Hot answers tagged maintenance
42
I see several reasons:
Redundancy of an essential safety feature is good. If there's a problem with one brake lever you still have the other brake. Being totally unable to stop could be disastrous.
Limited human hand strength. One hand can't pull the brakes as hard as two. If you need to stop really quickly this could make a difference.
Separate control ...
32
Do you hear a "tick" sound every time you spin the wheel anti-clockwise? that's the freewheel mechanism composed by two small parts called "pawls" and when you spin it on that direction, those pawls turn loosely until they find the "dent" in the inner mechanism (the ratchet body), that's when the "tick" sound happens.
When you ride your bike, those two ...
22
WD-40 is mostly a solvent with a very light lubricant mixed in. It's great for getting stuck parts moving again. When you spray it on, the solvent dislodges whatever gunk may be causing the part to stick and then evaporates, leaving a light lubricant behind. This will allow the previously stuck part to move again.
The reason it is generally not considered ...
21
The first rule is make sure the rear derailleur is adjusted correctly before adjusting the front derailleur.
There are three adjustments that you can do on the front derailleur:
Clamp Position
Low limit stop
High limit stop
Clamp Position
Here you can adjust the height of the derailleur, normally this is recommended as a 2mm clearance between the ...
20
Do yourself a huge favor, inflate them daily.
As they are high pressure and low volume they tend to lose air quicker than that of a tube that is low pressure and high volume (MTB).
With daily inflation checks you will vastly reduce the instances of pinch flats, which imo are typically the result of too low pressure. Butyl tubes, the typical tube, retain ...
19
Mostly it depends on where and how far you commute, and road conditions (sandy, snow, salt etc etc).
At a minimum what I do is:
Daily: check tire air pressure.
Weekly: Check brake pad wear, tire wear, clean/wipe down entire bike
Monthly: Check chain tension, chainring/cogs for wear, lube chain, adjust brakes, oil all pivot points on derailleurs, brakes ...
16
Linking the two brakes would have a detrimental effect on braking power.
Your front brake will bring your bike to a halt far quicker than your rear brake will, and should be used almost exclusively. When braking with the rear brake, your back tire won't have much weight on it, and will skid along the ground. This results in a dramatic reduction of braking ...
15
Inflating daily might be a bit more work that necessary. Inflate them before every ride. From my experience with 700x25c tires at 115 PSI, I find they lose about 5 PSI after 24 hours, just due to the natural properties of the rubber.
I ride a few times a week, and it's part of my standard pre-ride checklist to give each tire about 3-4 strokes on the floor ...
15
WD-40 (original) can be used as a de-greaser on bike parts. It is a bit harsher than other bike specific de-greasers, or common house hold degreasers (like Simple Green) that are often used by bike mechanics but essentially does the same thing.
Keep it mind that it is NOT a lubricant, but a de-greaser. After using any de-greaser you want to wash the ...
14
My bike service guys wrote a blog article along these lines. You may find it useful: http://www.southcoastbikes.co.uk/articles.asp?article=Care
Edit I agree with http://meta.bicycles.stackexchange.com/questions/28/avoiding-just-buy-a-new-one-or-heres-a-link-answers - so in this sprirt...
The South Coast Bikes article recommends four principals for basic ...
14
Cables will stretch over time, but they won't become elastic. They're made of twisted strands of metal, and metal isn't generally known for its elasticity.
This sounds to me like your brake pads are shot. When they become spongy and glazed, you can squeeze your brake lever quite far and feel like little pressure is being applied. Get thee to a bikeshoppery.
...
13
I would classify tools into two groups. The ones you ride with, and the ones you keep at home. There may be a bunch of overlap, but it is harder to work with a multi-purpose tool, so if you end up using one tool all the time, a purpose-specific tool may be worth the purchase.
Tools to carry with you:
Tire levers.
Patch Kit.
Multi Tool.
There are a ...
13
The best method for handling exterior frame rust depends on how much time you'd like to invest. The difference comes down to what you use to complete the two basic steps:
Remove the rust
Good: Sandpaper - Cheap, but wont remove all the rust, and may leave debris.
Better: Steel Wool - Will remove most of the rust, but may leave steel wool fragments, which ...
