Bike Repair & Maintenance For Dummies®
Page 23
Figure 15-2: Start at the end of the handlebar.
3. Pull the tape up and under the handlebar in preparation to pull the tape back down and around the shifters (see Figure 15-4).
4. Pull the tape upward so that there is no slack (see Figure 15-5).
5. Pull the tape downward and away from the shifters (see Figure 15-6).
6. Pull the tape downward, around the handlebar, and toward the shifters (see Figure 15-7).
7. Wrap the tape around the handlebar, away from the shifters and overlapping with some of the tape from a previous wrap (see Figure 15-8).
Figure 15-3: Continue until the bottom of the shifters.
Figure 15-4: Wrap the tape up and under the handlebar.
Figure 15-5: Pull the tape upward.
Figure 15-6: Pull the tape down and away from the shifters.
Figure 15-7: Pull the tape down and toward the shifters.
Figure 15-8: Wrap the tape back around the handlebars.
8. Pull the tape upward and begin wrapping the part of the bar above the shifters.
Continue wrapping until you reach the middle of the bar (see Figure 15-9).
9. Insert the plug for the end of the handlebar (see Figure 15-10).
10. Repeat the procedure for the other side of the handlebar.
Figure 15-9: Pull tape upward to wrap the top of the handlebars.
Figure 15-10: Plug the handlebar end.
Getting Your Head around This: The Headset
The headset is the part of the bike that connects the stem and the fork to the frame and provides the mechanism that allows you to steer the bike.
There are two major styles of headsets:
Threaded: The threaded headset screws onto the threads at the top of the column attached to the fork steering tube. This is the traditional type of headset found on a majority of older bikes.
Threadless: The threadless headset is not threaded onto the column on top of the fork. Instead, it’s held together by the compression of an internal bolt that runs through the top cap into a wedge in the fork steering tube. Depending on the style, it’s either pressed into the head tube or sits on top of the fork steering tube and is held in place by a top cap. The threadless headset is found on almost all midrange to high-end bikes these days.
Inspecting the headset
Headsets are designed to last a long time, but even the best headsets can wear out, especially if they aren’t cared for. One way to check whether your headset has issues is to test it for looseness. Here are three checks you can try:
Straddle the frame of your bike with your hands firmly clenching the brakes. Try rocking the bike back and forth.
Stand astride the front wheel facing your bike with the wheel pinched between your legs and your hands on the handlebars. Try wiggling the handlebars back and forth.
Lift the front wheel off the ground and strike the tire with your hand, while listening for vibrations.
With the bike in a stand, grasp the fork and the frame and try to flex the fork to see if there is any play in the headset. Lift the front wheel off the ground and turn the handlebars back and forth. If they feel tight and don’t move smoothly, you may have tightened the headset too much. With the wheels off the ground and the back wheel higher than the front, the front wheel should swing like a pendulum freely back and forth.
If, with any of these procedures, you feel play in the stem, it could mean that you need to either adjust or replace the headset.
Here are some other signs of headset problems:
The handlebars and fork rattle when you ride.
The handlebars don’t turn smoothly.
You have trouble riding in a straight line.
Adjusting your headset
Although headsets don’t need to be adjusted very often, over time all the turning you do on your bike and all the bumps and jolts the headset receives from the road may cause the headset to loosen. If you inspect the headset following the steps in the preceding section and find looseness, follow these steps to adjust it.
Threadless headsets
Threadless headsets usually don’t require adjustment very often, especially when compared to threaded headsets, but you may need to make an adjustment occasionally. Here’s how:
1. Loosen the stem clamp bolt or the bolts holding the stem in place.
2. Tighten (clockwise) or loosen (counterclockwise) the bolt in the center of the top cap.
3. After you’ve made the adjustment, retighten the stem clamp bolt or bolts.
Do not over-tighten the top cap. It isn’t designed to hold the fork in place — it’s designed only to keep a slight load on the bearings for the adjustment procedure until the stem clamp bolts are tightened, holding everything in place.
4. Check the adjustment using the procedures from the preceding section, “Inspecting the headset.”
Threaded headsets
To adjust a threaded headset, you generally need two specialized headset wrenches that fit your bike.
If you have a large, adjustable wrench for the top lock nut, you can get by with one headset wrench for the adjusting nut or cone.
The headset sizes are almost always 32 or 26. Some adjustable cones use round surfaced edges, which you can use your hands or lock jaw pliers to adjust.
To adjust a threaded headset, follow these steps:
1. Loosen the locknut on the top of the headset by turning it counterclockwise about one turn.
2. Below the locknut, locate the adjustable cup or cone.
3. If you are tightening the headset, turn the adjustable cup or cone clockwise in 20-degree increments. Turn it counterclockwise to loosen it.
