Yesterday, I took a basic maintenance course at the REI in Chula Vista. They provide this course to customers completely free of charge. I don't have any bicycle maintenance experience so going to this class was very informative. a lot of the resources covered are online but going there first hand and seeing it helped out a lot. we covered a lot of things in the two hours. richard, the master tech was the one that was in charge of the whole course. he's a funny. he seemed so in a hurry to cover all the topics and kept on dropping things on the ground.
richard first covered the quick release. he showed us how to install and remove the front and rear tire. the thing that i learned about the quick release was that i didn't have to take out the bolt completely. all i had to do is lift the lever up and unscrew the bolt and remove the tire. and when installing the tire back onto the bicycle it needs to be on straight so it won't run against the brake pads. the tension is also important. u don't want to tighten it too much, just enough tension that my palm and close the quick release. he pointed out that some tires are directional, so i would need to pay attention to the placement of the tire.
next we covered tubes and removal of the tire. he showed us that its not really necessary to use tire levers to remove the tire from the tube. you can just forceful remove the bead from the tire making sure you start at 180 from the valve. Richard said that having tire levers can be handy if you can't remove the tires with your hands. to put back the tube in the tire, you would need to inflate it a bit first... then with the tire somewhat on the rim carefully align the valve inside the rim and slowly place the tube between and the wheel. once done you can continue putting the tire bead on the rim. the last step is just to pump the tube to its recommended pressure.
which led us to a discussion about tire pressure and what is adequate... usually mountain bike tires require less pressure than road tires. road tires are skinnier and require more pressure. the guy said its good to fill up the tires once month... but i usually do it before a ride. i think its best to check the pressure before going out so you wont worry about the being flat.
he also showed us how to lube and clean up chain. it's pretty easy... go to the lowest gear while the tire is suspended. he recommended a product called white lightning. its a wax that prevents dirt from going on the chain and lubes. its like a 2 in 1 product. wipe down all the junk from the chain and move the chain while applying the lube onto the chain.
the tech quickly went over the installation of brake pads. he went so quick that i can hardly remember... i think i might have to just service my brakes at REI or any bicycle shop when the time comes.
patching flat tire with a patch kit is a pretty easy. but id rather just replace the tube with a new one. first finding the hole can be a task. then you have to sand down the hole to make sure its smooth and apply the glue. after applying the glue add the patch. then you can slowly inflate the tube and insert it into the tire.
the REI Basic Maintenance course was very informative and a lot of that information can be found online. seeing it in person helps out a lot. the class felt a bit rush since we had to cover a lot of topics. it was longer than expected but all in all it was a good time.
No comments:
Post a Comment