Mike’s Maintenance Monday: Removing/installing a cassette

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Mike

Mike

Knowing how to properly install and change a cassette can be a very useful skill! It will not only save you time and money; it will also give you the option of changing your gears for different terrain or replacing a worn-out cassette. The average cassette will usually outlast 4-5 chain replacements, as long as you change your chain before it becomes too stretched out and wears into your cogs.

Tools you’ll need for this job:
• Chain Whip
• Lockring Tool
• Crescent Wrench

Removing the cassette:

You start by taking the rear wheel out of your bike and removing the quick-release skewer. Once you have the skewer out of the hub, you will see a lockring with some splines that is holding the cassette onto the freehub body. If you take your lockring tool, insert it into the splines and try to untwist, you will quickly see why the chain whip is necessary.

The chain whip grabs hold of the cassette, allowing you to unscrew the lockring without causing the freehub body the “coast.”

Locrking toolInsert the lockring tool into the lockring. Wrap the chain whip around a gear (wrap it around one of the bigger gears for more leverage) so that you can hold it and ensure the freehub doesn’t coast. Then use your crescent wrench to unscrew the lockring.

Now that you have removed the lockring, you should be able to easily slide the cassette off the freehub body. Most cassettes will have some individual cogs, spacers and a couple clustered cogs. Be careful not to lose any of the spacers or cogs.

Sometimes you will have some “cassette bite” on the freehub body. This is where the cassette cogs dig into the freehub body a little. This is fairly normal, but it might make it more difficult to remove the cassette.

Installing the cassette:

Reinstalling the cassette is very easy, and manufacturers have designed the cogs so there is no way for you to put them on backwards. They have done this by having one smaller spline on the freehub that lines up with a corresponding notch on the cog. If you try to put the cog on backwards, the splines won’t line up and you won’t be able to slide it onto the freehub body.

The only thing you need to do is put the spacers in between each cog and make sure you slide the largest cog on first. Then put the next smaller one on until you put the very smallest cog on last.

Now that you have all the cogs installed, you can thread the lockring on. For this step, you don’t need the chain whip. You simply tighten the lockring down with the lockring tool and crescent wrench. Since you are tightening it in the same direction as the pedaling force, it won’t coast.

Most cassettes have little teeth that make it feel notched as you are tightening the lockring down. Those are there to help the lockring stay tight during regular riding conditions. So go ahead and tighten the lockring down snug; you should feel some of those notches in your wrench.

After you have tightened the lockring down, grab the cassette and wiggle it to see if any of the cogs are loose or rattling. If they are, that means that you either forgot a spacer, have the wrong size cassette or have some issue that is not allowing the cassette to seat right.

Got something to add? Leave a comment below!

Check out our video on cassette installation.

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I Love My Fuji Declaration

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Rob

I have been riding an undersized Schwinn for 10 years or so. After the wreck in the tour of Utah Ultimate Challenge and the guys at work giving me a hard time about the rear hub not making the right noises, I decided it was time for a new bike. A new bike is always a tough sell with my significant other, so I took the “it is only a certain number of tanks of gas” approach, which seemed to work. It was a much easier sell than I anticipated, and I ended up with A Fuji Declaration — a stylish, single-speed commuter that also has a fixed gear option. Our resident fixie rider at work has been trying to get me to switch, but I am not sold on that yet.

I rarely need more than one gear with my flat commute, so a single-speed is perfect. I have loved the simplicity of getting on a bike and pedaling. I feel a lot stronger after about 2 months of riding it, which is probably due to my legs adjusting to pushing a slightly higher gear than I would have otherwise.

I’m surprised that I enjoy the flat handlebar as much as I do. Maybe it’s the more relaxed geometry, but I really enjoy it, and it provides a much more relaxing ride with minimal back pain.

Since I am better at riding a bike than writing about it and my writing is not doing justice to just how great the bike is, I thought I would do a video. There is even a full-length cameo featuring yours truly.

On a separate note, I am running a 100k ultramarathon at Antelope Island (Great Salt Lake) this weekend. I get more than a little bit of ribbing from my co-workers, but that is not enough to stop my running. Are there any runners out there who also bike, or who are torn between the two?

Keep riding,

Rob

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Paul’s Peloton: Utah Cyclocross Cross Out Cancer

Posted on October 28, 2011 by Paul

October 22 was the second annual UTCX Cross Out Cancer fundraiser benefiting the Huntsman Cancer Institute and Livestrong. As you may remember from a post a few months ago, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time earlier this year, so it seemed that Cross Out Cancer would be another good event for me to participate in.

After competing in my first cross race a couple of weekends ago, I was feeling pretty good going into the event. It was held at Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake City, where I arrived about 40 minutes prior to my race start time to get in a couple of warm-up laps and to become familiar with the course. I quickly learned that this course was going to be A LOT more challenge then the course I had previously raced.