After each turn, secure the locknut and check the headset adjustment (see “Inspecting the headset,” earlier in this chapter).
It may take several adjustments until you get it right. Continue until there is no looseness and the bearings are not being pressed against too tightly. If you aren’t sure, err on the side of being a little tighter.
Overhauling your headset
If adjustments don’t alleviate looseness or other issues with the headset, you may need to overhaul it. Headsets can take a lot of abuse, especially if you ride on challenging terrain or in bad weather, so an overhaul that replaces bearings and packs them in fresh grease can go a long way toward improving and extending the life of your bike’s steering system.
Threadless headsets
Overhauling a threadless headset is sometimes easier if you remove the handlebars. Do this by removing the bolts in the stem that hold the handlebars in place. It also helps to remove the front wheel from the fork (see Chapter 7). Depending on what type of brakes you have, you may need to remove these as well (see Chapter 8).
Here’s how to overhaul a threadless headset:
1. Using an Allen wrench, unscrew and remove the bolt and top cap in the top of the stem (as shown in Figure 15-11).
2. Loosen the clamp bolt or bolts holding the stem in place (see Figure 15-12).
Be sure to keep a hand on the fork if your bike is off the ground.
3. Slide the stem off the fork steering tube (as shown in Figure 15-13).
As you do this, make sure you hold onto the fork so that it doesn’t fall on the ground.
4. Remove the parts of the headset, including any washers or spacers (as shown in Figure 15-14).
Keep track of the order in which you remove things so you can put everything back together more easily.
5. Pull the fork out of the frame (as shown in Figure 15-15).
If the fork is stuck, you may have to tap it with a mallet, being careful not to damage the top of the steering tube.
Figure
15-11: Loosening the top cap.
Figure 15-12: Undoing the clamp bolt.
Figure 15-13: Removing the stem.
Figure 15-14: Removing spacers.
6. Remove the bearings (see Figure 15-16).
There is a top and bottom or an inside and outside of the bearing race. Take note of the bearing race positioning before removing the bearings. If you don’t reinstall them properly, you won’t be able to adjust the headset and you’ll damage both the bearings and the headset.
7. The bearings will likely be contained in a race with their surfaces exposed or sealed in a cartridge (see Figure 15-17 for both types):
• If the bearings are exposed, inspect them. Bearings that are pitted or do not have a shiny surface should be replaced.
• If your bearings are sealed in a cartridge, check to see that they turn smoothly. If they don’t, replace them.
8. Clean and inspect all parts.
9. When you’re ready to reinstall the headset, coat both cups with a layer of grease.
10. Insert one of the races into the bottom cup.
11. While holding the bottom race into place with one hand, insert the fork with the other hand.
This procedure is sometimes easier if you turn the bike over.
12. When the fork is inside the head tube, slide the other race over the fork steering tube and down into the top cup of the head tube.
13. Slide any washers or spacers over the fork steering tube in their original order.
Figure 15-15: Removing the fork.
Figure 15-16: Bearings in the headset.
Figure 15-17: Two styles of bearings.
14. Attach the top cap and screw it into place with the Allen bolt.
15. Follow the procedure for headset adjustment in the “Threadless headsets” section under “Adjusting your headset.”
16. Center the stem and secure it by tightening the clamp bolt or bolts.
If you replace a headset with the same model, you’ll be able to install it yourself in most cases — you won’t have to press the head-tube cups into the frame because you can reuse the ones currently in place. However, if you change headsets, you’ll need your local bike shop to install it. Special tools along with skill and expertise are required for removing headset parts from a bike frame and installing new ones.
Threaded headsets
When you overhaul a threaded headset, you’ll likely observe the reason for its name — the threaded steerer tube that sits at the top of a fork. You’ll also see that a threaded headset is unique with its expander bolt, something that helps keep it in place when tightened.
To overhaul a threaded headset, follow these steps:
1. Use an Allen wrench, or adjustable wrench if needed, to loosen the socket head bolt, which sits at the top of the stem.
Turn it just a few times to loosen it. Do not completely remove this bolt. It’s connected to an expander wedge at the bottom of the stem, which keeps the stem in place. Sometimes the bolt may be buried deep inside the stem and require a longer Allen wrench (see Figure 15-18).
2. After the bolt is loosened, place a small block of wood on it and give it a firm blow with a hammer to jar the wedge loose.
If the stem has not been removed for a while it may take more than one blow and/or some penetrating lubricant.
3. Lift the stem out of the steering tube connected to the fork (as shown in Figure 15-19).
Figure 15-18: Loosening the socket head bolt.
Figure 15-19: Removing the stem.
