford to replace them. Fork lowers service every 4 months or before a big event, rear shock (sent away) once a year.

This is all year, all weather, riding in the Peaks and similar locales.

Short of a Reverb that puked it's guts down my seat tube, I can't ever remember having a mid-ride gear failure that's not been crash related. <<touches wood>>

Summer - cold lager in the workshop, Radio 4 on, sparkling bike.

Winter - drive train and slidey bits lubed, frame can wear it's 'Winter coat'.

Give me an example ? Unless you’ve done something badly, why would this happen ?

Constantly loosening and tightening bolts, screwing things in and out is a way of wearing the threads out, getting dirt into them and generally making the tolerances a bit sloppier.

A couple of times a year strip, clean and rebuild is fine but doing it every week is just wearing out bolt heads or threads unnecessarily.

Basically all the @vincienup said ^^

As little as possible. I try to keep one bike in good condition with new parts, another as a hack with used parts from Bike 1, plus a third running as a spare. About once or twice a year I do serious maintenance to get one bike into tip-top shape and keep the others rideable.

I definitely like to be self-sufficient. With a pile of bikes and a busy schedule, it would be hard not to be.

A good example was last week when I noticed that my son's BB was feeling a little gritty when checking the bikes the day before a ride. As always, it was fine when it was washed and put away the week before, but the garage gremlins had come out and buggered it up! Quick run to the LBS (who certainly wouldn't have been able to do it there and then), and it took about 30 minutes to get the crank off, remove the old BB and press the new one in. I also took the opportunity to drill a small drain hole in the bottom of the BB shell to try to prevent it from filling up in future, something that I'm sure was why the old one had failed in a relatively short time frame. Obviously, the LBS could have done all of this, but not at 4.30pm the day before a ride. Same thing goes for stuff like broken spokes, bearing adjustments, gear tweaks, swapping cassettes, tyres, wheels and all of the other stuff that goes on before rides or races. Being honest, I'd be pretty certain that 90% of the parents supporting junior racing are probably pretty handy with the spanners in the garage.

Last night's midnight fun was installing a Works Components angle-adjust headset on my XC bike:

This is one of those jobs that's easy if you know what you are doing and, more importantly, have the right tools. If you don't. or try to bodge it, you're going to be in a world of pain. These are interesting to install anyway as they are intentionally "wonky" so it took a little bit of thinking to work out the best way to press them in evenly and, of course, aligned properly left to right.

(For those interested, the solution was to press the upper cup in first and sit the lower cup on top of it, turned upside down. Then the two angles cancel out and you can press it in straight without a problem. Once the upper was in, the lower could be installed normally using the wonky upper as a guide for the press. Oddly, this isn't how they tell you to do it, but I couldn't really see it being done any other way.)

I never wash bikes, I think a lot of the problems people have with bearings is because they force grit into bearings when they wash the bike. I just let them dry and brush the dirt off.

You alluded to but missed out "build bikes from bits that don't go wrong in the first place".

Suspension is great, but not as great as that ride you miss out on while it's being serviced.

Gears are great, but singlespeeds don't need indexing (or cleaning really).

Droppers are great, except when they don't work.

I dont mind a bit of tinkering, but prefer it to be at 500-1000mile intervals rather than every bloody ride.

Having serviced a fleet or hire bikes for a few years I'm going with "less is more" . If things are working well, not rumbling, not sloppy, then leave them be. Check pads, chains, rings and jockey wheels for wear regularly.

Washing my own bikes only really happens when I'm riding somewhere different and is more about disease control than anything else.

Winter is great as the bikes come back clean and dry.

I mostly ride full-suspension with 2x9 drivetrains and dropper posts. They run for months or years without needing constant maintenance.

when you induce faults by tinkering unnecessarily.

Give me an example ? Unless you’ve done something badly, why would this happen ?

Was going to respond, but it seems others got in there before me! It is easy to do something 'badly' (although I'd be a bit more charitable and term it a mistake) that's just human nature.

I'd also add, someone up there talked about popping seals to re-grease bearings. Something I'd be wary of unless I was also installing a new seal. The rubber lips are easy to damage, then subsequently the seal isn't doing it's job.

I don't tinker, especially when it's not warm in the garage, I hate the cold, but I like to do things myself. I find it a great way to work out how things work and understanding that gives me a bit more mechanical sympathy.

I actually choose things now based on how serviceable they are, as well as the usually performance/coolness/cost thing.

