Bike maintenance for dummies.

101 watchers

Yorkshire Pie Oct 2020 8:02am, 4 Oct 2020 13,790 posts	0 Yorkshire Pie Cassette and chain aren't too hard - or at least I can do it pretty much unaided. Admittedly yesterday I broke the chain whip trying to gat the cassette off and had to go to the bike shop for a new one. My new achievement yesterday was replacing a chainring. Easier than I thought it might be thankfully!
Stepford Wife Oct 2020 1:02pm, 4 Oct 2020 19,131 posts	0 Stepford Wife Have you put it on the right way round....
Yorkshire Pie Oct 2020 1:09pm, 4 Oct 2020 13,791 posts	0 Yorkshire Pie I believe so - I did check the orientation and line things up the way my instructions told me. Or at least I did the second time
Stepford Wife Oct 2020 1:12pm, 4 Oct 2020 19,132 posts	0 Stepford Wife Ah, excellent 😁
Dvorak Oct 2020 12:48am, 6 Oct 2020 20,923 posts	0 Dvorak Replaced front brake shoes and blocks yesterday. Turned a five minute job into a half hour one, but they seem to be on and adjusted right. I also bought the Aldi tool kit. So far though, I haven't even been able to open the box: there's a small nubbin, presumably an anti in-shop theft device, keeping it impenetrable.
GlennR Oct 2020 11:34am, 6 Oct 2020 53,002 posts	0 GlennR Perhaps you could buy another tool to help you open the box?
StuH Oct 2020 11:38am, 6 Oct 2020 3,929 posts	0 StuH About to replace the entire drivetrain on my son's trashed bike! fingerscrossed
Groundhog Oct 2020 12:18pm, 6 Oct 2020 1,217 posts	0 Groundhog My MT bike rear derailleur if shifting very slowly up the gears (going to smaller sized gears). I have cleaned and oiled the derailleur and the cable to the shifter, but no change. Any ideas what is causing it? The cable is quite old - over 10 years.
larkim Oct 2020 12:47pm, 6 Oct 2020 12,230 posts	0 larkim Shifting to smaller cogs is done by the force of the pull of the spring of the derailleur itself, so either there's too much friction in the moveable parts of the rear mech, or the cable is being really sticky inside the cable housing. Oiling the cable itself could have caused sticky residue inside the cable housing to build up over time too. I'm no expert on oils in terms of which types are good / bad though. Easiest option is to recable - new cable, new outer. 10 years is a long time!!
richmac Oct 2020 2:10pm, 6 Oct 2020 14,397 posts	0 richmac I'd start with a new cable, unless of course it's just stretched