Careful when you buy that K-mart bike!

B&L now has a ladies low rider bicycle assembled by Corrie Rosetti. That’s what it says on the tag, but the truth is Scott supervised every step of assembly and did most of the fine tuning. But, yes, my desire to learn to break a chain and know more about my bike has been translated into a day or so of work each week at B&L presumably for the summer or until they have to throw me out.

I probably start with less knowledge and fewer skills than anyone they’ve ever trained. I appreciate the trust.

And for what it’s worth, I’m impressed. K-mart might put the bike together just fine. They come pretty much assembled, but would they check the hubs and tighten the cones, true the wheels, grease the seat post, adjust the brakes, make sure the headset was tight but not too tight?

Knowing what to do isn’t the same thing as being able to do it either. I’ll learn and be far more comfortable as an LCI (League Certified) instructor assuming I can pass that class in October. Thansk Scott and Sean and B&L for giving this old dog a chance to learn some new tricks.–Corrie

Those awful noises again!

More Maintenance Tips.I hate those small ticks. Recently my pedals have taken to squeaking a bit late in the ride. I’ve narrowed it down to the cleats and the pedals. No noise when I’m not clicked in. Sometimes just a small change in the angle of my foot makes the difference. A little grease on the springs seems to eliminate it but every time I have to ride through a puddle, the squeak comes back. Annoying–Corrie

I get more questions about bicycle noises than just about anything else. Understandably, noises drive people nuts. To help, I’ve put together the following guide organized by noise category. Please keep in mind, however, that one person’s click is the next person’s creak, so I recommend perusing the entire list to find your problem and a solution.

Ideally, this guide would be short and easy to follow, yet there are lots of noises you might encounter and to keep this comprehensive, I keep adding to it. To make it a little easier to find things, noise causers and problems are underlined and the recommended solutions are in red bold.

TIP: Most browsers have a Find function. For example, in Internet Explorer, click Edit and then Find (on this page), type the word or phrase that defines your bicycle noise, then press Enter, and Explorer will find it on this page.

Also, please let me know if you’ve discovered a new noise or solution, too, and I’ll use them to improve this page (jump to readers’ noises and solutions). Many thanks to the readers of RoadBikeRider (and ace mechanic Anthony Alsberg) who have offered some excellent noises and cures, and helped ensure that every ride is a quiet ride!

Go Squeakless

Clean that Bike regularly

I didn’t think to get a pic of our tar encrusted steeds as I stood at the intersection of Cottonwood Creek and Garden Gulch yesterday. Too bummed for one; too hot for another.

The full tale will come over at Crusty Cassette later this morning. But for now I give you this set of tips for simple bike maintenance. Notice, he says he doesn’t put on many miles. the more miles you do ride, the more often you shoujld do these checks. I put air in my tires everyday. They are always down about 10 lbs. If you must ride through sprinklers or get caught in a rain storm or have to ride through puddles at some point, then you need to clean that bike immediately. Even sooner if the pavement melts beneathe your wheels as it did Sunday.–Corrie

If you don’t cover a lot of miles on your bike, I’d recommend at least doing the “thumb press” test on your tires each weekend, and squeezing both brakes to make sure they are adequately tight.  I’m not usually a slacker, though.  With nice weather, I ditch the bus and go to bike-only commuting mode which entails many miles per month on blighted roadways. I have to be diligent about bike maintenance but I don’t get terribly obsessive.  Every weekend, I give the bike a once-over.  It’s a good idea, but my routine is certainly more meticulous than others’ might be.

Here’s my weekend check-up:

• Check The Spokes

For each (almost) parallel pair of spokes, give them a firm squeeze all the way around the wheel. I’ve had spokes break that didn’t manifest themselves until I did this.  Riding with one broken spoke is a good way to cause several more.

Read more tips

Bike Noises?

They drive me crazy; that little squeak with each pedal stroke, the ratlle of waterbottle cages, the grit under my tires. It isn’t just worry that something is wrong, though there is that too. It’s the esthetics of the ride. I don’t like loud noises, fireeworks, gun fire, and revving engines. Guess I’ll never buy a motorbike though I’d never hear those annoying little noises if I were motorized.–Corrie

There are three broad categories of bike noise tolerance among cyclists:

• Absolute Silence: Some riders want no noise coming from their bike whatsoever. They regard any click, creak, buzz, or rattle as an affront to them, and a condemnation of their machine. All noises must be corrected immediately, even if it means halting the ride. People like this are almost all roadies. Or, in extreme cases, they may be triathletes, in which case they may need to be treated pharmaceutically.