Along with the challenge, though, came some amazing riding. The course was complete with some beautiful single track, a terrible sand pit and, of course, some barriers and run ups.

Paul shoulders his bike

Photo by Brent Asay

Let me tell you a little more about the sand I mentioned above. This sand was brutal! I have never ridden through sand before, and it surprised me how difficult it really was. There were a number of riders who had no problem handling their bike through it, but I was not one of them. And despite having put a lot of miles on my legs this year, I have not ran at all. I hate running; perhaps my favorite thing about riding my bike is that I am not running, but during this race at the sand I had to run. I shouldered my bike and ran what  felt like a mile but was probably closer to 100 yards (if even that long).

On the second lap, my cheering section was standing right alongside the sand. As I dismounted and shouldered my bike, I heard my mom yell, “Come on Paul, don’t let that sand slow you down!” And let me tell you, even at 27 years old, I still never want to let my mother down. So I gave it all I had.

I have heard it said many times that cyclocross is all about the suffering, and I will be the first to admit I reached my suffering point and loved it. Cross racing is great. The atmosphere at the UTCX events is very laid back and welcoming. If you have never given cross a try, I highly recommend it. But beware: it is extremely addicting.

Special thanks to Brent Asay for the photos from Cross Out Cancer.

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Mike’s Maintenance Monday: Washing your nasty helmet

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Mike

MikeHere is another quick tip for the end of the season (or beginning of the cross season). I’m not sure where I picked up this idea, but I’m sure I wasn’t the first to use it. If your bike helmet is getting greasy and dirty, this is a quick, easy way to clean it with hardly any effort!

Tools you’ll need for this job:

  • Shower
  • Shampoo
  • Hair (sorry if you’re bald)

This is painfully easy and quick. Next time you take a shower, take your helmet with you. When you get to the shampoo step (which is step two in my routine), simply plop the helmet on your head that is lathered up with shampoo. Move it around a bit and scrub the straps with shampoo. Then rinse the helmet with it still on your head and when you take it off.

If your helmet was really gnarly, you might want to wash your hair a second time without the helmet…

That’s it! Pretty dang easy!

You have a different method? Leave a comment below.

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Movin’ on up (literally)

Posted on October 20, 2011 by Bikewagon

The soon to be home of BikewagonWe’re happy to announce that Bikewagon is packin’ up its wares and moving to a new building! Since its inception about five years ago, Bikewagon has grown by leaps and bounds. We’re heading to a newer, nicer, bigger place where we can continue to grow and improve.

Along with having more office space and more warehouse space, we’re especially pleased to announce that we will be opening up a larger retail space at our new location! That means all you friends in the SLC area can come in any time and browse more of our bike parts and accessories offline. We’ll work on your bike, too.

WarehouseHow cool is that? It’s like the digital world and the analog world combining to form one really awesome world where all of your wildest dreams come true! Okay, maybe not all of your wildest dreams, but at least a few.

So where are we going? Just a few blocks north. This will be our new address:

680 W 200 North
North Salt Lake, UT 84054

We aren’t there yet, but we’ll be moving in a week or two. Then when the retail space is up and running, we’ll let you know.

So with that said, please enjoy this video. We don’t know these guys, but man, do we love their groove.

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Mike’s Maintenance Monday: Stan’s NoTubes Tubeless Conversion Kit

Posted on October 17, 2011 by Mike

MikeI know this is a little late, but this is a perfect post for cyclocross season! Stan’s No Tubes has a wide variety of tubeless conversion kits that take a lot of the guess work out of setting up your tubeless tires with non-UST rims. Here’s a quick run-through on how to set your wheels up.Stan's NoTubes conversion kit

Tools you’ll need for this job:

  • Some “skinny” tire levers
  • Hands
  • Stan’s NoTubes Tubeless conversion kit
  • Patience
  • Air compressor, CO2 pump or floor pump

First step:

Pull your old tires and rim strip off your wheels and make sure the rim is clean of any dirt. If it’s dirty, clean it up using a clean rag with some rubbing alcohol on it and strip any residue off the rim. Apply the Stan’s rim tape to cover up the spoke holes before adding the rubber valve strip.

Second step:

Put the first half of your tire on the bead. It will be really tight because of the rubber rim strip, so it will probably be necessary to use your tire lever to get the last bit of the tire over the rim. Once you have the first half of the tire over the rim, start putting the second half of the bead over the rim starting at the opposite side from the valve.

Once you get to the last bit of the tire, add your sealant into the tire. Carefully let the sealant slide around to the other side of the tire that is already on the bead so it doesn’t spill while you work the last part of the tire over the rim. Again, this could be pretty tight, so use a couple of “skinny” tire levers and be sure to exercise your patience here! I found out the hard way that skinny levers are WAY easier to work with than fatter ones.