I:

Home service suspension, which pretty much rules out Fox stuff for me, although I've still got a Float X CTD.

Home service dropper.

Home replace bearings. (I've got a nice press, but it's still a pig of a job) I don't ike.

Drivetrain is a tricky one, I can index, but for some reason I hate it so generally live with shit shifting. I was also a sod for using way too much wet lube, letting it eat itself covered in a grinding paste of old lube and grit, degreasing it come spring only to realise everything is knackered and buying all new. Smoove lube, is as least at this stage of Autumn. It only took me a a decade to work out, that if you have to choose a slightly rust chain is better than a black, tar coated one.

I seem to be very lucky with wheels, I usually get them trued before an Alps trip or something, I've cracked a few Superstar freebodies (who hasn't) but never really destroyed anything. Lots of people like hope, but I don't think there's anything special to them at all, they work in the same sort of way any a million other cartridge bearing hubs that cost a lot less, they also seem to wear bearings fairly quickly compared to other brands. Some of the DT Swiss hubs look interesting and seem to offer something a bit non-standard, but I really like my Nukeproof wheels, come in any configuration you like, strong, cost-effective and no, not light, but not other worldly heavy either.

I do a full strip down, service and rebuild twice per year and keep things running smoothly enough in between. Do everything myself except for wheel builds and full service of rear shock.

Ride, wipe, spay, lube and carry on, replace pads when needed, service suspension as required and check tyre pressure.

Stuff lasts a lot better these days in my experience so it's all good, just time to chill out.

Any more and it's just taking something apart for something to do.

I'm no mechanic ..so anything major is done by someone who is ..

I also prefer "dry"cleaning to actually washing the bike and only do so if it is absolutely neccessary ..after years of being an avid washer and I do believe it prolongs the life of bearings ..

I keep everything that needs lubrication ..lubricated.

Change pads as necessary ..have just bled my dropper for the first time ..and have changed my jockey wheels recently ..but as far as other consumables go will just run them until they die .

The only time I have tried to get more than one chain out of a cassette it skipped all over the place ( even though the chain checker was telling me it was within tolerance )..so now just change chain & cassette together when it "tells " me to..

Would I like to do more ?

Naaah ..it's keeping other folk in jobs ..ain't it ?

In the winter I clean and lube the chain, occasionally check to see if the brake pads have any meat left on them. Springtime it gets an overhaul. I ride the local trails 2-3 times a week in all weathers.

I'm sure if I had a nice full-suss i'd do a bit more, but time is short and it's cold in the shed, so i'm reaping the low maintenance benefits of hardtail ownership.

I’m sure if I had a nice full-suss i’d do a bit more, but time is short and it’s cold in the shed, so i’m reaping the low maintenance benefits of hardtail ownership.

I don't do much more with my full sus, I'm reaping the rewards of doing what is needed.

Simple is nice 🙂

I don't mind fixing/fettling stuff if I have to but I'd prefer not to which is why my hardtail's singlespeed most of the time. It occasionally gets a drop of oil on the chain and wipe down if it's been especially wet and manky on a ride but it mainly just gets slung back under the stairs until next time. The forks are dead easy to service but I've yet to delve into a dropper...

Any thread or press fit into alloy only has a finite number of times it can be serviced before it’ll become permanently loose. If it ain’t starting to break, don’t start fixing it!

Fettle when it is required.

Service my hubs when the wheels get all baggy and loose and start to rattle about a bit, and I start to think it's going to snap the axle (it's happened before). After it's been like that for 6 months, I get round to doing it.

I'm the type of person who will put it off for months, or years. Sometimes bikes go more than a year without a wash. Squeaking drivetrains are common. Brake pads half way through the metal. Then out of nowhere, one day, I'll strip it down completely, clean everything, grease and lube, build again... It's like getting a new bike.

Main bearings on my bikes are Hope, despite what the haters say, they just work with minimal attention - the bottom bracket on my Solaris has been butter smooth for some 12,000km over four years. Bikes get a pre or post winter full check depend on which bike it is - i.e. the fat bike gets more use in winter so will get a pre-winter check to make sure it's ready to go.

Most of the rest is along the lines of "ooh! That doesn't sound/feel right, better have a look at it.". I'll have a small set of spares at home so I don't have to wait for a CRC/Wiggle order to come through, I then replace what I've used on my next order.

