Quick Release Lubrication

One of the things that we've been noticing more of recently is "cam" style quick release skewers in dire need of lubrication.  This a real safety issue.  Many people know the guiding rule of adjusting the quick release tension: make it tight enough that the effort to close the lever leaves the impression of the lever on the palm of your hand.  If the barrel in the center of the lever's cam is rusting, however, the effort you are feeling is as much the corrosion putting up a fight as it is actual tightening of the wheel into the frame or fork.  Not good! If you see corrosion, lubricate as you see in this first illustration.  Otherwise, lube these pieces once a year anyway for good measure.

The old school quick release, where the lever turns inside of the skewer's cap, also needs lubrication. The best way to service these is to remove the skewer from the bike and feed some lubricant into the seam between the cap and the center.  Now swing the lever back and forth a few times until you see a little lube working itself through from the inside to the lever on the outside.  Remember that when you put the lever back into the wheel, the springs should be narrow end toward the axle!

Bike Repair Class Wrenches Again

The Tuesday night bike class will begin again on September 15 at 6:30. These are four Tuesday sessions that cover everything from basic care and feeding through derailleur adjustment and cable installation, brake adjustment and pad maintenance and even wheel trueing. The cost is $100 and includes the use of the shop stands and tools, class notes, etc. Each four night session is limited to 5 people, so slots go quickly! Any questions or interest, e-mail Scott at scott@bluewheel.com,

Thanks!

Scott

My 8 minutes and 12 seconds of fame!

More from the C-ville Weekly Best Of.  Scott is featured on the C-ville Weekly web site with video blogs from some of the best of C-ville winners!  Learn how to fix a flat and marvel at how Scott can take a four minute task and turn it into an 8 minute video.

Corrosion Can Eat You Alive

All right campers, we're finally getting into the dog days of Summer here. One of the lesser known details in the care and maintenance of your bike is the remarkable amount of sweat that we all generate. I know that this comes as a real surprise to some. A great deal of that sweat gets trapped under your handlebar tape. Some of us have more corrosive sweat than others—really, some of the nicest people I know are really corrosive underneath. When that sweat gets under the bar tape, it can react violently with the handlebar itself as you can see in the pictures below:

I know that we are all trying to save money wherever we can, but new handlebar tape is less than $20. Replace your tape once a Summer and carefully inspect the handlebar for corrosion and you will avoid the greater expense of having to replace that handlebar, or even the much greater expense of going to the hospital when the corroded bar breaks! When you do re-tape the bar, look not just for the obvious corrosion, but clean the handlebar and look for any less obvious pitting that may have occurred. The greatest corrosion is usually in the zone where the brake/shift levers were attached as they will trap a lot of moisture at the top of their assembly. A bar that shows signs of pitting or any depth to the corrosion should be replaced immediately.

While you are on the sweat kick, take a look at all of the cable routings. Especially check out the brake cable housing ends since these more often stop directly into a frame fitting rather than into a threaded adjuster. The metal housing end caps will often corrode themselves permanently into place if not periodically removed and replaced. The frame fitting itself will begin to corrode and, if left unchecked, the frame itself can be compromised. The threaded derailleur adjusters will need to be periodically removed and the threads re-greased as well. The road brake calipers have a threaded adjuster built into the arm which receives the housing and this piece will also corrode. A little dab of grease in the socket for the housing and a little grease on the threaded fittings goes a long way to combat these problems.

Brakes– Maintenance vs. Adjustment

With the brakes, there will actually be very little adjustment and much more maintenance. Once the brake itself is centered to the rim and the brake shoes are likewise centered, the brake will tend to stay where you put it—assuming you remembered to properly tighten everything! Whereas many stem and seatpost bolts are tightening carbon fiber components and you must be aware of the torque specification on those parts, these basic nuts and bolts are generally pretty durable and can be tightened as tight as you are comfortable turning. Just remember how bad a day it could be to have a brake or a brake shoe fall off.

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