Third step:

Once you have the tire completely on the wheel, you need to pump up the tire. I recently used a floor pump and found that it worked just fine. So I would try that first, and if that doesn’t work, use either your air compressor or CO2 cartridge.

Fill it up to the maximum PSI for the tire and work the bead around the tire to set into the rim. While you’re doing this, shake the tire around to let the Stan’s seal around the bead. You will usually need to pump your tire up a few times and shake the sealant around for a couple of minutes before it completely seals. Once it is all sealed up, take your bike for a quick spin, keeping an eye on the tire pressure. If it loses pressure, pump it back up and continue spinning around ’til it stops losing pressure!

After doing these steps, you should have a good seal and be ready to rip the trails or race some ‘cross!

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Paul’s Peloton: Time for some cross

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Paul

I am sure someone out there has thought to himself, “Hey, I wonder what happened to that Paul guy. I bet he gave up and is just sitting on the couch right now.” Well shame on you for thinking that.

The truth is, I am a slacker at writing this blog, but I have not given up on my weight loss. In fact, I feel great–so great that I had the crazy idea that I should sign up and race in the series opener for Utah Cyclocross this past Saturday, and I am here to tell you that it was awesome.

Going into the race, I was extremely nervous about how I was going to get myself off the bike, over a couple of barriers and then back on the bike and running again. My buddy, Mike (who is a seasoned racer), assured me that I would be fine and took me out for a little dismount/mount practice. After a few tries I felt pretty confident.

I arrived at the race about 45 minutes early to pre-ride the course and get a feel for how my bike would handle on the dirt/gravel/grass/foam (yes, I really said foam; there was a machine that covered a small section of the course in foam). During my warm-up, things felt pretty good, and then I came upon some stairs that the course markers directed me to go up. I had prepared myself to jump barriers, but stairs? That was a whole other story. The stairs proved to be my friend during the race, however, because on them I was able to pass my first fellow racer.

The race was a 40-minute circuit race. That doesn’t sound so bad, but as one of my fellow Clydesdale racers told me while waiting at the starting line, “This is going to suck.” When you are giving all you’ve got and all your training rides took place on asphalt, the  dirt/gravel/grass/foam combo is killer. But I am happy to say that I finished the race and cannot wait for my next cross race.

Well, back to the weight loss: I have plateaued at right about 25 lbs lost and plan to work hard through the winter in order to drop the last 25 lbs. I have already started getting in some rides on the indoor trainer as the sun is going down pretty early now. The problem with the trainer is that it quickly becomes very boring, so if you have any advice on how to stay motivated on the trainer and through the winter in general, I would love to hear them.

Enjoy the ride!

Paul

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More Bike Racing Than Commuting, or What I did On My Summer Vacation.

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Rob

Rob's Commuting ChroniclesRob has been busy. (Okay, I have been busy–I write my own blog.) Now that summer is over and the kids are in school I can finally sit down and write a blog post.

1. The Tour

How awesome was Cadel? I skipped the morning commute one morning, got up early and went to a local movie theater with my brother and 300 of our closest friends and watched the Alpe D’Huez stage. I really tried to think of how that related to bike commuting but could not come up with anything. Those guys are incredible. That was the best stage that I have seen in a few years. I also walked out feeling like a little kid who wanted to be a pro bike racer when he grew up. That feeling has not left me.

2. The Other Tour (no, not the one in Colorado; the one in our great state of Utah)

Since this was in our own backyard we got to see the prologue and the circuit race on the second-to-last day. I had my two sons with me and the racing was intense as the peloton and Radio Shack let a huge 25-rider breakaway get a big lead. Radio Shack tried to bring the break back, and in the last couple of laps it was only the top two Radio Shack guys, Levi and Jani. They did not disappoint, and the action the entire day was non-stop. You could not ask for anything else as a fan.

3. My First Crash

Before I left New Jersey I committed to ride the Tour of Utah Ultimate Challenge with a good friend. The Ultimate Challenge replicates the last stage of the Tour of Utah and is supposed to be brutal. The week before I ran a very tough ultramarathon 50k in Snowbird (The speedgoat 50k), so mentally I was a little tired. The ride got off to not the best start, as I did not wear enough clothing (which was not a big deal as I only froze for the first hour) and had a flat tire, which I did not realize until I started rolling out. The flat tire meant that I was not able to ride with my friend.

About 17 miles in to a 96-mile ride and after the first climb of the day (a very moderate climb by the way), I was descending and came upon a group on the side of the road. I wanted a little more room, so I veered about a foot to the left while descending about 35mph. It was into the sun and I did not see the 1- or 2-inch drop in the road from the new road construction. After about 10 years of riding a bike I finally went down hard. I landed on my right hip and somehow managed to slide on my back, get a cut on the top of my left foot and a tear off a few layers of skin on my right pointer finger. That’s in addition to road rash in the usual spots (right knee and elbow).

