How to Install MTB Grips

Grips on your bike are pretty important. You need something soft and comfy to hold on to when you come flying off of a hill or some traction when you’re busting some seriously hardcore bike moves.

If you are planning on reusing your grips, however, most of mechanics don’t really have a solution other than cutting them off with a razor or scissors. I did find one tutorial on inflating them off with a bike pump so I’ll include that, just in case. If that doesn’t work, lift off the edge of the grip with a thin screwdriver and drop alcohol in between the stem and the grip. Enough alcohol should get the grip to slide.

Installing them is pretty straightforward. Get a bit of sprayable rubbing alcohol or hairspray and spray the inside of the grip. You want to make sure that that handlebars are clean of residue before you proceed so give it a good cleaning with some solvent or alcohol. Then slide the grips on.

Let the grips sit for a while to allow for the alcohol to dry out. They will slide if it isn’t completely evaporated so take care to let it sit and dry.

You’re done!

How to Adjust your Bike’s Geometry/Seat Height/Stem Length

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Most people who start biking don’t realize that bikes come in different sizes. However, if you have a tall person and a short person get on the same bike, the difference can be clearly seen. Either one can’t touch the pedals or the other will never be able to extend their legs.

The rule of thumb is to take a bike and stand over it, feet flat on the ground. It’ll be too big if your crotch can’t clear the top bar. It’ll be too small if the top bar is more than 2 inches below you. Now that you have a suitable bike for your height, you can make the following adjustments.

Seat height is really important because you can hurt yourself on your rides through improper forcing of your legs. It is an adjustment that all triathletes are familiar with because it can make or break your competition.

I’ve uploaded two videos on seat height. One is an easy, comfort-level adjustment. The second isn’t the greatest video quality but it is more technical and is by John Cobb, who used to design extremely innovative carbon fiber bike parts and is now exclusively doing bike seats. If anyone knows bike geometry, it would be him.

Stem length is a part where you can play with to take your handlebars nearer or farther away and is critical for an optimum ride.

The third video offers tips on where to have your stem. Now there are several things you’ve got to remember. The weight of your body is supported in three different places on a bike: your saddle supports your butt, your pedals support your feet and your handlebars support your hands. Put too much weight on your handlebars and your hands, which aren’t used to supporting weight like your butt or your feet, will hurt. As always, you have to play with the different settings to see what is optimum for your type of ride. An upright position is more comfortable but may not be the best for speed. Getting down low on your bike will offer for speed but it would depend on whether you plan to time trial or do triathlons on a regular basis and therefore need to be in that position.

Handlebar Stem Identification Chart

How to Pick the Right Lube for Your Bike: Dry vs Wet Bicycle Chain Lubes

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If you own a bike, you need to keep it working and in order to do that, you have to do a couple of basic steps in maintenance: lubing up your working parts would be one of them.  Avoid seizing and just a plain crap ride and find the right lube for the different parts of your bike so that you can keep rolling.

Now, you can’t just go and WD-40 the whole thing and hope for the best because it might just not be what you need to use. Lubes come with different compounds, textures and purposes and there are specific types of lubes for specific parts.

First thing that any biker always lubes up is the drivetrain (the derailleur, chain, freewheel and crankset). It is always important to remember that you need to use the lube that is most reflective of the type of riding you do, as well as the type of weather you ride in.

If you are an offroad warrior who loves the mud and rain is a welcome circumstance, you most likely have to get what lots of makers call wet lube. It is specifically designed to stay put and not wash away when there is rain and it repels mud and other such gifts of the road a bit longer than the average lube.

If you ride in conditions that are drier, say a highway, a desert or something out of a classic western, you’ll need dry lube. This type of lube keeps your chain smooth without overly attracting dust and dirt, which creates friction and a really terrible ride.

Remember, these are not your Sunday brunch pancakes: you do NOT need to slather your chain with TONS of lube and then leave it. Too much lube cakes and will give your bike gunk boogers. Wipe off all excess chain lube.

Now, lube is different from grease so don’t get the two mixed up. Lube is more on the liquid side and grease is a protective butter. They aren’t interchangeable.

As I said before, your lube depends on what kind of riding you do. There are also the wax-based ones that provide for a less messy affair as well as a thin coating for protection against dust and dirt.

You’ll also want to get a bike oil for your other moving parts, like the brake levers, the pedals, the crankarms. Ask your local bike mechanic for recommendations. A dropper-styled bottle is a little easier to move in and position, as opposed to the aerosol can, which can spray onto other components you don’t need sprayed. 