There are some jobs I'll get the LBS to do, fitting a headset for example, mainly because I don't have the tools and it's such a rare job unless you are either building a frame from scratch or the headset is fubarred.

I regularly wash and dry my bikes. it causes zero issues and actually heloh keep everything looking and running sweet.

My bearings last for ages.

Last thing you want is a build of crap anywhere. My bikes look great even after several thousand miles. My last frame and forks did 12000 miles, as did my brakes and suspension. Keeping it clean played a big part.

Cost of clothes and having ways of cleaning stuff pays dividends. Drying is cruicial.

I do it myself.  Not yet done the suspension, but It's yet to need it.  Just re-greased all the frame bearings on my FS. Having 5 bikes of my own and 4 other bikes in the family, it would be way too expensive.  More used to road bikes and 'vintage' MTB's so the more recent move to a good FS bike with proper suspension, dropper post and hydraulic brakes has been new stuff to learn.

I hate a filthy drive train, so that get's well looked after.

Clean and lube the drive train, check the chain occasionally, bed brake pads in properly.

Other than that, ride stuff until it wears out or stops working.

In my mind I’m a pro race mechanic with the ability to fix any issue with my bikes using just my Allen key combo tool, a spanner and a can of lube.

However over the last few decades I’ve had mixed results mainly ranging from “it’ll do” to “hopefully that won’t break.” Regrettably I have had a few of the latter, usually in the middle of nowhere.

This summer I resigned myself to the fact I don’t have the time, energy, patience or ability to do a decent job of fixing my bikes. Same applies to scouring the Internet looking for the correct length cables or washer or some other thing.

So I took it to the lbs and they bled the brakes (never been bled in six-ish years), fitted new headset, swapped in the dropper post, cut the brake and post cables, replaced the tubeless tyres, sorted out the shifting, got rid of the screeching brakes sound and trued the front and rear wheels. Yes it cost a couple of hundred quid (parts and labour) but I got the bike back after just a few days and it rode like a dream.

The only things I’ll do now will be replacing the brake pads and chain and keeping the bike clean.

I'm more reactive than I used to be. Before kids I had time to strip the bike down and rebuild a couple of times a year and before I met Mrs g-d I could work on bikes in the house (what was I thinking? - tubeless sealant set up in the carpeted lounge was probably one of the lowest moments of common sense).

Now I send off the forks and shock as I don't have time to do a proper job and they're so dam expensive to mess it up with if I'm rushing against a deadline to go riding the next day.

I have just done both wheels with new tubeless valves and sealant top up. Really hoping they'll still be up in the morning.  Early signs were good.

I love tinkering with / fixing bikes. So long as the workshop isn't a complete tip it's one of the more relaxing ways to spend a couple of hours .

I find they need very very little work to keep bikes running, i can never work out why people seem to think they’re expensive.

Its the service recommendations that do it for me.

Forks - 50 hour service, 200 hour full service

Rear Shock - 50 hour service, 200 hour full service

Dropper Post - 50 hour service, 200 hour full service

If you were to stick to those guidelines, lets say it costs £70 for all the combined 50 hour services, and  £180 for the combined 200 hour services, that's £390 for 200 hours. On Suspension components alone.

Not mentioning Bottom brackets, freehubs, frame bearings, Brakes, the headset, and stuff that gets 'written off' because it gets hammered too hard beyond repair.

I think most things break or need repairs due to getting bashed about  so depends how aggressive the terrain is that your taking the bike to

Plus I've caused a fair amount of damage myself by attempting maintenance tasks, getting them wrong, then sending them off to the mechanic.

Then there's Shimano Deore and SRAM Guide R breaks that are prone to problems in no time.

There are quite a few user errors I've done as well, ruined a few rims through hard hits or getting punctures, not getting tubeless setup, tubeless setup problems, catching the valve on the rear shock by accident and losing air which then caused excessive bottoming out and damaged the shock.

If you were to stick to those guidelines, lets say it costs £70 for all the combined 50 hour services, and  £180 for the combined 200 hour services, that’s £390 for 200 hours.

Yeah. but 200hrs actual riding (moving) time on a mountain bike is probably 2 years+ for a lot of folk on here.

Also what grease and oil are you using that it's costing you £70 to do a few fork <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">lower leg, air can and seatpost seal head services? It's cost more like half that cost in lubes for ALL the servicing you've mentioned. ie. 2x litre containers of oil and 1x 500ml tub of grease.</span>

Not mentioning Bottom brackets, freehubs, frame bearings, Brakes, the headset, and stuff that gets ‘written off’ because it gets hammered too hard beyond repair.

