We hope you enjoyed this month’s Bike Shop theme and Skill Builder series. As with all of our Skill Builder sets, we’ll continue to add content going forward, and we always have great ongoing bike coverage under our Bicycles content category.
Thanks to Chris Nodder and to RadBrad and KoolKat of Atomic Zombie for helping us out. To end the month, we thought it would be fun to give out a couple of copies of Chris’ Little Book of Bike Boo Boos. It’s a great guide to stow in your bike bag or backpack when you hit the trail.
Chris gave us two copies to give away. To be eligible for the drawing, all you have to do is leave a question about biking, bike repair and maintenance in the comments below. And, as always, readers can answer question posed by other readers and be eligible for the giveaway, too. When we’re done, we’ll put together a little crowdsourced bike FAQ with the content we gather. Maybe we can even get Chris in here to answer some questions.
The eligible comment period will run until Monday midnight PDT. Winners will be announced on Tuesday. Good luck!
More:
- The entire Bike Shop Skill Builder series
- Our Bicycles category on MAKE
Q: With an aluminum frame with a euro (threaded) bottom bracket, what’s the best way to repair threads that have been damaged (a shallow gouge running perpendicularly, across the threads)? I fear few if any of my local shops have a clean-up tap for that.
Aluminum can be fragile, so instead of having someone try to retap the threads, you might try the Velo Orange threadless bottom bracket (it’s square taper only). Otherwise, you’d want to find a framebuilder in your area that has the proper tool and knows how to work with aluminum. If it’s the non-drive side, then you might find a machine shop that can tap it since it’s standard thread, but the drive side is reversed, so you’d definitely want someone with bike experience to do it.
Most of the threads are good. There are just three or four at the edge that have a small area where they’ve been crushed. I was considering just buying a good, used old steel race, coating it with anti-seize, and trying to use it as a tap to clean up those threads enough to accept a new race. I’m planning to install cranks with a splined 19mm shaft, so The Velo Orange unit isn’t an option.
That might work for you, but be careful because you’ll probably have to force it a bit, and you might not know when you’ve stopped fixing threads and started mangling other threads.
Depends what you mean by “euro”, there is more than one size, ISO and British are the same, but you have French/Swiss and Italian along with others like old Raleigh threads. Not all of them have a reversed thread on the drive side. Assuming it is not already Italian, worse case, you could still save the frame by getting it machined out and tapped to 36mm.
That is true too, but most of those threadings were on steel bikes, not aluminum.
english thread. thanks.
How often should tires be rotated on a bike? I’ve basically been doing it whenever the tread looks rough on my back tire…
I wouldn’t rotate them. Just get a new back tire, since that one wears a lot faster than the front. And, if you’re going to get a flat, it’s going to be the back tire.
FYI, I rode a few thousand miles last year on slicks. My front tire still looks good. My back tire looked like it went over a cheese grater.
If you ride on pavement on sunny dry days, then you can rotate a worn rear tire to the front to save money. If you ride in wet or snow, or mud and dirt, then your front tire will not handle well if it’s worn.
I have a mountain bike. Why is my chain skipping when I’m riding up hill?
Could be a number of things, a worn chain ring or maybe the index needs to be adjusted. Maybe your chainline is skewed because of the gearing combo you are using.
Sounds like your chainring is worn. If it only happens on one of the front rings, check for wear on that ring.
What is the typical tune up schedule for a bike used gently (asphalt bike paths at the park) on weekends? Does it have to be yearly or can it be stretched out a bit to save money?
Personally, for a bike ridden like that I wouldn’t take it in for a yearly tune up, as long as you are taking these steps.
1. Checking the tire pressure and making sure your brakes work before each ride.
2. Keeping the bike and chain clean, and oiling the chain after each cleaning.
3. Tightening up things if they work themselves loose. You can often discover this by picking the bike up off the ground a few inches, then dropping it (on the tires of course!) and listening for rattles and whatnot.
You can often tell if a bike needs a tune up just by the way it looks or rides. If it looks and feels good, there’s a good chance that its just fine.
If you’re cheap and lazy like me, then you only do maintenance when you hear something grinding or clicking.
I have a 38 year old Schwinn Varsity that has never had the bottom bracket bearings repacked, and it spins just fine. Every year I do a test ride to see if I need to do some maintenance on it, and if not, go ride! If you never ride in rain or dirt or sand or wet, or don’t live near an ocean, and don’t ride long distances, then stretch them out.
My road bike tires list ‘Max inflation’ at 120 PSI. I’ve always wondered, is there any reason I wouldn’t want to inflate them to 120? I’ve heard that mountain bike tires are sometimes intentionally under-inflated to gain traction on loose surfaces, but I can’t envision a scenario where that would be a good thing on a road bike.
If you anticipate going into temperature extremes (say from a high elevation to a low elevation in a mountain range) you might be cautious about inflating them fully. You might feel more comfortable with those skinny little racing tires at 110 psi instead.
