Police Bike Post-Mortem
by David Cohen
Maryland National Capital Park Police Reserve Unit
When a public safety bike has reached the end of its service life, either through obsolescence, major damage, or necessary maintenance beyond budgetary considerations, it typically faces a rather unceremonious end. Some are stripped of their parts to be spare parts for other bikes in the fleet and others are auctioned off, but the majority end up going to the scrap man. Not much thought is given to a post-mortem and the lessons that can be learned from a bicycle that has spent its life in public safety applications.
Last year, the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, Montgomery County Division, declared three bicycles either obsolete or beyond economical repair. Although they were written off, unlike many bikes, these three avoided the scrap man. The first bike, a 1997 Trek police bike (Bike 904), happened to be the first “official” police bike acquired by the Division. It was restored and became the subject of the article “Forward from the Past” in the 2020 Product Guide issue of IPMBA News (Vol. 29, No. 1). The second bike, a 1999 Trek police bike, was completely rebuilt from the frame up with many new components, repainted, and returned to service with the Volunteer Auxiliary. The third bike, also a 1999 Trek police bike (Bike 908), thus became the subject of our post mortem analysis.
Our subject bike led a pretty typical life for a police bicycle. Being one of the larger frame bikes, it seems to have been one of the more popular bikes in the bike shed. Its paint job is pock-marked with all kinds of dings and wear marks. It saw its share of basic maintenance and ABC Quick Checks, but heavy maintenance seems to have been lacking. Here’s how the various components held up – or not – after 20 years of use.
Cables: The first thing I noted was how poorly the cables performed. Neither the front nor rear derailleur was capable of going through its full range because of the condition of the cables and the cable housings. The cables were grimy and very stiff going through the housings. A more thorough and consistent cleaning and lubrication of the cables would have prevented this.
Derailleurs: Both Shimano derailleurs were in good shape mechanically. The front derailleur’s biggest problem was that it had caked-on dirt and grease. Once it was cleaned up, it worked like new. The rear derailleur was also in good shape. Both jockey wheels had all kinds of detritus on them and they would not spin freely, but a good cleaning and lubrication solved that problem. By coincidence, one of my personal bikes, a 1998 Klein Pulse Comp, has the exact same derailleurs as Bike 908, and even after 22 years, they still work smoothly…with regular maintenance, of course!
Chain: On this particular bike, the chain was actually in good shape. It needed degreasing and then lubricating, but was otherwise okay. That was a surprise. On bikes ridden by officers who “stomp” the pedals (that is, use far too high of a gear than necessary), the torque forces tend to twist the chain, leading to all kinds of interesting wear patterns on the cassette and chainrings.
Crankarms: The crank arms were pretty well stuck on the bottom bracket. It took a little bit of Seafoam Deep Creep and a lot of “influence” from a rubber mallet on the crank puller to get the arms off. I would venture a guess that the crankarms were never removed at all during the bike’s service life. The amount of dirt and grime found on the bottom bracket seems to confirm this.
Pedals: The pedals came off relatively easily. That hasn’t been the case with many other public safety bikes that I’ve worked on. The tendency to “stomp” the pedals combined with never removing the pedals creates a “cold weld” and the pedals are stuck fast. I’ve used all the tricks in the book, from penetrating oils to using a torch to heat up the affected areas, but once they get stuck like that, it’s nearly impossible to free them.
Chainrings: The rings were worn, but other than being covered with a lot of sludge, they were probably still usable. Curiously, the outer ring’s teeth were worn in such a way that they were narrow and pointed, while the middle chainring was more worn from the top.
Bottom Bracket: Of all the things that amaze me about older bicycles, the resiliency of the original square-tapered bottom bracket cartridges still blows me away. I’ve worked on quite a few bicycles equipped with this type of bottom bracket, and I’ve never experienced a bad one. Bike 908’s bottom bracket was no exception. It was dirty, and the grease on the threads had turned into paste, but it still works well.
In the 2000s, the bicycle industry thought it could improve the bottom bracket with the ISIS splined and Octalink bottom brackets. These bottom brackets were supposed to be superior to the square tapered bracket, but it was a technological wrong turn. I’ve owned a number of bikes with the ISIS splined brackets, and every single one of them failed. Personally, I prefer the external bearing bottom bracket these days, but the good old square-taper bottom bracket still works well.
