Snapping your chain can be a huge bummer if you don’t have what you need to fix it.
But if you have a long downhill ahead, you don’t need a chain.
Of course, this means you’ll be riding around with a circular saw blade with nothing covering
it.
As an extra measure of safety, you can wrap whatever chain you have left around your sprocket.
This might seem unnecessary, but I’ve heard some sprocket related horror stories.
Just measure the chain and use your chain tool to push the pin only halfway out.
From there you can separate the chain by hand, and snap it together around the sprocket without
the need for a quick link.
Aside from being safer, this also looks kinda cool.
Trail builders use a variety of tools to compact soil, particularly when working on jumps.
If you need something with a little extra surface area, you can make your own compactor
out of scrap plywood.
Find or cut a piece of plywood in whatever size you desire, and drill a hole on either
side.
Take a piece of string and feed it into the holes, tying the ends so that it will stay
in place.
Operating this device is quite simple, and although it doesn’t have the weight of a
purpose built compactor, it can get the job done with enough stomping power.
Given enough haste and carelessness, one can mangle the head of their thru axle to the
point where it’s stuck in the bike.
Not that any of us would do that.
But theoretically speaking, how would you get it out?
I’ll show you a few ways.
First of all grab a good hex wrench and try inserting it a little further, maybe even
giving it a couple taps.
Sometimes this will give you enough grab to turn the axle.
Still stuck?
Move on to plan B. Find a torx bit that’s just a little bigger than the mangled hole
you’ve created.
Carefully tap it into that hole until it’s hopelessly jammed in there.
Now, see if you can crack it loose.
By the way, there’s very little chance you’re going to damage a torx bit this way since
it’s made of steel, and your thru axle is made of soft aluminum.
One more way to extract a mangled thru axle is to make a thru axle extractor.
Find a hex wrench just a little bigger than the size your thru axle used to be.
Make sure it’s a cheap hex wrench because we’re going to destroy it.
Use a file or a grinder to taper the end so that it can be hammered into the thru axle.
It doesn’t need to be perfect, as you can see, but it certainly helps.
The next part is pretty self explanatory.
Hammering something into your bike might give you a queasy feeling, so hopefully this is
the last time you need to do it.
I think it goes without saying that from here, you’ll need to replace your thru axle.
A similar problem is a rounded stem bolt.
This can happen, but there’s an easy way to get it unstuck.
First, applying some penetrant doesn’t hurt.
Next, obtain a high quality hex wrench of the correct size.
Use that wrench to tighten the other stem bolt as much as you safely can.
This will make the other bolt easier to turn, so as long as it’s not hopelessly rounded
out, you might be able to jam a wrench in and unscrew.
If not you can move on to the Torx trick, although you might mark up your tool since
it’s going to be steel on steel.
It’s still better than a lot of the other alternatives.
I’m pretty good about keeping my valve stems tight, because in the past, I’ve had them
unscrew or even break off into hand pumps.
Not fun, and it turns out that very few people carry a valve core wrench.
But a lot of people have action cameras, and this little mount does a great job of turning
valve cores.
Just wedge it on there tighten it up, and consider double checking your valve cores
in the future.
If you lost that little rubber piece that holds your internally routed cable in place,
it can rattle against your frame and be annoying.
But never fear.
Electrical tape will provide an almost invisible solution.
Just pull the cable out about an inch, and tightly wrap it with electrical tape until
you’ve reached the thickness of the hole.
Then, jam it back into the frame and enjoy a rattle-free bike.
Simple and obvious, but very effective.
If you’re fortunate enough to have a wheel truing stand, you can add to it the ability
to true rotors.
All you’ll need is a nut and bolt.
This will work with any truing stand, and all you need to do is attach the nut to the
arm.
By adjusting that bolt inwards and outwards, you can get a reference point for where the
rotor is bent.
To reference the other side of the rotor, you can use the underside of the bolt head.
This is a whole lot easier than trying to see which brake pad is rubbing with the wheel
installed on your bike, and you can perform this hack with stuff you may already have
laying around.
At this point we’ve probably done like a billion zip tie hacks, but never have we discussed
cutting them without a knife or snipper.
Indeed, you might end up in this situation on the trail.
If so take your multi tool and wedge the zip tie in between two of the wrenches.
Then rotate the multi tool until the zip tie breaks off at the base.
The best part about this trick is that it doesn’t leave a sharp edge.
You’ll end up with a sort of rolled over end that won’t end up slicing you open.
This seems to work with most multi tools, and it’s a whole lot better than using your
teeth.
To perform some repairs, like swapping a fork, you need to remove a brake caliper temporarily,
and keep track of all the bolts, washers, and other hardware that secure it in place.
The easiest way to do this is with valve stem nuts—you know, valve stem nuts.
Those little rings that screw on to tubeless valve stems and inner tubes.
These will very nicely screw on to the bolts that hold you brake caliper on, so you can
use two of them to keep everything together while your caliper is just hanging there.
But wait, does that mean you can—no, not really.
And even if it did, I’d probably advise against it.
This last tip is for trail snacks, which many of us carry in ziploc bags.
Otherwise known as, garbage.
A great alternative is a reusable sandwich bag.
These are tougher, nicer, and pretty much better in every way than disposable bags,
and they help cut back on trash.
But this tip is just an excuse for some trail food recipes.
Mash up some avocado, and mix it with lemon juice and a little salt.
Throw it on some toast with a sliced hard boiled egg, and you’ve got yourself a hearty
nutrient rich lunch.
But that’s not gonna do it if you need quick energy, so the next time you go on a ride,
pack a banana reesadilla.
This of course, consists of a tortilla, mashed up banana, and Reese’s peanut butter cups.
Put it in your reusable zip lock bag and you’ve officially upped your trail food game.
If you found these hacks and tips entertaining or maybe even useful, please give this video
a like and share it with a friend.
This will probably be the last hacks video for the season since the hero dirt has returned.
As always, thanks for riding with me today and I’ll see you next time.