Bicycle Lubrication Points

Where to Lube your Bike

How to String Brake Cables

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Stringing brake cables is pretty straightforward.

You’ll need:

  1. Allen wrench
  2. Cable cutters
  3. Brake housing
  4. Brake cable
  5. Ferrule
  6. Cable grease

Measure off your housing. Make sure there is enough slack to allow for cable and brake movement. Start the insertion of the cable from the levers and work your way back. Make sure you’ve got the correct end fitting for your type of brakes. If the cables are universal, you’ll have both fittings, one on either end. Once you’ve figured out which you need, clip off the one you don’t need.

Brake Cable

You can use a little cable grease so that the cable threads easier. Apply the correct length of housing as you go, putting on your ferrules. Don’t forget to leave a bit of give in the sections where there is a bit of a bend, to allow for movement of the handlebars or the calipers.

Once you get to the back of the bike, thread the cable through the caliper and tighten by hand, making sure you tighten at how tight you would like your brakes to grip. Tighten the bolt with your allen wrench. Adjust the calipers accordingly.

If you’re going to be putting in brake cables for the first time on your bike, take into consideration which side you want for which brake. In the US as well as in other countries that drive on the right hand side of the road, the rear brake is normally on the right so that you can signal with your left. If you’re in the UK, Japan and the like, you’ll be on the left side of the road so having the brake on the left would be prudent.  

Mountain Bike V-Brake Adjustment

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Rim brakes are simple. Rim brakes are fun. Rim brakes sometimes need adjusting. If you pull the lever and the brakes are still loosy goosey, then it's time to tighten up the tension on that brake cable!

On the back of the brakes, there's a threaded barrel assembly where the cable goes through. When the lever is pulled, the cable is tightened and the brakes engage to the side of the rim.

One way to increase tension on the cable is to screw the barrel assembly counter-clockwise. This will bring the tension on the cable into a range where pulling the lever engages the brakes. If the barrel assembly is loosened all the way and the brakes are still not touching the rim, the cable will need to be tightened from the other end.

  • Down on the brake assembly, use a hex key wrench to loosen the bolt where the cable goes through. With the cable loose, close the brake pads tight to the rim, and pull the cable tight. TIGHTER! Ok, good. Now tighten the bolt down that holds the cable to the brakes. Finally, back up on the handlebars, screw the barrel assembly clockwise to adjust the cable to the right tension.

Now when the lever is pulled, the brake pads should engage with minimal travel! You now have properly functioning brakes. You're welcome.

How To Adjust Sidepull Brakes on a Road Bike

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Misaligned brake pads can cause a decrease of braking power, or even a blowout! With 5 minutes of your time, you can ensure that you have the ability to stop when you're supposed to. Here's the deal:

BE ADVISED: The brake pads need to line up with the rim perfectly. If adjusted too low, there will part of the pad missing the rim, doing nothing for your stopping power. If adjusted too high, the brake pad could possibly cut into the tire. 

Aligning the pads:

  • Loosen up the brake shoe using a hex wrench, allowing it to move around. 
  • You can set the brake pads to fit the rim by simultaneously squeezing the brake lever. Set the brakes as perfect as possible with the curvature of the rim.

                                                  

Misaligned brake pads can form a shelf from not contacting the rim 100%

Misaligned brake pads can form a shelf if they don't completely contact the rim.

  • When the pads are where you want them to be, tighten up the brake shoe with your hex wrench. Repeat the process for the brake pads on the other side of the rim.

Other things to consider:

  • Make sure the brake cable is at the right tension. A hex wrench will loosen the cable clamp on the brake assembly. With one hand, close the brake assembly on the rim while pulling any slack out of the cable with the other. Now tighten the cable clamp to connect the properly adjusted brake cable.

  • On the assembly is a spring tension centering screw which can adjust the pad-to-rim distance to the setting you desire.
  • The caliper can be rotated to ensure that both brake pads contact the rim simultaneously by loosening the mounting bolt.

After every adjustment, always double-check that the brake pads are smoothly on the rim. Like Uncle Phil used to say, "5 minutes checking your brakes is better than 5 weeks in a cast."

How To Adjust a Mountain Bike Front Derailleur

How To Adjust a Mountain Bike Front Derailleur

Tools you will need:

allen key

lube - should lube pivot points while adjusting

Screwdriver

 

When Paul Vivie invented the derailleur system and gave us the francophone spelling in 1928, he no doubt realized that having a derailleur in the front as well as the rear would allow allow him to nearly double the number of gearing combinations his system delivered.

It also held the potential to increase frustration by an order of magnitude. The grinding!