Headset: This particular bike came with the threaded type of headset. It’s an inferior design to the modern threadless headset. The headset still operated fairly smoothly; lubrication was all it needed.
The stem bolt, however, had rusted solid and the head of the bolt stripped trying to remove it. At this point, the decision was to leave it be rather than drill it out and try to source another stem bolt.
Hubs: The introduction of the sealed bearing hub in the 1990s did much to extend the service life of bicycle wheels. However, “sealed bearing” does not necessarily translate to “no maintenance”. At some point, the hubs do need service. All three of the bikes that were written off had problems with their front hubs. Servicing a sealed bearing hub is a tricky proposition and would be best left to a bike shop or an experienced mechanic.
Quite curiously, the rear hubs/freewheels on these three bikes were all considerably more stout than the front hubs, and none of the rear hubs required any maintenance.
Wheels: The rims were in very good shape. The rear wheel was straight as an arrow. In fact, it was the straightest rim I’ve seen on any of the public safety bikes I’ve worked on. The front wheel as almost as good, with deviances of about 1mm laterally that could be easily fixed with a spoke wrench.
Tires: I couldn’t tell if the Trek Invert 2 tires on the rims were original or not. The Invert 2 appears to be Trek’s knock-off of the venerable Continental Town & Country tire. And, like the Continental T&C tires, they seem to have an almost unlimited shelf life. The tread was still good and there was no evidence of dry rot.
Brakes: The brake mechanisms themselves were not in bad shape. This bike is equipped with an early iteration of the linear pull brake. The biggest issue I found was that someone installed the brake pads on the front wheel backwards. The mounts for the brakes needed lubrication and the brake arms needed a bit of convincing from a rubber mallet to be removed. The barrel adjusters on the levers were frozen, but with a little bit of lubrication, were soon back in full swing. The levers themselves were in good shape and just needed a drop of oil on the pivot points.
Conclusions
If you read down the list of items that were worn or not functioning as they should, the vast majority of these problems could have been eliminated by performing routine periodic maintenance and cleaning using the typical tools available to the average public safety cyclist. Only overhauling the wheel hubs and removal of the crankarm/chainrings would require the use of specialized tools.
Outside of the routine ABC Quick Checks, first and foremost on the list of preventive maintenance items would be to take care of the cables. At least once per year, the cables should be lubricated, inspected, and replaced if necessary. Replacing the housings may be necessary at some point. Fabricating new cable housings is not a difficult job, but it does require specialized tools and the knowledge on how to use them.
A periodic degreasing and lubrication of the drivetrain done more thoroughly than the typical ABC Quick Check would eliminate another set of problems: keeping the chain, chain rings, cassette and jockey wheels moving freely. While it is certainly easier to clean the front chainrings by removing the crankarm, it can be done with the crankarm still on the bike.
Finally, routine cleaning of the entire bike prevents the dirt and gunk from causing some of the other parts, such as derailleurs and brake arms, from getting gummed up. Lubricating the pivot points after cleaning will also help enable smooth operation.
If you take care of the items listed above, all that is left are a couple of components that are typically fairly robust and may only need annual checks: bottom bracket (except for ISIS splined units), headset, and the hubs. At some point, all of these will need maintenance. They should be referred to a bicycle mechanic. Even when one of these more complex items necessitates a visit to the bike mechanic, if you perform routine maintenance on the items that are fairly accessible, odds are you are going to walk away with a much smaller repair bill than if everything was left alone.
As far as the subject of our post-mortem, Bike 908 would be considered obsolete in the public safety role by anyone’s measure. However, once the needed maintenance is performed, this bike will have a second life as a recreational bike in civilian hands. While Bike 908’s days of service to the residents of Montgomery County are over, I hope the information gleaned from this exercise will help it to provide one final service to the public safety cycling community.
David Cohen is a 12-year volunteer with the Maryland-National Capital Park Police. When he isn’t riding or tinkering with bicycles, David can be found tinkering with vintage cars or World War II airplanes. An avid historian, David enjoys researching and writing as well. He can be reached at onyxsax@aol.com.
Photos courtesy David Cohen.
(c) 2021 IPMBA. This article appeared in the 2021 IPMBA News Product Guide.