13
I think the answer he was looking for was how they adjust as the pads get worn. There is a check valve in the master cylinder, that will allow enough fluid from the reservoir when the lever is pulled. If more fluid is needed because of pad degradation, it passes it into the active system. Therefore with more fluid in the system, the piston is pushed out ...
13
You can measure the stretch of a chain with a chain gauge (or just a ruler)
Alternately - the chain links are 1 inch long, so measure 12 of them with a ruler, if they are more than 1/8inch longer than this then they are worn.
You need to do this before it wears the rear cogs - it will cause the teeth to wear into sharp pointed spikes = need a new ...
13
For the casual rider the simplest approach is to go to a bike shop and get a bottle of "chain oil". Apply the chain oil fairly liberally (drizzle it on while cranking the chain backwards, if the bike has a freewheel), then wipe the chain with a rag (while cranking backwards). If the chain is REALLY dirty, repeat.
For slightly more aggressive cleaning (on ...
12
Wash it. Dry thoroughly. You can even wax it if you truly love your ride...
Lube the chain
Lubricate all pivot points (derailleurs, brake handles, etc)
Loosen the tension on the cables and put a small amount of grease on the cable ends.
If the hubs haven't been overhauled in a while you can do that.
Remove the seatpost and if metal apply a light coat of ...
12
Lube your chain frequently. As in every time it rains if you need to.
Depending on the drive-train, you can get Shimano or SRAM chains at places like Nashbar or Performance Bike, but even top-of-the-line, expensive chains will get rusty if they're out in the rain all the time. The same will hold with a Brooks saddle. No matter how awesome it is, if it's ...
12
The short answer to your first question is "the power savings from using ceramic bearings compared to good steel bearings is almost zero." The short answer to your second question is "yes, it is possible to measure the difference but it's not easy." The longer answer, and the support for the shorter answers is below.
First, however, it depends a little on ...
12
Let's try to steer this into some kind of sensible question with the perspective as seen from a typical bicycle shop workshop and what is on the road.
In a bike workshop you can find yourself working on bikes that can be up to fifty years old with a large quantity of them being more than ten years old. Some of these bikes have not been out of the garden ...
12
Like Daniel Hicks says, they are threaded opposite to each other. This ensures the act of you pedaling is constantly tightening them both. If they were both the usual right hand threads then the left pedal would eventually unscrew and fall off.
So, if you're like me and use the right hand rule to constantly assess which direction you should be turning ...
11
Nobody has noted this yet, so maybe I'm particularly clumsy.
The caps prevent you from bending the somewhat delicate presta valve stem if, like me, you're fitting a fairly beefy lock between your spokes every day. I smacked mine pretty good after a groggy morning commute, and it bent the valve stem pretty severely. They're somewhat known for snapping off ...
11
Clean the chain first - see this question or this question.
If the chain has a master link I like to start there just so I can keep track of which links I have lubed easier.
Usually you should shake up the lube, especially if it is a 'dry' or 'wax' formula. Then drip 1 or 2 drops on the rollers of each link. Lube on the outside of the chain is basically ...
11
In that order (my opinion, of course):
Tires. Bad tires suck your energy and are prone to flats. Good tires can make your bike fly, sometimes even act as a suspension. As an extra, tires aren't actually part if the bike, so if you have good tires, you can use it in other bike(s);
Brakes and brake levers. This is safety and comfort. Bad brakes can make your ...
11
It depends to what level you want to disassemble. For general cleaning your list is a good start. As you dig deeper though you'll also need:
To service/adjust drivetrain
Various spanners and screwdrivers to adjust cables
Wire cutters if replacing cables
To service wheels/hubs
15mm spanner to remove wheels (unless you have quick release hubs)
Chain ...
11
Anywhere from a month or two to years and years; how long handlebar tape lasts depends on too many factors to really answer this with a number. Of course, how often you cycle is a factor, but how good the tape is and how well it's applied also makes a difference.
For example, gel tape is notorious for wearing quickly, as the gel gets pushed away from where ...
11
Right solution is to use the "tight link removal" position of most chain tools:
Just choose the side where the pin is showing most outwards, and pull it in a tiny bit. This is very subtle, and your link will be released.
An alternate solution is to grab the chain with both hands (dirty!) and force it as if you were to bend it sideways, in both ...
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