Those components last for years without needing regular maintenance beyond consumables like brake pads. If they're breaking regularly, that's because of abuse or poor mechanicing.

I ride a fixed gear with no brakes so you would think I wouldn't need to touch it but I have to spend a small amount of time keeping it perfect.

Chain gets cleaned and relubed every Sunday.  I cannot stand the sound of a gritty chain (especially obvious when the bike is so silent everywhere else)

During autumn and winter lower headset bearing gets cleaned/regreased once a month (gets attacked by water and dirt on every ride, my fault for not wanting mudguards I suppose)

Gear, brakes and suspension must take up loads of time that I wouldn't want to waste.

Not mentioning Bottom brackets, freehubs, frame bearings, Brakes, the headset, and stuff that gets ‘written off’ because it gets hammered too hard beyond repair.

Those components last for years without needing regular maintenance beyond consumables like brake pads. If they’re breaking regularly, that’s because of abuse or poor mechanicing.

You've obviously never owned a GXP BB 🙂

The thing that always gets missed from these discussions are the conditions that bikes are ridden in and the amount of riding that people do. If you ride often in poor conditions, these components simply don't last for years no matter how competent the mechanic is, or how gently they are ridden.

A good example is the upper frame bearings on my Tallboy. It doesn't get pressure-washed, just a gentle hose and sponge when it's filthy, but the upper bearings still rarely last more than a year. Fortunately, they are FoC from Jungle, so I don't worry and just swap them when the bike gets its strip-down service in the spring. It must be said that I've seen a few bikes that are "running perfectly" yet when opened up, you find that half of the frame bearings are seized solid and just slipping on the axles...

@daern - partly true but I'll ride my Solaris in all conditions and the BB gets dunked on a fairly regular basis (not this summer or autumn obviously) but the bearings have lasted four years.

Service intervals? Hmm. One trip around the HT550 is  around 80hrs riding for most. I built up my Spearfish early this year and it's done 137hrs*. I've done 221hrs* on the Solaris this year.

*That's the sum of my moving times according to Strava

@daern – partly true but I’ll ride my Solaris in all conditions and the BB gets dunked on a fairly regular basis (not this summer or autumn obviously) but the bearings have lasted four years.

@whitestone OOI, what sort of BB is that? I've had Shimano ones last that long (sometimes I feel they can run for ever!) but never a SRAM OEM one...

You’ve obviously never owned a GXP BB

This! They are shit beyond belief. **** off SRAM, hello Shimano. The Deore one I've had in my bike has done the last few winters over a few different frames and you just know that when GXP came out it was incompatible with Shimano BBs on purpose. ****s.

Whitestone's BB is a Hope one (I know this as he mentioned it earlier and he's recommended it, I have one for my own Solaris on the way)

Fully aware that this is about to jinx things...

but specifically on the bottom bracket thing 4 years ago on the stump jumper the shit press fit POS SRAM one was replaced under warranty by the LBS (at the same time as a snapped frame), and somehow he managed to fit a Chris King as a replacement - its been great since.

Even more amazing, on the ICT the original SRAM POS press fit BB again shat itself very quickly, warrantied, that one pretty much immediately also began shitting itself. So I went online and found those wheels manufacturing screw-together press-fit jobs. Bought that, and a spare, and the special spanner 3 years ago, and of course here spare is still sitting in the BB box awaiting a need for use.

I find that amazing as that bike gets ridden a lot, and usually in mingin conditions. I do occasionally take of the cranks and make sure things are nicely greased in there though.

Cue the BB bearing explosion gremlins! 😆

Hah! You are now cursed. I'd start checking it daily from now on.

I've made a mental note to not buy another OEM SRAM one (the last one I had to source in a hurry as I needed it the next day, so didn't have any choice) and I'll probably buy a decent one for stock for the next time it fails. At least I know I won't need to wait too long....

Hardly ever touch my bikes. If I've fitted new cables I might need a slight tweak/tune after a short while if the cable stretches a bit, but after than perfect shifting every time for ages until something changes, wears or breaks. Shouldn't have to continuously fettle. And even fettling due to cables might be a thing of the past soon now i'm fully hydraulic braked up on all my bikes once I get around to fitting electronic shifting to them too....a cable free bike...virtually maintenance free.

