Before getting to the basics I advise you for bike repair you need a well-lit area with enough room for a bike stand and workbench. Lighting is important because occasionally small parts can be dropped and they need to be found. A workbench is handy because some repairs (truing wheels, rebuilding hubs) aren’t done on the bike. Most of the Maintenance needed to keep a bike in the best working order is cleaning, lubrication, and occasionally fixing or replacing a tire. There is step by step instructions for every rear for either road or Mountain bike; So let’s go for the basics, there are nine basic services that are very important to keep your bikes in good condition through proper care and maintenance. A tune-up or preventive maintenance should be performed at least once a year.
- Tune Up
- Overhaul
- Drivetrain Cleaning
- Tires & Tubes
- Brakes & Cables
- Derailleurs- Front and Rear
- Trueing – Front and Rear Wheels
- Chain, Freewheel, Cassette
- Headset and Forks
So the first thing we’re going to do is put the bike in the big gear front and rear. Basically, that’d be low at the rear and high at the front. By releasing the gear cables off, it takes the tension off the cables so you can drop the housings out of their holders with the housing out of its holder, we can put some Triflow on it (or whichever lubricant you prefer to use).By moving the cable up and down, it just spreads the lubricant along there.
This reduces the wear that you get on the cables. At the same time, I’d be checking for any fraying or rust or anything – any other signs of deterioration. So after you’ve lubricated the cable, just clip it back into its housing. Same with the rear gear cable.
There are three portions of most rear gear cables, so I’m going to clip all of them out at the same time. Again, we’ll just put lubrication on the cable, and also check for any wear or problems. As you’ re working on a bicycle, you’ re looking at all the components that you’ re actually working on so faults or problems would tend to show up.
Now, noticed the central cable it has actually come adrift there’s normally a cable tie holding that there. By it hanging down, it’s going to wear on the derailleur or rub against the actual shock absorber or something like that, which is not what we want. So I’ll put a cable tie on that later. After I’ve lubricated all the cables, just drop back down through the gears, which will then allow me to lubricate the chain. So I use Rock Roll on the chain. It’s a product we use.
It’s got a cleaner well as a lubricant. By spinning the wheel backward or just turning the chain around whichever way you’ re working on it and spraying a fair amount of the lubricant cleaner on there. As you can see there’s a little bit dripping off. That’s not a problem. So cleaning the chain, by wiping both ways it helps the rollers to turn in the center of the chain and work all the dirt and foreign parts out of it. It’s also leaving a lubricative wax-type layer on the chain which is fairly dry, so it tends not to pick up more dirt and grime off the road. These derailleurs are fair grimy, so use a light solvent on both of them just cleans them up a little bit. Again, as I’m going through all these parts, I’m just looking at them to see if there’s any wear or see if there’s any damage to the other than normal.
Give the jockey wheels a bit of a clean. So in there, I’ve got Earth Choice dish-washing liquid – or any sort of dish-washing liquid- and a bit of water. That’s quite good for cleaning the frame and wheels. Obviously, I wouldn’t spray it directly on the discs, but a little bit on their generally doesn’t cause a problem. It’s something you wash dishes with so it shouldn’t stay in the area where you spray it that much. So, again, while I’m wiping the frame down, I’m just looking for cracks or any problems or things that shouldn’t be there.
Now, that you may have had a fall and not been aware of what occurred to the bike, so we actually look for all those sorts of things. This is something that the owner of the bicycle should probably do a little bit more regularly. With all dry dirt, it gets in between seals and joints and starts to wear them out. You know, that way a bike might only last 18 months instead of 10 years. Cleaning the spokes is a very important part of the bike to keep clean because if you leave dirt on the spokes it gets wet and then dries out, and it’ll slowly eat through the paint and cause rust. A spoke costs 2 dollars, which is no big deal, but to put it in and true the wheel you’re looking at 25 dollars.
So it quickly adds up to, you know, a bigger expense on the bike that you didn’t need, which could have been avoided just by cleaning. Just wipe down of each spoke and in the joints where they run together, the way down to the eyelets at the rim. The eyelets are around the nipple, or around the nut at the bottom of the spoke. So, just cleaning the hubs again, it’s just, if they’re clean, it’s actually easier to maintain the bicycle as well. With a disc brake bike, I’d always be very careful what I put on to the discs, and also be careful with my fingers when it’s near the disc. So that’s most of the frame wiped down.
Now, again with the forks and shock absorbers and seals, it’s important to clean them. The seal keeps all the dirt and moisture and different things out of the actual fork body inside there which has oil in it. By wiping around, you wipe the dirt away from the seal. You would never wipe down and in towards it. So that’s all the cleaning done.
Just check how true the wheels are. Which one actually needs a bit of a true and the discs also running out? If the discs hitting in one spot, then just go to bend it out a little bit. So that’s the front wheel that’s the front disc true. Now, in a service, I’d true the wheel on the bike. There’s actually not enough of a buckle there and it’s not out of true enough to take out of the bike, it’s not worth doing that.
Now check the back wheel out. When the tires got a little bit of movement in it then that isn’t a problem on an off-road bike. Check the levers for the disc are running true or not touching either side. So with hydraulic brakes, feel the modulation, for how much they go on and how they feel. They both feel about the same. Look down at the disc; you will see that the front disc tries to centralized it fully. Sort that out and the rear disc meets the pads onto the disc at the same time. Just sort this front one out. So what’s you have do is, go to hold the brake on and release the two bolts that hold the caliper to the fork. By doing that you should hold the front brake by doing that, it centralizes the caliper to the disc.
So now when you pull the brakes on, the pads meet the disc at the same time. So once all the brakes are sorted out, go to adjust the gears. What you have to do is run through the back gears first and make sure they shift crisply and smoothly. Both going up the cassette and coming back down. When this dwells a little bit on the way back down, go to release the pressure on it a little bit, which allows it to shift smoothly? Again, you should be looking for smooth, clean shifting and that the chains not rubbing when it’s at either end of the shift. When that’s rubbing on the outside, then you need to add a little bit of cable tension so that shifts up and down neatly.
All you have to do now is get the bicycle on the ground and do a few final checks and the road test it. Alright, so now hold the seat and lift up and down, feel if there’s any looseness in any of the suspension parts. Grab the seat front and back and see if it’ll actually move. Obviously, if there’s any clicking or moving, it’s something you need to pay attention. Now, with bolts, the worst thing you could do is just keep tightening them up each time you check them. The best way to do it loosens the bolt off, and then tighten it up to the correct torque.
I notice this most with front caps and carbon seat poles where they’ve just been tightened and tightened each time they’re checked. I’m using a torque wrench, which actually tells me that that’s already at the correct amount of tension. The last check before go ride the bike is there any movement in the front headset there? If collars do move a fraction just tighten them up. Most bicycles these days have what’s called an A-head. That’s a type of headset and fork setup. Just check the alignment of the front wheel Add a small bit of tension to the top cap. Again, torque the bolts to the correct setting Grips are tight, everything else is workings, all that’s left is a test ride. There you go – that’s the test ride done. If you’d like to get your bike serviced, And if you’d like to learn how to service your bicycle, for the same charge as servicing it you can visit bike clinique and we’ll take you through all the basics of your bike. We have also mobile bike repair service you can call us at any time, bike clinique is waiting to help you.