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forum
Regular bike maintenance tasks/query
Hi Folks,
I've been putting off some semi-serious maintenance on my bike for a couple of months now for a couple of reasons. Firstly last time I attempted something new on my MTB I lost a tiny little rubber seal which sits between the two halves of my disc brakes without realising - leading to lots of drama with DOT4 fluid everywhere and no brakes, and secondly my bike time is limited, why spend it taking your bike apart when you could be riding.
Anyway, I've done around 2000 miles in the last 13 months on my bike, and the chain checker is now showing 0.75 which means I should probably change the chain, note that shifting is still as smooth as it ever has been on this system (Tiagra).
I bought myself a new Ultegra chain and a park chain tool, watched a couple of videos and I reckon I'll be ok with that change, albeit I'm a bit nervous about it (see previous hydraulic brakes experience).
What I've been reading recently on here suggests changing the cables as well - something I've never done on any of my bikes. Bearing in mind it shifts just fine, is this really worth doing?
My bike has "outer" cables running to the downtube, then just the inners running to the BB, where the front derailleur goes into a tiny teflon tube inside the frame and comes out by the derailleur itself. The rear derailleur then has another section of outer cable which runs along the chainstay to the derailleur itself.
- Should I leave well enough alone?
- Do I replace the lot, outers and inners? My experience on cutting outers suggests that it won't be such a nice job as the pre-cut correct lengths of cable that are on there now.
- How hard is it to dismantle a tiagra brake/gear lever to replace the cable?
- As the derailleurs are dialed in correctly already - I'm guessing touch nothing but the cable attachment points? Am I going to have to spend hours sorting out my shifting adjustments afterwards - when the front derailleur came off my MTB 20 miles from home one time - I had a hell of a time fixing it back on and readjusting everything - leaving me a little wary.
I'm a mechanically minded bloke so I wouldn't go to my LBS for this sort of job, does anyone know of any good youtube guides to point me in the right direction?
Cheers for any help,
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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9 comments
Good stuff, yes it is hard to start, the rest is easy.
I took it apart, gave everything a nice clean and replaced the chain with no problems - thanks for the advice.
It's mildly disconcerting how much force is required to get a pin starting to move with a chain breaker (I have the Park one so it should be fairly reasonable) - I wasn't expecting it to be so stiff.
All good though, a quick blitz down the road and everything is shifting nicely. I might have a look at doing the cable inners in a few months - when it's less cold!
I've heard that mentioned a few times. What are the correct measurements to do it with a ruler?
I do make a point of looking after my bike in terms of cleaning and lubing.
Chain checkers that you put between the links aren't accurate at all, you really need to measure the stretch with a ruler. You might have loads of life left in the chain if you clean and lube it well, 2000 miles is not much.
As said above if the outers are fairly new and uncontaminated I leave them alone. Having said that as long as you have decent cutters then gear outer is quite easy to cut cleanly. Brake outer for cables is more of a faff as you often still need a file to clean the ends up after you have cut them, I have had some luck using a very thin stainless steel cutting disc instead to get a neat straight cut but that requires a workmate or wooden faced vice.
If it's shifting ok there's absolutely no need to change the cables. I've got over 2,500 miles of winter miles on my current set of cables and they still shift beautifully. No reason to change them.
But the chain is pretty simple, use the chain tool to trim your new chain to the same length of the current one by pushing out the pin at the right point. That will give you a bit of feel for how much effort it will take to push the pin.
Then the only hard part is to hold the two ends of the new chain together while inserting the pin. My trick is to hold the chain on the big ring at the front so that the chain can't move, then put the new pin through from the inside (important), then gently press it through.
You shouldn't have more than a couple of hair's breadth projecting on the inside when it's right, break of the projecting guide section, then make sure the chain is not stiff at the joint. If it is, simply bend the chain a little, side to side, to free it up. If it's still stiff, push the pin back fractionally using the tool in the other direction. You want to have the same amount of the pin visible as every other link, i.e. hardly any, and the same amount on both sides.
It's not hard, and you have the chance by using the tool to make sure it's right. You'll feel triumphant once you've done it for the first time!
There is no 'dismantling' involved when changing the cables. Most of the levers are fairly straight forward in terms of re-cabling; just look carefully which goes where when you take the old inner out and make sure the front end sit properly inside the lever. A few times, I thought the shifting was good and it was good enough but I got very noticeable snappier shifting with new inners; you might be used to what you have now.
I would change the outer only if there are obvious signs of wear or contamination inside. If you do, definitely a good pair of cutters; you won't get any fraying when cutting the inners either!
GCN videos are generally quite good as are loads other ones on youtube. If you find yourself not able the index the mechs after following all the instructions; you might be looking at a bent derailleur hanger or cage.
I'd recommend getting a KMC or SRAM quicklink for your chain. It makes fitting and removal a doddle.
If your shifting is good then leave the gear cable for now.
When replacing the gear cable you only have to twist the lever until you can see the head. It's very simple. Try a video like GCN, park-tool.com or a step-by-step with illustrations.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=vid&q=replacing+shimano+road+gear+cable
Any reasonable brand of cable cutters should do (most are probably made in one factory). After cutting the outers I use a corkscrew point to make the hole round again, as even the best cutters will compress the housing a bit.
I always use gcn - global cycling network to help me they have got a how to on pretty much anything bike related and if you do decide to change the cables good cutters is a must maybe get your technique of cutting sorted on the removed old peices ? many times have I had a frayed mess off cables due to a crap set of cutters good luck.