Read More

How to replace a chain

I really need to do this hands on one deay. I’ve watched Scott do this twice once in Death Valley and once on Bill’s mountan bike up Joseph Creek. Kinda handy skill.–Corrie

HOW TO REPLACE A DERAILLEUR BICYCLE CHAIN

Some time ago i published a video on how to use a chain tool to remove and replace a bicycle chain. This video is more in depth where it shows you more details on the job. Chain length can be an issue, too long or too short and other such little details are included in this epic production… Ok, not really epic, but I am trying to get better at this. Making movies is not that easy. So enjoy and I hope this will help you out. You can check out the first video that showed a close up on using the chain tool here.

How To Tune your Bike Video

BicycleTutor.com is a set of videos on repair and maintenance of your bike. It is well worth a bookmark. Today I share two posts. This one deals with tune ups. He’s not covering everything in one video, of course, and we all do things a bit differently, but the beginning cyclist should understand how to do basic clean up. That chain and cassette need attention more than once or twice a year. In fact, I like to clean mine after every wet ride and every 100 miles or so.

The second post deals with what to do with all those confusing gears.

How To Tune Up Your Bike

General overview of a spring tune-up procedure.

• How To Check If Your Bearings Are Worn

Today we’ll learn how to tune up your bike, which I’d recommend doing at least once a year, or even every few months if you ride every day. Since I can’t demonstrate every step of the procedure while keeping this video short, I’ll give a general overview and cover each step further in separate tutorials. You’ll notice below that I’ve written out all of the steps and included links to related tutorials. I’ll be adding new links as future videos are uploaded.

Learning to Shift

All those gears confuse even experienced riders. I’m never sure whether the small cog in back is High gear or Low gear. But as I ride, the feel tells me where I need to be. Sometimes I have to visually check to be sure which gear I’m in and nothing is worse than being caught in too high a gear when the road takes a sudden climb. You not only shouldn’t shift under pressure. You can’t.

This video deals with a 7 speed cassette and a triple crank up front for 21 speeds but as he points out this is really only about 13 different gear combinations. Several are duplicates. This video makes several good suggestions without getting into gear inches or ratios or any of that stuff that make my eyes cross. The links below are to other videos you might find useful.

How To Shift Your Gears

General overview of multi-speed gear shifting.

• How To Adjust Your Front Derailer
• How To Adjust Your Rear Derailer
• How To Clean and Lubricate a Chain

Ride of Silence

Well, yes, the Ride of Silence is coming up, but that’s not what I mean. I don’t like engines.  i know some of you are motorcylists but I’ve no interest in noisy smelly machines. Yeah, Lance, I know you put your mufler back on. Its still noisy.

The whoosh-whoosh of tires on pavement frees my spirit, lifts me, and any tick, creek, or rattle spoils the ride. Guess where I fit below? I identify with this post ’cause I’ve discovered the source of offensive noises to be nothing more than a loose strap.

There are three broad categories of bike noise tolerance among cyclists:

• Absolute Silence: Some riders want no noise coming from their bike whatsoever. They regard any click, creak, buzz, or rattle as an affront to them, and a condemnation of their machine. All noises must be corrected immediately, even if it means halting the ride. People like this are almost all roadies. Or, in extreme cases, they may be triathletes, in which case they may need to be treated pharmaceutically.

Read the other two categories over at Fat Cyclist. And don’t miss the comments where the source of the noise is identified.

A Sadly familiar story.

This reminds me so much of the time last fall when Doug and I hit the mountain bike trail on Asotin Creek, and the trail hit back. And for the horticulturally inclined don’t miss this guy’s link to Tribulus terrestris. It is good to know we aren’t the only community experiencing the joys of puncture vine.–Corrie

–Corrie

Expensive Error

There’s a terrific singletrack network — Corner Canyon, in Draper, Utah — that is almost ridiculously convenient in its location. It is literally on my way home from work, so I can drive partway home, ride for an ninety minutes or so, and then finish my ride home.

The Bike Tutor Videos

The BikeTutor.com has videos of how to perform all sorts of maintenance tasks. It’s worth looking at even if you don’t ever expect to change your own chain like me. BickHacks ran an interview with Alex Ramon of BikeTutor.com yesterday.–Corrie

One of Bikehacks favorite sites is bicycletutor.com. It is run by Alex Ramon and we recently interviewed him. Enjoy!

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself. Where do you live? How’d you get interested in biking? Etc.

A: I was raised in Kitimat, BC. My Mother taught me to ride on a 16″ K Mart bike when I was five years old, in the grassy field behind our apartment. The first time I rode without her assistance, I was so excited and proud that I turned around to wave at her. I crashed right into a telephone pole!

http://bicycletutor.com/