The Pedalshift Project 225: Extending the Life of Your Touring Bike

A listener texted in and asked, “how do you keep your bike around year after year?” On this episode, my thoughts on keeping all parts of your bike in tip top shape so you can maximize extending the life of your touring bike!

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Housekeeping

We have a two-parter “Best Of” starting next week (Thanksgiving here in the US). It will be the Brompton tour of Washington State featuring foul weather and a big multi-part transit fast forward from Seattle to my start point on the other side of Puget Sound. Fun trip and worthy of two episodes! After that, we’ll have new episodes through the end of the year!

Gear Talk: Extending the Life of Your Touring Bike

Got a text from a listener:

I wonder if you would at some point discuss your bike. You are unique in that you don’t push out content about buying the latest and greatest upgrades or technology. I’d like to know more about how you have gotten so many years out of your bike, including tips on maintenance and what the most important upgrades have been for your bike’s longevity.

Here’s how I approach extending the life of the bikes I own:

Brake Pads/Disc Brake Rotors and “Hardware”
Drivetrain
Cables
Rims
Bottom Bracket
Headset
Pedals
Hubs
Frame and Forks
Bottom Line: Cleaning

As always we like to close out the show with a special shoutout to the Pedalshift Society! Because of support from listeners like you, Pedalshift is a weekly bicycle touring podcast with a global community, expanding into live shows and covering new tours like this spring’s DC to Cincinnatti bike tour! If you like what you hear, you can support the show for 5 bucks, 2 bucks or even a buck a month. And there’s one-shot and annual options if you’re not into the small monthly thing. Check it all out at pedalshift.net/society.

Kimberly Wilson
Caleb Jenkinson
Cameron Lien
Andrew MacGregor
Michael Hart
Keith Nagel
Brock Dittus
Thomas Skadow
Marco Lo
Terrance Manson
Harry Telgadas
Chris Barron
Mark Van Raam
Brad Hipwell
Stuart Buchan
Mr. T
Nathan Poulton
Stephen Dickerson
Vince LoGreco
Cody Floerchinger
Tom Benenati
Greg Braithwaite
Sandy Pizzio
Jeff Muster
Seth Pollack
Joseph Quinn
Drue Porter
Byron Paterson
Joachim Raber
Ray Jackson
Jeff Frey
Kenny Mikey
Lisa Hart
John Denkler
Steve Hankel
Miguel Quinones
Alejandro Avilés-Reyes
Keith Spangler
Greg Towner
Dan Gebhart
Jody Dzuranin
Lucas Barwick
Michael Baker
Brian Bechtol
Reinhart Bigl
Greg Middlemis
Connie Moore
William Gothmann
Brian Benton
Joan Churchill
Mike Bender
Rick Weinberg
Billy Crafton
Gary Matushak
Greg L’Etoile-Lopes
James Sloan
Jonathan Dillard
John Funk
Tom Bilcze
Ronald Piroli
Dave Roll
Brian Hafner
Misha LeBlanc
Ari Messinger
David Gratke
Todd Groesbeck
Wally Estrella
Sue Reinert
John Leko
Stephen Granata
Phillip Mueller
Robert Lackey
Dominic Carol
Jacqi McCulloch
John Hickman
Carl Presseault
David Neves
Patty Louise
Terry Fitzgerald
Peter Steinmetz
Timothy Fitzpatrick
Michael Liszewski
Hank O’Donnell
David Zanoni
David Weil

Music

You’ve been hearing about Jason Kent and his music for many fine episodes. Sunfields is back in the studio AND Jason’s first solo album is now streaming on Spotify, including America, the Pedalshift theme. Go listen!

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