Thanks, Eric. That’s actually really relevant information for me: I live & usually ride at about five thousand feet, but I do get up into the mountains a few times a year. It will be interesting to pay attention to my tire pressure next time I’m biking doing a long ride in the Rockies!
Can or should I use WD40 to lubricate my bike chain?
No.
acording to this guy you shouldnt http://www.instructables.com/id/Why-WD40-Should-Never-Be-Used-on-Your-Bike-Chain/
Never. WD40 will turn into a varnish over time, so while it can be good to remove stuck parts, it’s not a lube and will gum up over time. It’s also not a very good cleaner either, though it can help prevent rust if sprayed inside of a steel bike frame. Not as good as something like Boeshield, but cheaper.
If you slam the coaster break on a two-speed kick back hub, can you break the mechanism?
It is extremely unlikely.
Those things are solid steel inside. Good luck trying to break it.
What tips do you have for a new cityslicker biker babe venturing into the wild?
Life is a highway.. Ride it all night long(But if you do night riding please wear reflective clothing and a blinking LED)
Wear bright colors, carry a cell phone, wear a helmet. Don’t assume every driver can see you. In fact, assume that they’re actively out to kill you.
hoe can I improve my breaks ?
This is assuming you have some sort of rim brake (road caliper, V-brake, cantilever, etc.) and not disc or coaster.
If you have chrome wheels, switch to aluminum if you can afford it. If you can’t switch out the brake pads to something made for wet weather like Kool Stop Salmon.
If you have aluminum wheels, clean the brake surface with some scrubbies and a little cleaner like Simple Green or dish soap. Make sure to let dry fully before running again.
If your brake pads are dried and hard, you might be able to get a little bit more life out of them by removing them and rubbing some sandpaper or other abrasive on the pad. However, brake pads are cheap, so I recommend replacing them with something better. I prefer Kool Stops but many of the newer brake pads will work fine. Rubber tends to get old and dry out.
A trued wheel will stop better because the calipers will be in contact with the surfaces consistently. Have a bike shop (LBS) take a look at them.
How can I stop my front forks from vibrating? Whenever I apply the brakes enough to, uh, stop, my front forks vibrate quite alarmingly. Some searching says this is mostly because the forks are carbon fiber. Do I need to be worried about this or is it just something that happens?
I have no experience with carbon fiber, but you might want to try different brake pads to see if that helps.
It sounds like your brake pads are installed improperly. Properly installed pads rest at a slight angle to the rim of the wheel. Pads not at an angle will vibrate.
How many spokes do you actually need? (at least to get home)
The more spokes a wheel has, the less out of true it will be when a spoke breaks. If you have disc brakes, then breaking a spoke probably won’t affect you much, but on rim brakes it can cause the rim to rub up against the pads and slow you down. If you have a coaster brake, you might not even notice a broke spoke unless you heard it break.
I have an old Schwinn Le Tour, from around 1984; it’s been hanging in a garage for 20 years. It’s dirty, but there’s no rust or obvious damage; if I wanted to get this bike back on the road, where should I start? Would it be hard to find replacement parts? I used to do a lot of work on my bikes – fixing, cleaning, replacing parts, etc. – I haven’t touched a bike in 20 years, but I’d like to get back into it. Any advice would be appreciated.
I love old Schwinn bikes from the 1980s, and I have a late 1980s LeTour made in Mississippi. In the early 1980s the LeTours had a 21.1 mm stem, which can be hard to find decent stems if you wanted to change it. Later on they switched to the standard 22.2 mm stem. Brake pads, cables, grease, ball bearings, chain, all of those are standard and available at any bike shop, or even a Walmart/Target/Kmart etc., at least for grease, brake pads, cables, and chains. The tubes are probably fine, if the tires are dry rotted, almost everyone has the 27″ tire size. I like the Michelin World Tour in that size, but there are some a little cheaper from Kenda, Cheng Shin, etc. that work okay.
I love old bikes. I’m an English Raleigh fan.
OP… my advice? Just do it. Lube, replace, and tighten as needed. Ride like you mean it.
Make sure you check on safety laws (lighting, helmet) in your area. I recommend both.
English Raleighs are awesome. I have a 1979 Raleigh Competition GS and a 1960s Raleigh Twenty.
It’s a shame what happened to Raleigh, I dreamt of owning a burner in the eighties.
Lee – UK
They’re still out there. Lots of people collect old bikes.
thanks for your input : )
I used to love this bike – couldn’t ride a road bike for awhile because of a neck/back injury – and I thought it’d be fun to get it back on the road. I’ll give it a shot this summer. Thanks again.
You’re welcome. You can love it again. Steel is real, and at worst, you’d have to go to eBay to find parts. I highly doubt it though. Performance Bike, Nashbar, REI, Velo Orange, even your local Trek store will have parts to fit it if they need to be replaced. Certainly any bike shop you like will have the parts and hopefully the knowledge to fix it. Just look for a grouchy mechanic over age 40.
