Bike Maintenance for Beginners


I believe some of you saw this on strava, but this was 2k into my Monday morning commute.

Currently sourcing all the related bits. 10sp 105 and a 10yr old frame hanger are a bit of a faff. The bike needs some tlc so will probably just get a lbs to give it a thorough once over. Hoping the rear hub and wheel itself is OK.

8 Likes

I might well have a 105 10sp rear derailleur kicking about from a 2007 Felt F85. You’d be welcome to it if I can find it.

1 Like


I was talking to someone a week ago about rear mech hangers and I think it was this place they recommended as they make just about anything going if you are strugling to source one - www.rearmechhanger.com

1 Like

Thanks for the offer. Halfords seemed to still have them in stock near me (not available for delivery, so seems like just some lingering store stock) so hoping to pick that up tomorrow

1 Like

Cool, well if you can’t find one let me know and I’ll dig into The Boxes.

3 Likes

These guys are round the corner from me. Doesn’t help like, it’s all mail order.

At least it happened 2k into your ride, and not half way up a Greek mountain at 10pm, with a 25km hike to the next village

9 Likes

Oh, what happened there Matt?

:upside_down_face:

I’ve just got a replacememt hanger for a friends’ sons’ mashed MTB from eBay for <£10 fixmymechhanger on eBay . Seems fine.
Unlike the derailleur…
I thought the elgant S shape must be a Microshift thing but having re-assembled and tried to index I think it might well have been straight, before the smash.

Front derailleur shifting is poor, very stiff so probably needs a new cable. Will probably do the rear at the same time as why not.

Never done an internally routed bike so here for advice. I know how to index already.

  1. What cable? Don’t mind spending a bit more if it will be better shifting.
  2. What other tools/bits do I need?
  3. How do you get the cable back through the frame?
  1. Ive always gone with the standard shimano road shift cables.
  2. A decent cable cutter and crimper. The park tool one is great. Probably more important for thicker brake cables, but cutting cables without a decent cutter will leave you with frayed ends. Plus its good for crimping end caps.
  3. Magnets. There are some tool kits with magnets and various other implements, but some neodymium jobbies of fleabay will work.
2 Likes

Lost several hours of my life to this with a TT bike, on the one occasion I tried it. I naively assumed that it would just be a case of pushing it in through the hole at the top and it would appear like a magic trick through the hole at the bottom.

That’s not how it went. It was more like guiding a snake around a maze, except blindfold, and you could only push on its tail.

I had even attached a length of string to the old cable with duct tape before pulling it through, so thought I had a guide. But managed to pull it off the new cable while deep in the bowels of the frame, so that was that.

Someone will probably be along soon to recommend using a vacuum cleaner to suck the cable through, maybe I’ll try that next time. Or more realistically, maybe I’ll just put up with the old cable :man_shrugging:

The worst part was routing it around the bottom bracket. The channel was tiny and the angle really weird. I only managed it because I had a USB endoscope camera in my plumbing kit, and even then it took hours.

ETA, this was a 2009 Trek Equinox, maybe things have moved on since then

You want to get some thin plastic tubing and slide lengths of this up the old cables first. Pull out the old cables leaving the tubing in place. Thread the new cables through the plastic tubing. Pull out the plastic tubing. Job done

2 Likes

I’d seriously consider etap :joy:

3 Likes

Good cable cutters as @GRamsay says. (I have the PT ones as well). I do have the PT magnet kit, it’s not really needed for road bikes as you can get away with a couple of magnets from anywhere (I’ve never found the cotton/vacuum trick to be reliable). the proper magnet kit is a godsend for building mtbs and getting past the shock linkage though.

1 Like

Guess I’m lucky with my Diverge, Specialized ran a full outer from front to back. So its super easy. If your not so lucky you want what @r0bh has suggested.

I’ve got cable cutters with a crimper from when I recabled the last bike. Cutting outers without it is a non-starter.

Will look at getting some thin plastic tubing.

1 Like

If you don’t chuck you’re old cables out (hoarder, moi?) you can sometimes pull the liner out of an old length and use that.

Do you need to replace bar tape when you recable? Can’t remember

1 Like

If you’re only changing the inners then it should be Ok. If you’re doing the outers too then you’ll probably have to replace the tape; although I have on occasion careful unwrapped it and stuck it back down when I didn’t have any to hand.