Rob's wounds

A small sampling of the damage to Rob's body.

What I took away from the crash was how fast my mind was racing, trying to determine if I should keep riding. I also learned about the importance of carrying first aid supplies and learning the proper way to descend. I guess accidents happen, but I keep thinking that if I was more comfortable descending and riding in a group, I would have held my line instead of giving myself extra space. I definitely had the fitness to finish the ride but should have worked more on the bike handling skills.

With the lessons learned from the summer and summer turning to fall, I am back commuting and am finding that the commute itself if reason to keep smiling. Sure, it is fun to be a fan and to watch the pros go at it, but having the chance to ride to work is reward enough for me.

Rob

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Rob’s Commuting Chronicles: Cycling Etiquette

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Rob

Rob's Commuting ChroniclesOn my ride in to work yesterday morning (which I now discovered is 12.5 miles, thanks to a new CatEye wireless bike computer), I was feeling pretty good and got on the bike path about 30 or 40 feet behind someone on a time trial bike. It was a good carrot and I was able to keep him in my sights and gradually began reeling him in (I probably got some extra speed from following the Tour this week).

As I got closer, I thought about sitting up and just following closely but then decided to go to the big chain ring and chase him down. As I pulled up to him, I moved to the left, and as I was riding even with him shouted out, “On your left.” He mumbled something and started stomping his gears to pull ahead. I was already maxed out and was not going to catch him, so I just kept up the pace and made it to work. I had a good chuckle because I absolutely have no idea what he said. It got me thinking about cycling etiquette and some of the mind games that cyclists sometimes play on the road.

As a commuter, I am generally good about listening to my music and not getting sucked in to mind games, but at our lunch time ride it is “game on.”  After a quick Google search, here are my top 5 (Okay so I only came up with 4. Note to self: don’t write blog post at the end of the day.) pieces of etiquette that a commuter should follow on the road.

  1. Approach any group of riders with extra caution, since the stupidity of a group of humans seems to rise exponentially with the number of people in the group.
  2. Ride right; pass left. Call it out if you can (with a smile, if possible).
  3. Claim the Lane.
  4. Have fun on your commute. Think of it as recess, and ride like you are 12 years old again. Relish the fact that you are one of the lucky few that get to ride your bike to work. While this is not exactly etiquette, you are more likely to race the other guy when appropriate and not take yourself too seriously. Staying loose and fresh will also keep you focused, which will, in turn, keep you safe.

I just found the website www.commutebybike.com and have to say that it is a good resource for all things commuting. Check it out and then come back and visit Bikewagon.com when you are ready to take the plunge into the world of commuting.

Be on the lookout for my next post, where I try and figure out what cycling clothing and bike parts I am missing.

Happy commuting,

Rob

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Mike’s Maintenance Monday: Quick releases

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Mike

This might seem a little elementary, but I have seen too many quick releases installed incorrectly in my time working at bike shops. The quick-release skewer (often just called a ‘quick release’) is what holds your wheels to your bike. If they are installed incorrectly, it can be very dangerous.

Tools you’ll need for this job:

  • Hands

Installing the quick release:

Skewer on wheel

A properly installed skewer before mounting

First things first, always install the quick release with the lever on the non-drive side of the bike. This way the lever doesn’t interfere with the workings of the rear derailleur. Do the same on the front for uniformity. The two cone-shaped springs should be placed with one on either side of the hub. The narrower part of the spring should be touching your hub while the wider part should be touching the cam or nut. This will allow your quick release to float in between your hub, making it easier to install and remove. If you have the springs backwards, they will get caught between the hub and the frame, which could cause your wheel to sit crooked or possibly shift and loosen while riding.

Once you have the quick release on your wheel, you need to install the wheel on the bike. Once again, make sure the cam is on the left/non-drive side of your bike. Install the wheel, making sure it is completely seated into the dropouts. Now you’ll need to tighten the quick release.

Open quick release

Open (not tightened) quick release

To tighten the quick release, hold the nut with one hand and tighten the lever clockwise with the other hand. As the nut and cam get closer to the dropouts, start testing the tension on the cam. You must use the lever to tighten the cam! If you only tighten the QR by twisting the lever clockwise until it is tight, you haven’t sufficiently tightened the QR and it can loosen and fall off while you are riding! Once the cam starts to hit the hub, tighten the QR until the cam touches when the lever is about halfway closed. This should give you enough tension to keep your wheel tight in the dropouts, and hold in it your frame. It is important to make sure the QR is tight when it is closed.

Now that you know you are installing your wheels correctly, you can have some confidence in your bike staying together!

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