How often should you service an i-drive

[GTBoy]

just wondering how often i should be serviceing the i-drive on my DHi.

 

[Acadian]

if you ride in dry conditions you shouldn't have to service it that often. I used to service my eccentric like once a month. But I'm pretty anal about keeping my bikes running smooth.

 

[Grip]

Bottom-line is lots! But it's impossible to say how often because that depends on how much it's used and in what conditions. BUT one of the contributing factors to the frequent service required on I-Drives is the fact that there are just SO many places for gunk to get in to the I-Drive and the seals have a very large diameter to cover. I've pulled quite a lot of these apart and never ONCE found it clean in there. Make yourself up a tool to disassemble it and learn to do it... then do it often.

 

[Bodin]

Hmm... I rode an iDrive through every condition imaginable for about a year without once servicing the bottom bracket. I had to sell it, so I got it serviced and, yes, lots of crap gets in there, but once it was cleaned, you'd never have known it was used in the first place. It was then duly sold to an uncomplaining buyer.

/disclaimer: I'm not trying to prove Grip wrong - I'm just speaking from my own experience.

 

[Grip]

Hmm... yes, lots of crap gets in there,

I think we are actually saying the same thing, Bodin . LOTS of crap gets in and the more crap there is the more chance there is of it causing probs... that was all I was getting at.

 

[Bodin]

Yep, I hear ya, Grip. And I couldn't agree with you more.

The reason why I wanted to put a contrasting opinion out there is that your advice is well-respected and advising someone to "do it often" may expose the owner to the consquences of what I would call "overzealous maintenance". I've seen people literally wear their gear out by taking it apart and putting it back together WAY too frequently, just so they can make sure there's not a speck of dirt anywhere in their linkage.

MTBs with complex linkages are not always built to be abused, but they don't need to be treated like newborns, either...

 

[Grip]

Very good point, Bodin... I hadn't considered the down side of "too" much maintenance.

Which of course leaves this poor bloke with very little in the way of an answer. Though I have to say I think the dreaded "gunk" build up inside the I-drive shell (visible through the holes) is probably a pretty good indicator of SOME cleaning/service needed. Now by GUNK I mean that sticky combination of oil/grease/DIRT that makes it obvious some of the lube that SHOULD be in the bearing has escaped to the outside world. Because unlike many other suspension bearings the I-drive doesn't run fully sealed bearings but rather seperate seals and if oil/grease is escaping enough to help form "gunk" then that means that A/there's probably less than enough lube on the rollers themselves and B/ that lube may also have imported some dirt to form "gunk" on the inside too.

Also, squirting a hose etc in to clean off the "gunk" will shorten your service intervals dramatically as it will wash away grease etc.

 

[Drew.]

Well i tend to sevice mine before every ride, leave youself a bit of time and you get it done, Just so you don't get any problems, because I-drives are VERY hard to replace.