Elmhurst Bicycle Club, Elmhurst, IL

03.31.2004 Bicycle Maintenance & Repair

EBC Bicycle Safety Series:

Bicycle MaintenanceOverviewSometimes in an effort to get

out there and enjoy cycling we overlook basic bicycle main-tenance. In so doing we leave ourselves vulnerable to trip inter-ruption or worse. Here are some ideas on what kinds of tools to own and maintenance checks to make on a regular basis.

Top 9 Bicycle Tools Guide Picks

bicycling.guide@about.com, H. Weiss, Ph.D.

Every cyclist needs to carry some basic tools on a ride or keep in your bike shop at home. Whether youre a pro at xing your bike, or you simply need to use the tools for main-tenance, you will at some point need a tool box of basics. Here are my favorites for the person who has little need for tools in general.

1) Allen Wrenches Allen wrenches are handy to have.

I keep a 5 mm, 6 mm and 7 mm around. You can also buy them in a set or as a part of a basic set that might include other products.

2) Box Wrench Get a set that has as many options

as possible. I have 5 mm, 6 mm, 7

mm, 8 mm, 9 mm, 10 mm, 11 mm and 12 mm. In a mutli-tool set you can put it in your seat pack.

3) Hub (Cone) Wrench Unless you have sealed-bearing

hubs, youll want to have the follow-ing sizes around: 13mm, 14 mm, 15 mm, 16 mm.

4) Chain Remover This is a must for those broken

chains or chain problems on the road.

5) Third Hand This tool is used to hold brake

shoes closed while taking out cable slack.

6) Spoke Nipple Wrench This tool is used for truing wheels,

replacing spokes, lacing wheels.7) Tire Tube Patches Ah, ats are a fact of life. You know

youre riding hard when you blow two tires in one ride! Youll always need a spare patch kit.

8) Headset Lockring Wrench You should choose the size and

brand that ts your head set.9) Pin Pliers For your bottom-bracket adjustable

cup.

All-In-One ToolsKevins list is pretty good. I

carry single tools for the most part as he suggests. But the all-in-one tools have raised the bar for would-be roadside mechan-

By the way, frame mounted pumps are choice items for stealing. Make sure you take it with you when you park your bike.

If you ride in winter

You should still keep your tire pressure up. You may want to give in a little bit on the tire pres-sure ( ve to ten pounds below the maximum recommended pressure is as far as you should go). Your aggressive tire should be in the front, not the back. An aggressive tire is a tire that grips the road. You want some traction on the driving wheel, of course, but in terms of security, your best tire should be in the front.

You can survive a back wheel skid quite easily; in fact kids often make it a game of skidding the back wheel. A front wheel skid, however, is a different story. It is almost impossible to an-ticipate and when it happens, it happens quickly and you cant recover from it. If its an either or situation, stud the front tire rather than the back.

QuestionsIf you have any problems with

this document or just want to provide feedback you can reach me via E-mail at eric_vann@beezodogsplace.com

They will say: OFF ROAD 45 PSI ON ROAD 65 PSI

Commuters have a good reason to keep tires hard. A soft tire picks up little bits of gravel and glass off the road, these get imbedded into the tire, and chew away at the inner tube. Sooner or later the tire goes at.

If you have a skinny (narrow) tire, say 1.5 (or less), you have to be really careful with the pres-sure. Its possible to run a fat 2.5 tire at 40 psi but if you run the skinny ones at low pressure youll destroy the rims.

You often see people squeeze the tire. Squeezing can tell you if the tire is too soft, not if its hard enough. You need a proper air gauge to check the tire pressure. You cant use a run of the mill air pressure gauge on your bicycle unless you operate in the 45 - 60 psi range. Buy a gauge that will read to 120 psi.

Get a good pump

Most compressors wont give you the 80 or 90 PSI you need, in fact, youre lucky if you get more than 35 PSI from a gas bar compressor. If you dont have a source of high pressure in your neighborhood you must buy a high pressure hand pump. There are several models avail-able, ask for a demo and make sure it can stand the pressure.

Elmhurst Bicycle Club, Elmhurst, IL

03.31.2004 Bicycle Maintenance & Repair

ics.

Tools include: 8,9,10mm Box Wrenches 2,2.5,3,4,5&6 mm Allen Keys Phillips and Flathead Screwdriver Universal Chain Tool 2 Spoke Wrenches Torx-25 bit for disc brakes 8mm. open end wrench for disc

brakes 2 Tire Levers Stainless Steel Knife Bottle Opener Pedal Wrench Nylon Carrying case w/ velcro clo-

sure Weight - 220 grams

As you can see all you need to add are tire tube patches and a pump to be a self-sustained rider.

Tire RepairPatch kits are essential but not

quite as practical for quick at repairs as spare inner tubes.

You can carry them wrapped in cloth as Ted Sward does to keep the rubber oxide off your hands and the tubes from sticking to anything else in your kit.

But if your at count exceeds that of your spare inner tubes, you will appreciate that patch kit.

PumpsAs with everything else pump

technology has improved as pumps have gotten smaller and lighter.

I prefer the ones which convert to oor pumps and yet take up very little space. Regardless of your preference in style of pump make sure you carry one with you at all times.

Compressed CO2 cartridges are small and lightweight and for most rides can supplant a pump. But if you at count ex-ceeds the number of cartridges you will need that pump!

Maintenance TrainingSheldon Brown has an exten-

sive web archive on all things bicycle (including tips on repair.) You can nd some of his tool tips here:

http://sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/index.html

http://sheldonbrown.com/begin-ners/index.html

Jeff Napier has produced an extensive collective of online articles about bicycle repair that can be found here:

http://members.aol.com/biketune/

What s A Good Tire?http://edmontonbicyclecommuters.ca/ (by Vincent Cheng)

One of the most overlooked topics for bicycles is tire selec-tion. Many people assume that all tires work the same; however, this is not the case.

For optimal performance when road riding, one of the key fac-tors is low rolling resistance. To reduce rolling resistance, most tires that are aimed for road rid-ing are very narrow and are rela-tively smooth. There is still some tread to channel out water if the tires are used in the rain. These tires are great if the roads are all perfectly smooth. In Edmonton, we have some of the roughest roads. To reduce vibration, wider tires can be used, just be sure to pick ones with relatively smooth treads.

On the trail, the general rule is that the softer the trails are, the more spaced out the knobs should be. With more spaces between the knobs, the tire will be able to self-clean by throw-ing the dirt off. Generally speak-ing, back tires should have more horizontal bars to get better trac-tion for acceleration and braking. The front tire should have more pointy knobs running along with the tire. This offers more trac-tion for turning. There are some companies that are offering soft

compounds for their tires. This offers great traction for dry, hard-packed trails, but will also wear out very quickly.

For the winter time, most agree that the back tire should be wider in order to leave a bigger footprint on the snow to get maximum traction. If there is ice, try using studded tires. For the front tires, some believe that skinny tires will allow the tire to cut through the snow instead of plowing into it. Others believe that wider tires is still good in the front. Again, if there is ice, stud-ding in the front will help a lot.

My favorite tires are: Road:

IRC Paperlite Avocet Cross

Trails: Panaracer Smoke and Dart Specialized Team Master and

Team Control IRC Missile

Winter: Studded tires using the Edmon-

ton Bike Club instructions

How much air?http://edmontonbicyclecommuters.ca/ (by Bernie Jacques)

Bicycle tires have a pressure rating stamped right on the wall. Look for the words: INFLATE TO 90 PSI MAX

Some tires indicate a minimum and a maximum tire pressure.