[Closed] Should-be-easy bike maintenance that makes you scream

FD, RD and then brake caliper/pad/disc alignment in that order.

Bearings! Has stopped me in my tracks with my bike rebuild.

just tonight i have literally screamed cutting brake hoses. and sworn. sworn a lot.

Bleeding Avid brakes

Also fitting pads into Avid brakes!

APF

Changing the sprocket on my Rohloff. Doesn't matter how many times you read the manual, watch the videos.

There was blood, sweat, lots of swearing and then sending it off to be done. Grrr makes me mad just thinking about it.

Internal cable runs. It's always nice when the accessible areas to help steer the cable/hose in the right direction are left jagged. Cue cut fingers, blood, more swearing (a fair bit of which was certainly inventive) and general bad feeling towards the designer. I seriously thought about glue on hose guides.

Derailleurs and canti breaks also make the list

Anything that requires fitting a tool into a space that's been designed too small/awkward/inaccessible for said tool, step forward front mech cable clamp bolts hidden behind swing-arms, bolted cable stops under the top tube that nearly touch the down tube, and chainstay mounted calipers with rear bolts masked by seatstays.

+1 for fitting avid pads. Trying to get the pads to clip in to my old juicys was one of the most frustratingly annoying jobs I've ever done on my bike. The first one would usually go in on the first or second attempt, the second , pure random luck if the bike fixing gods were smiling on you or not.

I often find fitting new saddles a three handed job, dependent on your seat post clamp design, which can lead to much swearing and crawling around on the kitchen floor looking for the bolt

Oh, and bleeding formula breaks - much therapy needed after owning those

When I worked in the shop I used to hate replacing internal cable & housing runs on zestys as it sometimes involved dropping the forks from the head tube.

But the single most hateful job was any task that involved the bikes owner constantly nattering away to you/distracting you with how rad he was riding at the weekend as you try and repair whatever his cock-handiness had done to the bike/component in question

Bleeding rear XT brakes for the millionth time this month and still the lever comes back to the bar*/feels spongy*/lacks power*/is ok for one or two rides*

(*tick all that apply)

Mudguards

Changing and retightening an ebb....

My mate set off to do this the evening before a race...
Simple release tension, AU bugger can't get the bb out... Re fir swap out have beer, refit setup, nope that's in the wrong way round about 2 hrs later and it's all back together with the plastic spacer sat on the table.. Spacer fitted to toolbox, another beer cracked...

Front mechs have there moments.
Setting up Avid BB brakes can be a challenge too, many an expletive has been used there.
Shimano cup and come bearings I don't like either, mainly as I know the theory and know exactly how easy it should be yet can never quite get it right.

Simple one, but getting mtb bars perfectly straight since the move to long travel forks. Much harder to achieve, and i never feel like its quite right.

It's all fairly easy if...you have the right tools. My bike tinkering teeth were cut on BMX bikes. 1x large shifter 1x6mm allen key and a pair of pliers was all you needed. Fast forward 20 years and i need multiple allen keys, mutliple torx keys, cable cutters, rubber gloves, syringes and tubes, chain whips*, headset press* starnut intaller* and that's before i even attempted to replace the 3 different BBs i had. Needed three different tools for that happy task.

*didn't buy these - easy bodge and i'm sure i've left many one time tools out.

I used to wonder why folk would constantly swap/change parts/bikes on here. I think it's partly due to wanting to use the 'special' tools enough to feel they weren't a complete waste of money.

Replacing Avid BB7 pads.

Setting up gears.

Why is it that [i]adjusting[/i] gears is so much harder than [i]installing[/i] them?

Undoing quick links with cold hands. Especially if the chain is not sparkling clean. Should take seconds, has been known to take minutes and a lot of swearing.

Tapping the lower bolts back on my forks. Always think I've released the lowers, undo the bolt fully to pull them off, and find one or both of them is still connected.

Tubeless on my new bike 👿 . It's the first time its caused me problems.
Setting up and tweaking the rear mech. I still haven't worked out how to get it perfect, yet I can bleed brakes and rebuild forks.

Fitting the hard plastic chainstay protector to my commencal meta v4, even with the video guide.

I'm happy to bleed brakes, adjust mechs and set up tubeless, but the one thing that makes me want to punch a panda is threading internal cable routing.
It makes me froth like a demented honey badger after a line of Coke and a vinderloo.