I do most things, sometimes the lbs for odd things I can't do. Mostly its all and when needed, but I am always a job or 2 behind. I try to plan stuff in advance as best as possible - there's no fun in fixing stuff the night before because someone has not owned up to something not working. New kit has to be on at least 1 week before a race etc.

Well that's the plan anyway. Never works in reality.

I will say that following the above comment I made about bollixing my brakes I no longer tinker for the sake of it.  Every ride tho the bike is checked and anything not 100% gets sorted before its ridden again.  any noises get investigated and sorted before its ridden again.  Tyres checked for pressure before every ride.

Putoline ( oh no - not that again they all cry) on the chains means they only need relubing occasionally and the rest of maintenance is done regularly - middleburn oilers on cables mean a regular squirt of lube to keep shifting perfect,   Wheels checked for dodgy bearings but not found any for years.  annual oil change in forks and brakes fluid changed annually  Annual relube of hub gears

As far as getting a Rohloff hub and belt drive. Job(s) done.

(The Co-Motion shifter eats through mitts though.)

Keep the chain clean and lubed, ideally not with a crud ingesting oil (wax lube, Squirt does me well).

Wipe off mud from key crud areas after ride. Wash if really really bad, and wipe dry.

Maintenance done.

Everything else is repair/replace when it needs it and mostly not that frequent. Though I do have 3 bikes to spread the wear.

Main issues I currently have are with Reverbs (got 4 and only 2 work and 1 not so good as the other), and one set of old version Guide RSC brakes that suffer from the hot weather lever piston stickiness.

You’ve obviously never owned a GXP BB

This! They are shit beyond belief.

Don't know what people do with them myself. They're fine for me. Yes they may need doing every couple of years. Bearings are wear and tear items. It's £20 replacement and a 5 minute job. All I ever get is a bit of play in them eventually. No grinding death.

I do wonder if a lot of the problem is people not doing up the cranks tight enough. I hear a lot of (even from some LBS types), "oh that's way too high torque", and then hear cranks coming undone or complaints about crud in the BB. Another thing is the gutter seal used to work loose, though O-rings can fix that problem. Not had that issue for ages though.

Oh, and if they're pressfit, then blame the frame manufacturer and get a frame with threaded BBs 😉

I love riding bikes, but don’t really like maintaining them beyond changing brake pads, lubricating the chain, cleaning, changing and setting up tyres tubeless and squirting a bit of GT85 where needed. The most mechanical thing I’ve done is fit a dropper. Anything beyond that I simply have neither the time or inclination and take to a shop.

MTB - rigid SS. Can do 8hrs+ off-road a week, year-round in the Chilterns. Fave bike, needs/gets almost no servicing and it can handle it. Runs silently at all times and I love it. Returns the tough love by half killing me most rides.

Bromton commuter - still fairly new but gets looked after as a clean bike that folds seems welcome in any shop and pub so far. Feels like keeping my shoes mostly clean, it's more presentable.

Road-ish bike - can do a couple 100 miles a week. Servicing is somewhere in between the MTB and the Brompton. Looks well-used but is in good running order, clean chain etc. Has guards to minimise the impact of use in the wet.

Servicing based on needs then I guess. I do like a silent, efficient bike but they don't need to look clean. That article from Santa Cruz about service level vs function etc was pretty much spot on.

Oh, and on BBs, the new M8000 XTs are great. Been using them long enough to be impressed. Better than both old Shimano POS BBs and the King that I stopped using as it got full of junk so fast - serviceable yes, but every weekend, no thanks. Served it's purpose though, lasted a single trip of many miles w/o issues.

Maybe you should take this as a clue and do less on the other bikes. Theres definately a thing called overmaintenace when you induce faults by tinkering unnecessarily.

That's not over maintenance, that's ham fistedly messing with stuff that shouldn't be messed with.

Decided to do a fluid change on my brakes and get the pistons sliding easily and equally both sides ( they were 99% but “preventive maintenence”). I chipped a piston pushing it in and out, had to replace pistons and seals.

That's ham fistedness.

Likewise I’m sure we’ve all met the obsessive fettler “I’m just going to strip the…” who’s bike never, ever, works properly, who’s always late for rides because his bike is still in bits, and who’s bike spontaneously dismantles itself mid trail because he rushed rebuilding it after not needing to take it to bits, having knackered all the threads by consistently overtightening things.

And this.

Constantly loosening and tightening bolts, screwing things in and out is a way of wearing the threads out, getting dirt into them and generally making the tolerances a bit sloppier.

