Cycling UK has produced a series of easily accessible video guides on maintenance and road safety. In this guide, we cover what to do if you run into a mechanical problem while out on your ride.
While out riding you might encounter problems with your bike but some of these issues can be easily solved, although you might need a multi-tool.
This video covers some of the most common problems, including:
• How to adjust your brakes
• How to adjust your gears
• How to fix a broken chain
Brake adjustment
After some miles of riding the tension in your brake cables can slacken or the brake pads wear down.
To fix this problem, you can use the barrel adjusters to move the brake pads closer to the rim of the wheel.
But remember to check the brake pad wear lines for signs they might need replacing.
Gear adjustment
During your ride you may find your gears don’t shift properly.
If the shifting feels slow and unresponsive, or there’s a crunching sound, it may be your gears are badly adjusted.
The gear barrel adjusters allow you to make small adjustments to the cable tension and which in most cases will solve your gear problems. The video shows you exactly how.
Broken chain
If your chain breaks on your ride, it’s not a disaster if you’re prepared and have some spares and tools with you.
You’ll need:
• A quick link
• A chain breaker tool
• A pair of quick link pliers (preferably)
You’ll need to locate and remove the broken link using the chain breaker tool, and ensure you have two inner links at each end of the chain.
You can attach the quick link using either a pair of quick link pliers, or by applying pressure to the pedals. The video shows you exactly how.
You can also check out our five handy written guides on bike maintenance. Fixing punctures is covered in the third guide, ‘Repairing a Puncture.’ It also contains useful information about quick release skewers and how to remove your wheel.
Packed with instructional diagrams and handy hints, it’s been designed to download on your phone as a reference guide you can take wherever you go.
You can also check out our five handy written guides on bike maintenance. Fixing a broken chain is covered in the fifth guide, ‘Repairing a broken chain.’ It will walk you through each step to help you get on your way.
Packed with instructional diagrams and handy hints, it’s been designed to download on your phone as a reference guide you can take wherever you go. https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/road-maintenance-guides
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While out riding you might encounter problems with your bike but some of these problems can be easily solved with just a multi-tool or using the bike’s barrel adjusters after some miles of riding the tension in the brake cables can slacken all the brake pads wear down
You’ll know this is the case when you have to fall hard on the brake lever before getting any traction to fix this problem twist the brake barrel adjuster counterclockwise to increase the cable tension you’ll find the barrel adjusters next to the brake levers close to the brakes themselves or both this will move
The brake pads closer to the wheel rim May find one brake pad rubs against the rim To fix it turn this screw clockwise on the affected side this will move the pad away from the rim if the brake pads are too far away from the rim turn the same screw anti-clockwise to move them closer while you’re adjusting your brakes take a look at your braking surfaces most
Brake pads have a wear line once it’s gone it’s time to replace the pads during your rides you may find your gears don’t shift properly if the shifting feels slow and unresponsive or there’s a crunching sound it may be your gears are badly adjusted when your gears are well adjusted the
Derailleur moves the chain perfectly into the gears as you click the shifter it requires the derailleur to line up perfectly with all the geared cogs on the back wheel when the derailleur is out of alignment then as you change gear the chain won’t sit properly on the cogs
And you’ll either get a crunching sound a delayed shift or no shift at all to fix this you need to fix the position of the derailleur using its barrel adjusters always make small incremental adjustments no more than a quarter turn before testing to see if you have
Resolved the problem if you find the gears won’t shift into the smaller sprocket or higher gear twist the barrel adjuster clockwise if it’s shifting from the smallest sprocket to the bigger one that’s giving you trouble twist the barrel adjuster to the anti-clockwise direction If your chain breaks during a ride it can be repaired on the roadside you’ll need a chain breaker tool and a quick link a pair of quick link pliers would be helpful maneuver the chain so the damaged area is at the bottom locates the broken link and remove it using the
Chain tool do this by placing the chain link into the front of the chain tool and turn the chain remover until it removes the pin Ensure you have two inner links at each end of the chain fit the quick link into each inner link and connect them together And you can either use pliers to tension the new link or rotate the chain so the quick link is located at the top then depress the rear brake and apply pressure to the pedals listen for a click as the quick link locks into place