Bike Maintenance for Beginners

Good time to catch it, they form a real birds nest and can be a pain to get the bits out if they snap completely.

I rode my Canyon OUTSIDE today; only back from the exhaust place mind! My rear hydaulic lever is right against the bars and needs sorting. Now don’t hydraulic calipers self ‘adjust’ with wear? The odd thing is the front is fine, and I’m sure all the pads were replaced at the same time before Covid. Obvs 3 years of Zwift shouldn’t have worn them.

I feel like such a newb again :sweat_smile: I’m getting bored trying to find an answer on Google/YT as it’s all about free stroke adjustment and pad alignment. Can I adjust the float on the pads, or the lever, or is it new pad time? Could the fluid all need replacing after this time too?

They are supposed to but usually don’t in practice, the spring on the pads can be a bit too strong & the friction in the seal is too high so the seal pulls the pot back when you let go of the leaver.

Some options:
take the wheel out & give the brake leaver 4 or 5 quick pulls to get the pads out futher ( if you go too far & get binding take the wheel back out, push the pots back & try again).

Or remove the pads & refit without the spring, squeeze the brake until the lever it’s better then refit the pads with the spring.

You can also give the spring a squeeze with some pliers to make it less springy, the spring on some pattern pads is way too strong.

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You should be able to eyeball the pads and see how much is left on them, otherwise it sounds like the brake might need bleeding

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GP Lama does 15,000km over 3 years with the same chain on his gravel bike using hot melt Silca wax. Changes it, just because but measures negligible wear compared to the new chain.
It’s also my experience.

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don’t think I’ll ever go back to oiling chains having discovered the joy of clean wax. Mainly because of the lack of messiness, rather than any performance gains. Less likely to destroy good trousers.

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Having just checked the brand new chain I put on before TCR. I am horrified how worn it is. Its beyond 1% and you can visibly see the rollers slopping about on the pins. Lots of downpours and super fine dust will have done that. I did wax it before the event but I suspect it got mostly washed off in the first 500km stint. I did top up with some other chain lube but other factors at play.

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So many places I could take this quote.

I thought about the classic “that’s what she said” but instead I’ll go with “if only I’d taken that advice as a teenager”.

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Combined with “the joy of clean wax” it’s a subtle contender for post of the year.

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There’s more innuendo on this site than in a Carry On film :roll_eyes: :joy:

'Here are some double entendres, I’d like to give you one" etc etc

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I was mildly interested in the performance gains especially if they come mess free.

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Quick question - so my tt shifters are Shimano and the front derailleur one doesn’t have an ‘index’ mode. Is there anyway I can set a max on how far this shifter can be moved?

Just looked at my P3 for the first time post Bolton and seen that I’m throwing the derailleur out too far and it’s caught / rubbed on the crank arm!

You’ll want to adjust the top limit screw on the front mech, that sets how far out it can move

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Thanks Rob

Thought I’d give my roadie #2 some TLC as the shifting was dog :poop:.

As suspected the chain was worn out. But I hadn’t expected the cassette to be loose (oops), the big chain ring to be worn out and the upper derailleur pulley to need replacing. I guess they’ve all seen 10k+ kms so a fair innings. @Jorgan i might have beaten your chainring for wear? It still works and isn’t slipping (yet) under my titanic torque.

I’ve tightened the cassette and put on a new chain for now, before I go shopping :dollar:


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My “pub” bike, which is a 15+ year old Specialized Hard Rock recently started chain “slipping” when pushing hard on the small and middle front chainrings. Going through a process of elimination…

  • the chain was stupidly stretched so I bought a new one (having an old 8 speed bike helps - £8.99 from Amazon). That didn’t help.
  • I then ordered a new cassette (about £15). That didn’t help but it does look nice and clean and will at least be in-sync with the new chain.
  • I took a closer look at the front chainrings and the middle one looked ridiculous - just lots of little sharp pointy teeth - nothing like they look in photos - that’ll surely be why the chain slips - it just doesn’t have enough to hold onto. I’ve not removed one of these off of my pub bike before so before ordering a replacement I wanted to see if I had the tools to do so. I didn’t.
  • I had to order a (cheapo instead of park tools version as I won’t use it often) square taper chain set remover tool thingy (£6 from Amazon). I also ordered a cheap front chain set from eBay for £20.

Bingo, it all seems to work! I’m back in the game and can actually push on the pedals at junctions and roundabouts and actually move forward rather than the bike make an almighty noise and nothing happen.

I did think I could just order individual chainrings but I couldn’t see how to take it all apart. I couldn’t see any bolts for a hex key. I could see where it’s bolted together but it seems like you cannot remove them easily or I’m being dumb?

I’ve not done much to this bike before other than chain, brake cable and disc pad replacements so I’m happy to be confident now to do a bit more,

One thing I’ve never done on a bike is anything headset/fork related, it just seems a bit daunting for some reason.

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Good job. Perhaps the old chainset had hidden chain ring bolts on the inside? Regardless new rings would have cost more than the chainset you bought. I’m similarly needing a new Dura Ace 7950 big chainring but cheapest new is £130 from Germany. It’ll have to wait to next year. The price of bling :wink:

There’s something very therapeutic about replacing worn out components… you know they’ve been thoroughly used and enjoyed. Sort of the antithesis of the cheap Chinese tat throwaway culture that prevails today.

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Yeah I had a nice day tinkering yesterday.

Stripped the TT bike, took all the extra bags/pouches off, swapped the cassette from my disc wheel back on the normal rear. Swapped chain sets over bikes

Indexed my summer bike, that’s now ready for a ride but it’s sweltering outside.

Also got the winter bike running smoothly with a new front derailleur and new f&r derailleur cables.

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Think it’s quite common for cheapish square-taper chainsets to be all one piece. My old commuter with a triple was like that.

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You did well with a square tapered chainset. Ive got an old Spesh Rockhopper that lived in my garage for 20 years. Turned it into a commuter and gave it an overhaul, the crank was shot. It was completely seized onto the tappered spindle. Plus gas, heat, breaker bars on the extractor tool, nothing would shift it. Had to cut it off with an aglne grinder in the end.

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