A couple of times a year strip, clean and rebuild is fine but doing it every week is just wearing out bolt heads or threads unnecessarily.

This too. If you are stripping or wearing things you are over tightening them.

Any thread or press fit into alloy only has a finite number of times it can be serviced before it’ll become permanently loose. If it ain’t starting to break, don’t start fixing it!

And this is just utterly false. Unless you are ham fisted and tightening beyond its limit of elasticity (which, thanks to torque settings, should never happen) or the tolerances are well out. Also, which "alloy"? Presumably you mean some variation of aluminium which is also false, aluminium has similar behaviours to steel albeit with different limits, even carbon fibre has elastic properties.

Regular maintenance is important, but depending how things are fixed together, not everything likes repeated dismantling. Component design and material is an important factor, but I’d generally agree there’s a balance to be found between stripping and leaving alone before you start on possibility of slipping and breaking something.

Was going to respond, but it seems others got in there before me! It is easy to do something ‘badly’ (although I’d be a bit more charitable and term it a mistake) that’s just human nature.

If this applies to you either learn the skills to do it properly, buy the proper tools, take the time to do it properly or leave it to someone who has all of the above. Yes, I've made an arse of things and every time it's because I'm trying to rush a job, do it with the wrong tool or don't have the experience to know how to do it in the real world.

Personally I try to do as much as I can. Stuff gets stripped when it needs it but otherwise unless I absolutely need to know it will work it gets left alone. Preventative maintenance where applicable, run to destruction (sealed bearings) where not. I love tinkering with sthings, sometimes I wonder if I enjoy tinkering more than using.

Don’t know what people do with them myself. They’re fine for me. Yes they may need doing every couple of years.

Did you mean months rather than years there?  You seem to be an outlier as most people find they are crap.  Mine used to last about 3 months whereas a Shimano external BB lasts for 2 years.  And that is with higher torque than it would see due to having one gear.

I don't seem to spend anywhere near the time fiddling with my bikes as I used to - the Scout just gets ridden and not much love. It needs a few jobs doing but they're not annoying me enough to get of my butt to sort them out especially now its cold in the garage! I don't even clean my bikes much these days - I just wait until the drivetrain is manky.

I don't muck around changing chains - I just change both the chain and cassette when they're shagged.

I do need to get off my butt and fiddle with my gears though because since a recent crash, they've not been as smooth as they should be and I seem to be riding around the gammy shifting.

GXP BB's are utter garbage - I've always had good experiences with XT / Saint / XTR BB's but the GXP's take the piss at how bad the bearings / seals are.

I’ve heard that the new DUB BBs from SRAM are amazingly reliable which would be a remarkable leap from GXP awfulness if it’s true!

It's as cheap as chips for me really as I do all my own maintenance,I just keep it functioning well and stuff moving and spinning.Bike gets jet washed 3 or 4 times a week during winter - it has a tough life..

Bike is just going into its 3rd winter,over that time I've changed 2 hope bearings one in the driveside BB and the other the outer in the freehub,changed the original ally chainring to steel sram one 2 years ago(at £1.70 each-I bought 5) ,I've got through multiple chains at £15 a pop(this is my main expense),reverb is pretty bombproof now as running on more resilient and  weatherproof bushings,pressed in new bearings in the SRAM 11 speed X sync jockey cost nowt as someone gave them to me,bike is on its last chain now and will take the steel  GX cassette(£25 2nd hand barely worn) and chainring with it-it's had an amazingly good innings.Probably a few quid over that time in servicing lubes.I think I've changed gear cable once.Don't get through too many brake pads where I ride ,as not sandy ,gritty or long steep  descents.

So its been great value maintenance wise.

After thirty years fettling I stay on top of it, but ride a bike that tries to reduce it to a minimum in the first place: mudguards autumn-to-spring, rigid, no dropper, based round a 1x11 XT drivetrain bought in last year's Black Friday sales.

The strategy works well for me, aided by this year's dry summer. Just a post-ride wipe down of the drivetrain with a rag and re-lube. Only washed it once, late spring; bucket and cloth job with warm water, no fancy liquids. No mechanicals to speak of, just keeps working, aside from the XT BB dying after 10 1/2 months (no, it wasn't overtightened).

The drivetrain's now looking a bit worn but still working well. The intention is to run it to destruction then fit something I might pick up this week if there are any deals about.