Bike maintenance for dummies.

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Spleen Aug 2016 10:14pm, 9 Aug 2016 1,439 posts	0 Spleen Well, whether it was the right size or not I definitely need to try a different inner tube now, as when I tried to inflate it it exploded. It just got bigger and bigger in one part of the tube and just as I was wondering why the air wasn't being distributed more evenly it went bang. I'm calling the bike repairman tomorrow. For the sake of future attempts does anyone have any idea what I did wrong? After Winded's post I thought a hand pump was going to struggle to inflate it enough, so I certainly wasn't expecting it to blow it up after a few pumps. I was still nowhere near getting the thing on the wheel - no matter what I did there was a huge amount of slack. I was trying to inflate it a bit more to see if that got rid of any of the slack when I blew it up.
WolfDancer Aug 2016 10:48pm, 9 Aug 2016 4,515 posts	0 WolfDancer If you are putting some air into the tube before putting it into the tyre, you only need a small amount so the tube will not be totally floppy when you put the second side of the tyre onto the rim. Sounds like you inflated it way too much without it being surrounded with the tyre and wheel. Inflating a tube on its own is never a great idea, they are not designed to be inflated fully on their own.
WolfDancer Aug 2016 10:56pm, 9 Aug 2016 4,516 posts	0 WolfDancer https://youtu.be/sGdu4fkrQ9M Putting the tyre back on starts at around 4.30 in the video
Winded Aug 2016 7:29am, 10 Aug 2016 4,507 posts	0 Winded To add to Wolfdancer's post - was it a very posh expensive tube? Some of them only need one or two pumps of air before they will break - especially latex ones. Because tubes are easy to damage I suggest standard ones from a good make. I would expect a small hand pump to put enough air in an inner tube - to give it some shape so it is easier to fit - in about two plunges of the plunger-like bit. It is getting them up to pressure in the tyre that is hard to do.
Spleen Aug 2016 10:58am, 10 Aug 2016 1,440 posts	0 Spleen I suspected as much. But I couldn't see how I was going to get the tube into the tyre when even after giving it some shape there was six inches of slack so the only thing I could think of was that I hadn't inflated it enough. Lesson learned.
lammo Aug 2016 8:30pm, 16 Aug 2016 6,794 posts	0 lammo Evening, how often do you, or should I, be cleaning my chain etc? It's a road bike only used in the dry. Cheers
Winded Aug 2016 8:44pm, 16 Aug 2016 4,543 posts	0 Winded They last longer if you clean them every time. Not with any chemical/degreaser stuff just run the pedals backwards with a rag on the chain after/before you ride. The idea is that if the chain stays clean it is harder to get little bits of crap inside the links - and that is one of the main things that causes wear. sheldonbrown.com gives a much longer and better answer.
Hills of Death (HOD) Aug 2016 11:43am, 20 Aug 2016 32,530 posts	0 Hills of Death (HOD) I'm not that clued up on bikes (understatement) but I'm getting a clicking every time I do a rotation any ideas what this /rectify
Pou Pou LePhoõk Aug 2016 3:49pm, 20 Aug 2016 3,296 posts	0 Pou Pou LePhoõk Hod, what sort of a click is it?
Winded Aug 2016 4:20pm, 20 Aug 2016 4,583 posts	0 Winded What are you rotating? (lots of bike bits go in circles)