- Hi, I'm Kat and I work at the Olympia REI store.
I've been mountain biking for about 15 years,
and I am a year-round bike commuter.
Caring for your drivetrain is a simple way
to save money in the long run
and keep your bike running smoothly.
So we're just gonna go over a couple tips
on drivetrain maintenance.
(upbeat music)
So a couple of things that you're gonna need
in order to care for your drivetrain
are a bike chain specific lubricant
and some clean rags.
So in terms of the anatomy of our drivetrain,
it is made up of several main components.
We have our chain,
our cassette,
derailleurs,
and our crank arms.
The reason why drivetrain maintenance is important
is because keeping our drivetrain clean and lubricated
will prolong the life of the chain.
Just from riding our chain will show wear or start to wear.
It's often referred to as chain stretch,
and you can prolong the life of your chain
and keep it in good working order
by maintaining it properly.
If you are riding on a chain that is too worn
and too stretched out,
what will happen is it will actually start to
gouge into the teeth of the cogs,
and replacing a chain is a relatively inexpensive fix,
whereas having to replace a chain and a cassette
and other drivetrain components
is a much more expensive fix.
When you're ready to lube your chain, there's three steps.
You're gonna apply the lube, let it sit,
and then you're gonna wipe it off with a rag.
In terms of applying the chain lube to your chain,
grab your lube, shake it up a little bit.
And then you're gonna use one drop per link,
which are these bumps along the chain.
You're just gonna put one drop per link,
grab your pedal,
pedal backwards until you have an unlubed section
of your chain,
and then do that process
the entire way around.
So now that I'm finished
lubing all of the links on my chain,
I'm just gonna let it sit for a few minutes,
and then I will wipe off any excess lubricant with a rag.
So once your bike has sat for a little while,
it's time to remove any excess lubricant from your chain.
I usually like to give it about 10 minutes.
The reason I like to wipe off any excess lubricant
is because the chain will soak up what it needs
and anything that is excess will just attract more dirt
and grime to your drivetrain.
So in terms of removing excess, grab your rag,
put it in your hand.
And I just wrap it gently around the chain.
And then I just slowly pedal backwards
with my rag wrapped around my chain
until I've gone a couple cycles all the way around
and soaked up any excess lubricant from my chain.
Most bike lubricants also act as a cleaner.
And so you can see on my rag
that I actually have quite a bit of dirt that came off
when I wiped off that excess.
If you happen to have a really dirty drivetrain,
and you see chunks of dirt and grime
in between the actual cogs of your cassette,
there are tools and special cleaning tools that you can get
that you can remove that dirt and grime
from your drivetrain,
but oftentimes just lubing your chain
when it needs to be lubed will keep it fairly clean
and in good working order.
I often get asked how frequently
a person should lubricate their chain.
And I wish I could give you a magic formula for that.
But the truth is there's a lot of things
that go into how often you need to lubricate your chain:
the type of weather you're riding in,
how often you're riding,
if you are using a lighter
or a heavier formula of chain lubricant.
So usually what I like to tell people is
if they have a newly serviced drivetrain,
a brand new bike, maybe they just lubed their chain,
try to remember what the sound of that healthy chain
and drivetrain is like.
And if you go on a ride and you start hearing your chain
make more noise than normal,
that is a good indication that when you get home,
you should lubricate your chain
so it's ready to go for your next ride.
Under-lubricating your chain
or not lubricating your chain enough
will cause issues, including rust,
the links can start to stick together.
And over-lubricating your drivetrain can also cause issues,
which is why I tell people to listen to their chain
for the chain to tell them how often they should lube it.
Over-lubricating your drivetrain
will just attract more dirt and grime to it,
so much so that sometimes the chain gets so gummed up
that you have to replace it, even if it is not worn.
And even sometimes the drivetrain components,
like the cassette and the derailleur,
can get so gummed up that you need to use degreaser
in order to break all of that grease and lubricant
and road grime away from those components.
Regardless of how well you maintain your drivetrain
part of riding a bike and being a bike owner
is that your chain will wear,
and it will need to be replaced from time to time.
You can either invest in a chain checker
to check the wear of your chain
or feel free to bring it into any REI store,
and we will check your chain wear for free.
Thanks for watching.
I hope that this was helpful.
If you need to remember any of these steps,
we have a helpful drivetrain maintenance guide
linked in the video.
Remember that this is one in a series
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