Removing a tyre in the pouring rain and freezing cold even though it falls off the rim without 20psi in it in the workshop/garage/kitchen/living room if the missus isn't home.

Internal cabling, obviously.

Taping bars, if you're a perfectionist.

Anything and everything on other people's bikes that they've brought round for you to fix for them.

Bleeding formula brakes

I've still not managed to do the rear one properly

Mudguards +1.

I like taping bars, it's good therapy.
If it goes wrong, just take it off and do it again. No harm done.
Eventually, it'll be something that even just for a moment, is utterly perfect.

🙂

Mounting/adjusting saddles, ****ing hate it. Can never get the things sorted without fully undoing all the bolts and then no matter what I do I can't seem to get the saddle to sit quite right. When I do I find that something had snagged and when I sit on it the whole thing loosens off. Brings me out in a cold, angry sweat just thinking about it.

getting the inner tube caught in the bead of tight fitting road tyres followed by a large bang 2 miles down the road 😳

Must admit the Avid BB7s irritated me for being overly complex to change pads. Odd as once the pads are in they're a doddle to set.

Anything involving removing forks, mainly as I always try to get by leaving the levers on the bars and there's an inevitable tangle of bars, cable, me and bits of headset bouncing into the corner of the kitchen, picking up every bit of cat hair on the way.

Removing the pivot bearings from my Orange Alpine. Spent hours trying to bash them out with a hammer until the bearings disintegrated in the frame. Thank god they don't need replacing very often.

I'd expect that Orange post reported for deletion... You can swap the bearings with your beware hands in a swamp....

I really struggle to install/remove rear wheels with the bike in the stand 😳 upside down (the proper way!!!) it's easy peasy 😀

^I always leave the levers on the bars when dropping the fork out. It's fine as long as you take the front brake calliper of the fork lower first. Just let it hang over the front of the head tube.

My favourite annoying job is setting up brake pads on old fashioned cantis. You need five hands.

Servicing a hub, cleaning the cone to watch one of the ball bearings disappear down the plug hole.

Wheel truing, once you start, you can't stop. Ever.

Cup and cone hubs. Tighten, check, won't spin, loosen a gnat's cock, check, flaps around , tighten half a gant's cock, check, won't spin, throw against garage wall. Repeat.

Installing gears in easy as long as you set the rear derailleur limit screws before you put the chain on and fit the cable. Nip up the cable with the derailleur in the smallest cog and then BINGO, you're pretty much done. A bit of B-tension adjustment to ensure the upper jockey wheel clears the largest cog and you're ready to ride.

Alfine sprocket Removal, I expect there is a special tool that makes this job easy. Annoyingly, doing without is just not quite impossible...which means I wont be buying the tool. Instead I'll stand there for hours trying to tease that bloody snap ring off until finally it fires off across the garage. Then I'll spend another few hours finding it and another few hours getting it back on.

Fitting chain guides.

Getting the chainline right on 1x11.

Bar tape is about the only one which really irritates me - because I am too much of a perfectionist, and it's a subjective thing rather than being right or wrong. Even stuff like front mechs which are hard to dial in precisely don't result in anywhere near the same level of angst.

Rapid rise. There's not much on a bike I can't do, but I will never succesfully adjust a rapid rise mech.

Oh and B-screws. But nobody understands b-screws, so I just do what everyone else does, fanny about with it at random til it's not obviously terrible.

B-screws, really? You wind it in until the top jockey runs into the sprocket and then wind it out a little so that it doesn't. Check across the whole cassette, running the chain both ways, and forwards under load from the brake and if it runs into any of the sprockets just wind it out a little more. Oh and also remember to try all chainrings (for those not running 1x) - sounds like a lot of things to try, but you'll soon work out which sprocket/chainring combination is the critical one. A job I find quite satisfying as it just involves selecting how much to turn a screw and it's either right or wrong.

Most of these things are just a matter of a little practice: setting up gears, maintaining hub cones and even truing wheels are all generally straightforward once you've done them enough or learned a trick or two. Slightly surprised that BB7 pads keep cropping up, though. I've always found this takes about 30 seconds with a pair of needle-nose pliers.

Installing the conical washers that Specialized like to use instead of a normal DU bush and spacer set up. Their hard enough to do when it's just a frame, but when there's cables and other bits in the way I get a bit grumpy!