4. Remove the headset locknut by turning it in a counterclockwise direction (as shown in Figure 15-20).
Figure 15-20: Undoing the locknut.
5. Slide off any washers or anything else that sits underneath the locknut you just removed.
6. Unscrew the adjustable cup or cone that sits against the top of the head tube.
As you do, hold on to the fork with one hand so that it doesn’t fall to the ground.
There is a top and bottom or an inside and outside of the bearing race. Take note of the bearing race positioning before removing it. If you don’t reinstall it properly, you won’t be able to adjust the headset and you’ll damage the bearings and the headset.
Be careful with the bearings that sit in the top and bottom of the head tube. If they’re contained within a race, you’re in good shape; if they’re loose, they may fall out when you remove the adjustable cup or slide out of the fork. In the case of loose bearings, remove the top set before you slide out the fork. Then turn the bike upside down to remove the fork and the bottom set.
7. Inspect the bearings to see if they’re pitted or worn.
If they are, they should be replaced.
8. Clean and inspect all parts.
9. When you’re ready to reinstall the headset, coat both cups with a layer of grease.
10. Insert one of the retainers into the bottom cup.
11. While holding the bottom retainer into place with one hand, insert the fork with the other hand.
This procedure is sometimes easier if you turn the bike over.
12. After the fork is inside the head tube, slide the other race over the fork steering tube and down into the top cup of the head tube.
13. Screw on the adjustable cup or cone until it presses down slightly on the bearings.
14. Slide any washers, locknut, and anything else over the fork steering tube in their original order.
15. Follow the procedure in the “Threaded headsets” section under “Adjusting your headset.”
16. Insert the stem and, when it’s at the correct height, turn the bolt clockwise.
This will expand the wedge at the bottom of the stem and hold it in place.
When you adjust the height of the stem, don’t set it higher than the safety limit marking engraved into the side of the stem. It may have faded over time, so you need to look carefully to find it.
Part IV
Keeping Your Bike on the Road
In this part . . .
If we had to pick just one part of this book to recommend, it would be this one. If you follow the advice in these chapters and make a commitment to regular bike maintenance, you won’t need to spend as much time with the other chapters of this book, because your bike will be maintained in good working order. In this part, we cover everything you need to know about maintenance, including preventive maintenance (such as regular lubrication and cleaning), monthly maintenance, and yearly overhauls — all steps that are designed to help you enjoy years of trouble-free biking.
Chapter 16
An Ounce of Preventive Maintenance
In This Chapter
Performing a safety inspection of your bike before you ride
Assembling a tool kit for daily rides and extended trips
Minimizing wear and tear and preventing accidents
Cleaning and lubricating your bike after a ride
Stowing away your bike for winter (or until your next ride!)
If you’re like us, you once had a bike that you never took care of — probably when you were a kid. Dennis had a BMX-style bike in his teens that he almost killed himself on, pushing it to the limits on dirt trails and bike jumps that he and his friends engineered after school. Despite all the punishment Dennis dished out on that bike, it valiantly held up to give him several pleasurable years of riding.
Modern-day bikes are designed with durable components that can take a lot of wear and tear, but this doesn’t mean that you should neglect your bike the way you did when you didn’t know any better. The old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is especially true when it comes to your bike. If you follow the guidelines in t
his chapter for preventive maintenance, not only will you extend the life of your bike, but you’ll have fewer repairs to make, you’ll be safer, and you’ll get more enjoyment out of riding.
In this chapter, we explain some simple steps you can take before, during, and after riding to care for your bike and extend its life. Cleaning and lubricating your bike is at the top of the list, but don’t stop there. You can do a quick inspection before you ride, follow some basic rules while riding to minimize wear and tear on your bike, and properly store your bike when your ride is over. We cover all these steps in this chapter.
Before You Ride
If you’re like a lot of bikers, when you finally have some time for a ride, the last thing you want to be thinking about is repair and maintenance. You grab your helmet and gloves and you’re out the door, ready to roll.
But you can improve your bike’s performance, prevent major headaches, and improve your own safety by doing a few simple things before you ride. In this section, we fill you in.
Assembling an emergency tool kit
Assembling an emergency tool kit is essential if you plan on doing anything more than taking a trip around the block. You’ll want to bring along a basic set of tools so that when the inevitable breakdown happens, you won’t be stranded on the side of the road.
When you’re shopping for tools, look for ones that are light, so that they won’t weigh you down, especially on longer trips. Size is also a consideration especially because you’ll want to stow away your tools in a pouch under your seat or tucked away in a bike bag. You don’t want to try biking if you have a large crescent wrench sticking out from under your seat. Your best bet is to visit your local bike shop to find small, lightweight tools to take with you when you bike.