• Allen wrenches to tighten axles and suspension pivot bolts. • Tire gauge or a floor pump with a working gauge. • A bike stand would be helpful, but not necessary • Positive, winning attitude
Step #10 - One thing I've learned is not to tighten the brakes clamp too much, just enough so it doesn't move during use. In the event of a crash, less chance of breaking a lever. So in step #10 my brakes would move a bit if I tap it from the top. Not sure if it would apply to everyone though.
I know guys who do the same and I've tried it, but I find that if I forget to make sure it is perfect then my next ride it is moving all over the place. Good advice if you are sure to do a pre-ride check, but if you are like me and might check it once a week then things can get sloppy.
taletotell has a good point. I started setting up my brake/clutch levers when I raced motos so that they would move if I crashed, and that's good advice for MTB too. You still should be able to bang on them with your palm without the levers moving--the idea is to check if the clamps were left untorqued. It's a bad-bad to discover this midway down the mountain. Only a '56 Vespa pilot would enjoy a pivoting brake lever.
I do the same with my Hope breaks, i always check my ride before i go out but i usually just check tire pressure see if my pedals are loose then just pick my bike up and drop it and if i hear anything strange i know somethings loose ( i have a street bike ) so its a lot easier
I run gasfitters/teflon tape under mine so I can do them up tihgt enough so they don't 'flex' towards the grips when squeezed but they still rotate around the bars in a crash.
@taletotell Tap might be the wrong word for it, bash might be a better word. It require as much force as in the video to move it a slightly. If it moves without any direct pressure, then its not tight enough. The key word is that its tight enough not to move when u use it, but it will give way in a crash. After that I don't have to adjust it at all for as long as I use it, which is months between maintenance.
That is the way my brother feels. I just can't find the sweet spot. More power to you for being able to do it. Maybe the way I pull my levers encourages rotation.
I don't have the newer hope brake mines about a year old, and its not loose so i can grab it and rotate it around the bars just so if i fall it moves, i have already fell on it once and it works wonderful.
obviously he takes longer then 3 minutes to explain it... c'mon if you got all of it in your mind and run through the checks you won't take longer then 3 minutes... haters...
This is unacceptable! Why is RC doing all his own "stunts"? Come on PB get him an assistant, he's earned one. Atleast get someone with a board to show which number he's on. Like Ariana from the UFC or the like. Lol. Great vid and instructions.
Tip DONT HOLD THE FRONT BRAKE WHEN CHECKING THE HEADSET. Find a solid wall or something solid and flat you can put your front wheel up against. sometimes pads can be a bit loose in the caliper and will fake you into thinking its the headset. then you will over tighten your headset and thats never good!
If that's the quality that RC will bring to Tech Tuesdays then I for one think he'll be a welcome addition. Although I do miss the goofy out-takes bonuses at the end of the videos!
For those that have them, check your QR skewers. When hubs are correctly adjusted they should have a small amount of play in them that the dropouts should remove under correct side compression. While mounted, put the wheel between your hands and hold the frame or fork. Use your thumbs to move the wheel back and forth. If there is play, your skewers are not tight enough and can cause your bearings to eat your cone/hub.
A better way to check for headset looseness is to turn the handlebars 90 degrees, pull the brake, and rock. There should be hardly any play... the brakes aren't a factor and the only other suspect is your front fork.
is it really necessary to explain this stuff to people? i find it as useful as eg. an advice to get a decent meal before you go out riding so you don't get hungry too soon.
Yeah but he doesnt actually do the checks properly just gives you 1 demonstration and talks about it at the same time, so it would actually take even longer than 6 minutes...
Mike's an awesome guy with lots of experience and can shred like there's no tomorrow. Richard Cunningham is a pretty big deal, but Mike is the tech Tuesday guy.
because the position of your seat plays a huge role on how you position yourself on the bike, if you slam the seat you tend to squat more with your legs and keep your weight farther back, when the seat is raised high you tend to keep your legs much straighter moving you weight forward into a much more aggressive position, thats atleast my experience with it, but watch any WC rider they sit down between sections to catch a breath, seats are very important.
You're supposed to use your thighs on your seat a lot to move the bike around or stabilize it when you ride. If the seat is too high it will hit you when the bike moves back and forth. If it's too low your seat will touch your legs closer to your knees where there isn't much meat and it gets uncomfortable real quick...
what happened to the other tech guy... NO OFFENCE R.C BUT......... you explained very well a few good things to quickly look over before riding but you did not explain very well at all what to do if you were to encounter any problems with what you just checked up on,,,, i think you need to slow down a little, not try to pack a million things into a short video... if you want to talk about all of those things it needs to be longer than 3 minutes so you can explain - "what to do if"...
You kept saying... if thats good move on to this... if thats good move onto this.... well what if that wasn't good... not a very good tech video i'll say that much...
and if anyone decides to negative prop this maybe you should first write a letter into p.b asking if you could meet with R.C so you could literally suck his d*** rather than just brown nosing his A hole
Pedo !!!? very very uncool word to use for anyone unless they actually are a pedo - this bonerbreath [ thebiblemen ] obviously doesn't have a brain to think with before opening his retarded mouth and making such an incredibly stupid comment - on the other hand he is from Mississauga a suburb of Toronto where all Toronto's garbage is kept - and by the way idiot, since you seem to think how some one looks is a mark of being cool, why don't you look in a mirror, and then let us all know what a moron looks like...
1. He didn't check for tight hubs. 2. He said NOTHING about making sure your brakes actually work. Yeah, your levers might be on the bars, do will they stop your tubby self from eating that tree? 3. When checking for play in the front end, a couple HUGE possibilities he didn't check: -Bushing play in the fork -Calipers secured tightly 4. Why does a 3-minute bike check last 6 minutes, 40 seconds? 5. Taking a deep breath for step 5: not really that funny or useful. Come on now, this really is NOT that hard. 6. Wait until your wheel is 3 or 4 mm out of true? That's pretty floppy if you ask me. 7. Don't try to straighten a derailleur hanger. It just doesn't work. 8. Seems like it's easier to get bars straight when you're standing over the bike. That way what ever way feels straight for you when you ride will probably seem straight when you're making adjustments.
Since you want to be fresh, Ill take a minute to refute some of your points -
1. Checking the wheel sort of implies the hub is free of play. He could have mentioned It I suppose, but anytime you check a rim for runout its assuming the hub is in check. 2. You might notice the bar pulling to the lever when you........I dont know, the second you pick up your bike. 3. Bushing play cant really be fixed pre ride, nor will it kill you if there is a little. If you notice bushing play- service your fork. 4. Because he's explaining things- you wont have to narrate aloud when you do yours. 5. Hes not a comedian, no harm no foul. 6. You dont need to true every ride, nor will you - 3mm is not very much. 7. Yes is does, next please. 8. You will likely do this entire check while standing next to your bike so it will be easy to stand over the bars. It can be done in a stand, the choice is yours.
"Taking a deep breath for step 5: not really that funny or useful. Come on now, this really is NOT that hard." we got ahead of ourselves and Step 5 was included in Step 4; so we needed to put something in there so people wouldn't freak out when we jumped from 4-6.
i have the same T too.
