Cycling.
You feel the wind through your hair. Hands sweaty and gripping your handlebars. Legs burning and pushing pedal by pedal.
Then it happens out of nowhere. You change your gears and the chain falls of. What to do!?!
I admit that when I need bike maintenance I turn to two people, either my dad or my husband. I’ve decided that it’s time to start learning how to maintain my bike all by myself.
The best way to start is to watch every move with tires and chains, step by step. So the next time it happens I can fix it all on my own. The Internet is always helpful, as well as local classes that may be offered. For instance, I’ve recently found a bike maintenance course at my local R.E.I.
Here are some tips on bicycle maintenance..
Chain Reaction: If your chain falls of take the rear derailleur in your left hand and rotate it towards the front of the bicycle. It’ll go that way easily (if it doesn’t, keep in mind you may have other problems) and will take the tension off the chain, so at the same time all you have to do is pick it up with your right hand, yes you will get dirty and rest it on the smallest front chainring. If you dropped the chain off the biggest cog, or your front derailleur is positioned in the highest gear, shift it into the lowest gear. Yes, you may be breaking the don’t-shift-unless-you-are-pedaling rule, but you are allowed to in order to get it back on.
Tire Trouble: First step, empty the tube with the remaining air. Second step, take your wheel off. It’s easier to take the wheel off if you turn your bike upside down first. If your wheel isn’t quick release, then remove the nuts with a 15mm box wrench or a crescent wrench. You may have to release your brakes to get the wheel to move through the brake pads. Third step, remove the tire. Use a plastic tire lever to move the lip of the tire over the rim, on one side of the wheel. Slide the lever towards the left to pull the lip over the rim all the way around the tire. Once it’s off start super inflating the tire to find the culprit. You will find that you either have to replace to tube or patch it. Once patched, inflate the tube just a little bit to insert in the tire. Stick the valve through the valve hole. With your fingers, work the lip of the tire into the wheel rim, on only one side. You may need to use a tire lever for the last bit. Once you’ve done one side completely, do the other side. Put your tire back on your bike and inflate fully.
Urban Girl Fitness Quote of the Day:
The bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon. ~Bill Strickland