Removing / installing / adjusting shocks on the old Spech Demo's. Pain to do and made worse by those silly washers.

Tubeless valves...they always, always leak, no matter what I do. I've taken pliers to the stem lockring in desperation, only for the valve bed to shear and for me to pull a valve out of the hole.

A partial solution is to drill out the valve hole of the rim so that a Schraeder valve will fit as these tend to be more robust. I'm of the opinion that all Presta valves must be consigned to the forgotten parts bin of obsolete standards.

That said, I couldn't bring myself to take a Black & Decker to my brand new Stan's rims...sure as anything, the Presta valves are happily leaking sealant into the inside of the rims.

Setting up mechanical gears is just a pretty simple series of steps. Just start at the beginning and work your way through. Though can be maddening with old cables so if it's not working swap them out.

Got a job coming up that I suspect might make me scream. Wiring up Di2 on a time trial bike. Threading through all the bar assembly and a frame that wasn't designed for electronic wiring. Expecting a frustrating few hours work 😕

I have roller brakes and a Nexus gears so having to be fix a rear puncture makes me shout swear words out loud.

Also anything to do with skinned knuckles - ie

Tightening cranks (with too-short multitool)
Removing cassette for cleaning

mrblobby : Get yourself a [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/park-tool-ir-1-internal-cable-routing-kit/rp-prod142346 ]Park IR-1 Internal Cable Routing Kit[/url], makes a tiresome job so much easier

somafunk, tempting... but 45 quid for what'll probably be a one off. I'll see how I get on.

Fitting and removing saddles. It's a million times more difficult than it should be.

Internal routing and bleeding Avids. Even as a professional mechanic these would frustrate me!

PJM1974 - Member

Tubeless valves...they always, always leak, no matter what I do. I've taken pliers to the stem lockring in desperation, only for the valve bed to shear and for me to pull a valve out of the hole.

You could try the superstar/WTB valves if you've not already- they have a bigger cone "plug" than others so they're very forgiving. Mine have always sealed up with just finger tightness (I've heard that overtightening is as likely to cause leaks as undertightening? Never tried it) But mostly leaks with stans-type rims at the valve are from taping- there's loads of different theories about cutting the valve tape but imo just using a scalpel and cutting a circle using the hole as your guide can't be beat.

Rotor Cranks, removal and replacement.

Fills me with dread [i]every[/i] time I go near them.. And they're on both Roadie and CXer..

Rotor Cranks, removal and replacement.

Haha, they're part of my new build too! Got to swap them over. Quite often take them off to change chainrings too, and other than the reverse thread thing on the pinch bolt, I don't think they're that bad.

[quote=nairnster ]Simple one, but getting mtb bars perfectly straight since the move to long travel forks. Much harder to achieve, and i never feel like its quite right.

http://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/tune-ensures-perfect-bar-alignment-with-lasers/

For Mindmap3, the trick to fitting Specialized shocks with the conical washers is to make a dummy shaft just a smidge narrower than the assembly, which then holds them in place until they're into the slot, then tap it through with the monting bolt. Had the screaming ab-dabs on the first one I worked on, took almost no time on the next one using the shaft.

What about those little screw-like plastic covers on Shimano shifters? How many times I had to move the washing machine to get that little bas#£rd from below...

My Process came with cup n cone hubs . I found the best solution , buy a pair of Hope Hoops ! 🙂
I left that shizz behind when I was 10 can't be doing with it now !

Cup and cone on a road bike however, well worth any additional perceived effort.

Changing chainrings when the bolts just spin rather than tighten up and you don't have the wee tool.

Cheap headsets that are either stiff or wobbly and nothing inbetween.

nairnster - Member
Simple one, but getting mtb bars perfectly straight since the move to long travel forks. Much harder to achieve, and i never feel like its quite right

Easy, looking down at the bars, close one eye and line up the back of the bars with the front of the fork crowns. You can see which side has a gap and tap the bars into perfect allignment.

Chain guides are a PITA. Especially when involving Raceface or SRAM cranks & the utterly crap self extracting bolt design.

At least SRAM show some thought to the design and put the bolt on the NDS so you don't have to wrestle it all together only to find the guide is rubbing.

Shimano any day, to make life easy 🙂