He smartly never launched a front derailleur. Had Vivie owned a mountain bike, he would have immediately recognized the safety advantages of that marvelous, magical cage that keeps one's chain from wrapping around one's pedals sending groin into top tube and
chest into bars. Paradoxically, a maladjusted front derailleur can ensure problems.

So, it is a great idea to keep your mountain bike's front derailleur in tune. It is a fairly easy job, but does take time to do the job properly.

There are a bunch of different ways a front derailleur connects to mountain bikes:

 

Clamp
Most front derailleurs are mounted around the frame's seat tube via
clamp. Below is a lovely picture of a Shimano Dura Ace front derailleur. The black clamp is visible wrapping around the seat tube.
       

Braze-on
A later development in frame building added a brazed-on tab to the
seat tube above the chain rings. The derailleur is then mounted by
bolting onto that tab.
       

Direct-Mount-Derailleur
Specialized Bicycles' proprietary front derailleur mount, called
DMD, is bolted directly to bosses on the chainstay of the bike. This
method is used most often on dual suspension mountain bikes where
frame angle change is dramatic.
       

E-type
This type front derailleurs are attached to the frame by a plate
mounted under the drive side bottom bracket cup and a screw threaded
into a boss on the seat tube. This style is usually employed on
mountain bikes with dual suspension.
       

Steps to adjust:
1) Put in lowest gear- smallest chainring in the front and largest
cog in the rear.

2) Loosen cable bolt to release cable tension.

3) Set height of front derailleur at 2-3 mm above chainring.

4) Turn your low setting screw clockwise if you need more clearanceon the inside, clockwise if your chain is rubbing on the outside. Move cage until

5)

 

 

 

 

 

How to String or Replace Derailleur Cables

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After a while, your cables will need a little work. If you live by the ocean, have wet weather or ride through mud, you’re going to have humidity issues and possible rusting going on. And in order for your gears to work, your derailleur cables need to be in tip-top shape.

Here’s how you can string them.

First things first: derailleur cables and brake cables are NOT interchangeable so please make sure you get the proper cable.

Next, move your chain down to the smallest cog on the freewheel so that the cable has the least amount of tension on it. Clip off the ferrule (or the end cap) that is nearest to your derailleur, untighten the anchor bolt to release the cable and proceed to remove the cable and the respective housing off the bike.

Measure off the cable and the housing. If you have wound cable housing, make sure you have proper cutters for the job.

Rear Derailleur 

If the housing is too long or too short, there will be kinks, which won’t allow for proper shifting so allow for a slight curve so that the cable has room to move.  Make sure when you get to the rear tire that the loop before it enters the derailleur is a nice half circle and enters in as straight as possible line. Failure to do so will result in twisting the end cap. As mentioned previously, the housing will need a little extra length so that it can actually move.

Start with the shifter and work back across the bike. When you insert your cable through the shifter and housing, you may need to grease it very lightly so that it passes through with ease. Once out the end and through the derailleur, pull the cable by hand. Tighten the anchor bolt. Pull on the cable on the top tube so that the housings settle into their respective spots. There will be give in the cable that you were tugging on so tighten the cable by hand again.

Snip and crimp the loose end of the cable.

How to Adjust Your Road Bike Front Derailleur

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You know how sometimes your gears don’t change with firm frankness? When they don’t snap into action like German watch works or have the precision of the pistons in an F1? Or even when they react like the voice automated system that understands “Constitution Hall” as “Congressional Balls”?

If this is the case, you may need to check your derailleurs.

As with anything, this complex procedure gets easier to figure out with time and practice.

So let’s go through the steps.

You’re going to want to start with the chain on the smallest chainring and on the largest freewheel cog.  This will keep the tension on the gear cable loose so that you can do your adjustments. If the cable is too tight, you can relax the tension at the anchor bolt, where the cable ends. Check and see where the inner plate of your cage is. It should be 2mm from the chain and that can be adjusted by the mount bolt. Your gears will shift crisply if the tension is right. If the chain hesitates, give the barrel adjuster a twist or two. If it has a hard time passing to the smaller chainring or doesn’t drop at all, you’ve got too much tension.

Front Derailleur Adjustment 

Look for the limit screws, which are two screws sitting side by side horizontally. In some cases, they may be labeled “High” and “Low”. In the likelihood that they are not, press your finger onto the cage and slightly unscrew the screws. Whichever makes the derailleur move towards the bike is the “Low”. This screw affects the changes when the chain goes down the rings. The “High” affects the chain as it goes up the chainrings.

Make changes with the barrel adjuster first. If that doesn’t work, try the limit screws.