I’m a big proponent of community volunteer run not for profit bike shops, so I’d be remiss if I did not mention to visit one if there any are in your area. Often they have old parts for low cost or free.
That is true, there is the Hub of Detroit that has thousands of donor bikes and lots of parts, also they have classes and whatnot. I go to them when I want something weird or rare. For standard maintenance items, I generally go someplace closer.
I have 2 old Schwinn Continentals, I did a century on one and the other is in pieces being worked on at the moment. If you want to take it all the way down to the frame it really isn’t that hard and can be done with just about any tool. Putting it back together is a little bit harder, but a good project! Getting started by taking it to a bike shop would be a good bet, just to make sure there isn’t anything terribly wrong with it.
Continentals are heavy old bikes, but damn are they bomb proof. My Varsity has the same frame, and it’ll outlast the cockroaches.
My bike has started to rust every where could it break when riding overtime???
If it’s a heavy old steel bike, then probably not. Steel will let you know when it starts failing, you’ll get plenty of warning. If it’s a lightweight high end steel like Reynolds 531, 853, 953, etc.with superthin frame tubes (you’d know, they’re expensive), then you might want to get it taken care of.
Eric has some good advice.
I’ve found some orphaned bikes that look dead broke and used up, until attacked with a little soap, water, and TLC.
Steel wool is a great rust remover. Don’t be afraid to clean off that rust! Clean the frame and wheels with soap & water and let dry. A good stop gap for more rust build up, after you’ve scrubbed, washed and dried, I spray a light coating of clear coat on the frame. Prevent rust by keeping your bicycle out of the elements, keep all moving parts clean and lubricated, and barring accidents, your bike might last as long as you.
My bike’s doing all right now, but I was curious to know: do you have any experience working on recumbent bikes and have you found any repair quirks/difficulties compared to regular upright bikes?
Does anyone have experience with the “slime” filled tires? Have you found them worth the extra cost and has the slime ever failed to fix the hole or even dried up in the tube on you?
I’m in the process of building a trike recumbent with a friend and thinking about picking up the slime tubes for it.
In my experience slime has not been worth it at all. Even when I get past the initial stage of filling up the inner tube I’m still worried about the mess it’s going to make when it does its job. It would be better to get puncture resistant tires or knobby tires. Also, if you’re on the road with a flat, a small patch kit works wonders, and makes you feel like you’ve completed something.
A friend of mine got his back covered with slime. The tire was sealed, though, but we had a good laugh.
What is the best way to keep a brooks leather seat in good condition?
Invest in Proofide and ignore the smell. Get the cover if you ride or leave it outside in the rain. Or better yet, remove it when you’re not riding.
I am SO digging this conversation, folks. Thanks to those who are doing such a great job answering other reader’s questions. You rock!
I have been so excited by the biking articles. I am thinking about building myself a recumbent bike from atomic zombie
I have an old bike with gears that are starting to get old the the teeth are all short and stubby so if I crank really hard the chain will skip. Is there a way to safely grind those teeth back or should I just take the hit and replace them?
The chain rings really aren’t repairable, your best bet is to simply replace it.
Grind them back? How would grinding add metal back to the chainrings? If it’s the front chainrings, those are cheap and plentiful, even if it’s an old one piece crank. If it’s the rear, change the freewheel or cassette. Less time and hassle.
I dream about the day I can go downhill mountain biking, it looks exhilarating! In short form, what would be a logical approach to reaching this goal for someone who hasn’t been biking for a long time?
Invest in very good protective gear, find a local downhill group that doesn’t mind beginners and would loan or rent you one of their bikes to start out with to see what you like.
Thanks Eric. What if I live in the Midwest where everything is flat? I just figured all of the good downhill spots are out in the coastal states?
For someone just getting into biking and wanting something that I can take on a light trail if I wanted but would mainly be used for a riding to work or to the store or maybe for riding around in a park for fitness … I’ve been told that a performance hybrid is what I should be looking for. Is this true or should I find a hybrid or a comfort?
You can do all that with almost any bike. If you want to carry groceries in panniers, make sure that it has eyelets for racks. If you can carry your groceries in a large backpack or messenger bag, then racks may not be necessary. A performance hybrid is just fine. What makes it performance is that it typically has skinnier tires for speed and a higher gear ratio.
If you do carry stuff in a backpack, watch out for SBS (sweaty back syndrome). Another option is a nice front rack like CETMA racks, you can tie any large backpack or messenger bag to it.
Riding to work, make sure that you can keep it in a safe location, preferably out of the rain. If you commute via bike and bus, make sure the bike is light enough to lift onto the bus rack on a regular basis.
What gear should be brought along on an Iron Man competition? Any tips?
Will I ever recover the bike that was stolen from me last month?
*magic 8 ball* Signs point to Craigslist.