- The good news is that we are nearly out of winter.
(laughs) Nearly.
The bad news is that we're not there yet.
And our bikes are probably starting to show the strain.
So coming up, we've got six things that you can do
that will not only keep your bike on the road in the winter,
but perhaps more importantly
will save you a tonne of cash come summer.
So we're gonna greasing bearings,
we're gonna be checking for premature wear,
and we're also gonna see just how much water
we have inside our frames.
(bright, rhythmic horns music)
We're gonna start with our headset bearings
of which we have two, here and here.
And they are what allow your handlebars
to turn freely and smoothly.
Except that if you ride a lot in winter
and particularly if you store your bike somewhere cold,
say like your garage or your shed,
they could well be in need of some TLC.
So.
Remove your front wheel.
Undo your top cap and remove.
Undo your stem bolts and then lift off the stem.
Hold your forks and then gentle tap your steerer tube
(metal clunks) to loosen that bit.
Lift that off too.
And then very carefully start to drop your front forks out.
This is where you might potentially get your ball bearings
all around your kitchen.
Now we need to assess the seam.
You can see there's a bit of water on the steerer tube here.
But actually everything looks like
it's in pretty good knit.
So we basically just need to take the bearings off,
give everything a good wipe down and a clean with a rag
and apply fresh grease that can act
as that water proof barrier.
You may well find though that your lower headset bearing
isn't actually attached to your forks,
but it's stuck inside the steerer tube.
So if that's the case, stick your fingers in
and try and pry it out.
It could be a bit stiff, especially
if it's been in there for awhile
and things have become a bit corroded.
But you should find that with a good clean with a rag
it will come up nicely.
To reassemble, simply reverse the process,
being careful to make sure that the bearings
are in the right direction.
So the tapered edge normally goes into the frame.
And then tighten up your headset and away you go!
(bright, rhythmic horns music)
In a similar vein, I also find that
my bottom bracket bearings are susceptible
to water and grit.
It's not as dodgy as it sounds.
And it's a simple process to re-grease them.
So it's definitely a job worth doing.
All you got to do is whip your cranks off.
Again, sounds dodgier than it is.
Exactly how you do that will depend on what cranks
that you have on your bike.
So Shimano generally means that you need to loosen
the two pinch bolts on the non-drive side crank,
and then unscrew the plastic preload cap.
Most of the cranks will probably require
an 8MM Allen key, like these ones here.
(metal scraping)
You need to pay careful attention
as to what washers and spacers you have in there
and what orientation they go in as well.
So keep a track of that.
Take photos, leave them out on your workbench.
(bright, upbeat rhythmic music)
So the bearings themselves are cartridge bearings
in this case.
And they're actually hidden by that blue seal there.
These are running really smoothly,
so all I'm gonna do is put a bit of grease
over the top here of this compression ring
and reassemble it.
But if the bearings were kind of a little bit
ruined already, I'd be tempted to very carefully
pry off that blue seal, expose the bearings,
then try and give them a clean up
and then put fresh grease in.
Just to hopefully keep them going a little bit longer.
(bright, rhythmic synthesiser music)
The toughest jobs are now out of the way.
This next one is effectively just to try and save you money.
Of all the parts of your drive train,
your chain is the one that wears first.
But then if you don't replace it quickly enough
it can then begin to prematurely wear
all the other drive train components as well.
So like your chain rings and your cassette.
And the thing with winter
is that it makes your chain wear out a lot faster;
all that water, all that grit.
So a simple job is just to check regularly
to see whether you need to replace it.
Either using a specific chain checker like this one,
or you go old school, you put the chain in the big ring,
if you have one, and then try and lift the chain
off the teeth.
Now if it moves three to four millimetres,
then you probably bore part need to replace the chain.
Anymore than that definitely replace it.
But then you might have to replace the chain rings
and your cassette as well, 'cause that is quite worn.
(bright, rhythmic synthesiser music)
This next one could save you money, but also,
stop you from having a nasty accident.
Which would be a bit of a bonus, right?
Whichever type of brakes you have on your bike
you need to check to make sure that they're
in good condition during the winter.
With rim brakes, inspect the pads for wear
So if they're up to or even over the wear line
you need to replace them.
Because that'll mean that you don't end up using
the metal pad holders to actually slow you down.
Because metal on metal
will make short work of your rims,
even just on the briefest of rides.
(glass and metal crashing)
(grass rustling)
And actually with that in mind you should probably also
inspect your wheels for wear anyway.
Winter miles just abrade the braking surface.
So if you have a look, make sure it's not concave.
Because if it does start to become too concave,
then that means there's effectively less material
on your rim, means it's gonna be a lot weaker.
With discs with you want to drop your wheel out
and then very carefully remove the pads.
In order to do so, you'll probably find that you got
to undo some kind of retaining screw.
Then you lift them out and then literally
just eyeball them, to see how much life
is left in the pad.
If there's anything less than a millimetre
of braking surface left, you want to replace them.
Once the pads are out, now is the perfect opportunity
to actually give the pistons
a bit of a once over as well.
Now John showed you how to do this in a video
just a couple of weeks back,
so we won't do the same job again.
But definitely a job worth doing.
(bright, rhythmic synthesiser music)
Long time viewers of GCN will have no doubt heard
my tales of seat post woe before.
But if you haven't then please heed this warning.
If you ignore your seat posts
and let it rest in your frame for too long
without treating it in some way,
it could end up getting completely seized.
Now carbon and carbon is generally okay,
but if there's any kind of metal involved,
that's where the problems can start.
And it can really, really get stuck.
As this archived footage in fact of Dan Lloyd
and his haircut,
trying to free this particular seat post, we'll show.
(easy going big band music)
Now it's such a simple job to prevent that
that when you're halfway through trying to free
a CC post and you've got a crowbar out and so forth,
you are really, really gonna wish that you'd done it.
All you got to do is remove the seat post,
give it a clean and then reapply either fibre grip
or some grease and then pop it back in again.
And that'll sort you out.
(bright, rhythmic synthesiser music)
Lastly, whilst your seat post is out,
'cause obviously you haven't put it back in yet have you?
Turn your frame upside down
and then go and make yourself a cup of tea.
(bright, rhythmic synthesiser music)
Water gets into your frame through little holes
that are essential to the manufacturing process.
And you obviously don't want to have
water sloshing around there anyway.
I mean look, that's like 15 grammes worth
on the floor right now.
But of course, having it all sloshing down
by your bottom bracket,
it's not gonna do that any good either.
And that's inevitably where it's going to end up.
And it's particularly true if you have a metal bike.
And I mean a steel bike more than anything,
so you really need to do this job from time to time.
And then go one step further as well
and spray a frame saver in there once a year.
So that's like a kind of water displacer and also
a rust repellent as well.
That is a great money saving tip.
I mean stopping your frame getting eaten
from the inside out.
It's definitely something we should all sign up for.
Six jobs then that should keep your bike running smoothly,
it comes to the end of winter and beyond.
Now you will of course have to keep on top of
the day to day running of it as well.
But if you neglect to do any of those
you may find yourself hit with a big bill
when it comes to your summer riding.
So bear that in mind.
Now I did talk earlier on about disc brake TLC.
I touched very briefly on it and mentioned that John
had done a video.
So why not watch that now if it's relevant to you
and you haven't seen it yet.
To do so, just click down there.