- Whilst getting your bike set up
is a relatively straightforward process.
The thing that really defines your mountain bike
as your bike is the little custom
tips and tweaks you can do to it.
So with that in mind,
when I have my own bike
what I like to do is get suspension dialled in.
Then after that, these are my seven
best tips and tweaks.
So without a doubt a dropper post
is one of the most useful bits of kit
a modern mountain bike can have on it.
And of course, they're very useful
on all sorts of terrain for getting your saddle up,
saddle down, out of the way.
But, if like me, you're riding bumpy conditions,
or sometimes wet and muddy conditions,
could be a bit of a struggle sometimes
to keep grip on the actual lever itself.
So I have a single source of little custom hacks
and bodges for this.
Some people have actually gone as far
as cutting with a hacksaw onto their levers
to get a bit of traction,
or even using self-setting rubber.
But really you can't beat a good bit
of skateboard grip tape.
It's dirt cheap and you can just
custom form it to fit your one.
You can also use it on the brake levers themselves.
Now I've got a Crankbrothers Highline dropper post
on my bike and they actually make
their own little kit
of these little gripper pads
that you can put on your own levers.
And they're mint, it grips nice and tidy.
It's a nice little custom touch for your bike.
So a chain slap is one of the most frustrating things
you can get on a bike.
Not only is it loud,
with your chain rattling away on your frame,
it actually chips off your paint.
And it's not really good for you bike in the long term.
So while a lot of bikes these days
do come with chain slap protectors on them,
sometimes they're not actually a soft rubber.
The harder rubber can still make quite a bit of a noise.
So what I always like to do straightaway
with any new bike I get,
is put a decent chain slap protector on
to stop that.
And what I tend to use is Scotch 2228 tape.
And this is a rubber mastic tape.
You can get this from electrical retailers.
And there are other similar ones out there,
other unnamed mastic tapes you can get.
And it's literally sticky-back rubber.
You can apply it to the length you need
on your chain stay.
Stays on there whatever the weather.
And because the rubber itself
is actually very soft compound,
it's got a good damping quality to it.
Now I also like to put some on the inside of my seat stay,
just where the chain can also flick up
and take away the paint.
And if riding abroad, say in the Alps,
I actually put some on the underside
of the down tube too.
I mean this particular bike,
my Canyon here,
has got a down tube protector,
so it doesn't need it.
But this stuff's really effective for that
and it comes in 25mm width
and also a 50 mil, if you want the extra protection.
This stuff is well worth looking into.
Clipless pedals are one of the most important things
for me on my bike.
I've always ridden clips
and I prefer the way the bike feels with them.
Now with that in mind,
there's two types of pedals.
There's the smaller, more cross country focused
lightweight pedals.
And you tend to run these with a more trail-based shoe.
Or the more heavy-duty shoe and pedal offerings like these.
So the thing I like about these
is they still manage to make a bike
feel like it's got a downhill feel
with the flat pedals,
but you've got all the benefits of clipping in.
However, they're a lot harder to set up
and get just right.
And your shoe and pedal combo
is absolutely essential to getting
that real good feel.
Now while some riders will actually
take a knife to the sole of the shoe
to customise the cleat recess if they need to,
a better way of doing it, really,
is by using these little spacers.
Now although these are Crankbrother spacers,
you can use these on any cleats on the market,
whether it's Time, Shimano, Look, etc.
It really doesn't matter.
And there's actually a better way of doing it,
because you remove the cleat slightly
from the bottom of the sole
and it just gets engagement that bit better.
Now whilst the plastic spacers
are the best way to do this,
I actually use a slightly different technique.
I've always loved the firm, click-in action
of other pedals like Shimano,
but prefer the feel of a Crankbrother's pedal,
where you can actually move around more on it.
Now to get that same snappy feel,
I just unclip the pedal here.
You'll see that I've got metal spacer under the cleat.
Now these are made by Crankbrothers
and are actually designed
to protect the sole of carbon shoes
from the clip mechanism.
What I've found actually,
is using them on these shoes,
makes it way easier to engage.
You've got that really defined click
when you clip in.
It doesn't affect the feel of the pedal.
Now that's my little custom sole tip.
So this setup tip is a bit of a weird one,
because it's not a common occurrence,
but actually it's a preventative measure.
A long time ago, cut the story short,
I was out on a ride, and I lost a cleat bolt.
And I was so far from home
that it would have ruined my ride.
And I was trying to find another bolt on the bike
I could replace it with.
But at the time, the only bolt suitable
I didn't have 'cause I had centre lock rotors on the bike.
I did bump into another cyclist
and he let me pinch a bolt off his disc rotor though.
So I replaced the cleat bolt with that.
Now although it got me home,
it was pretty uncomfortable,
clicking wasn't that good all the time,
but it did work.
So it made me think,
why didn't I carry a spare on my bike?
Why not in the bag?
If it's on the bike, I'm never
going to forget it, it's always there.
So I now carry one of the countersunk bolts
on each of my wheels.
So, whatever I do, I've got five
normal disc rotor bolts on one countersunk bolt.
Holds the disc rotor on just fine.
And I know it's there for emergencies
if that ever arises.
So going along with the theme
of keeping things on your bike
that you might not need,
but actually can save you
when you're on that ride with no tools.
One of the things I always tape onto the controls of my bike
is an adjoining chain link.
So be it SRAM or Shimano,
depending on your preference,
just get a bit of electrical tape,
get one of those links,
and just tape it around one of your gear cables.
It's always on your bike
and you'll forget about it until that one time
you're out for a ride and you snap your chain.
You can fix this, no fuss,
get back on the trail, job done.
Now most modern bikes have pretty good cable routing,
but you can still get cable rub
depending on how you run your bars,
flip, forwards, up, down and that sort of set up.
So as you can see on my personal bike here,
the cable do actually strike each other.
Now, I like my bikes to be silent, if possible.
And I also don't really want my paint to get rubbed away.
So a little trick I like to do
is actually attach the cables together here
using some electrical tape.
It stops the cable wandering around
within the frame as well,
'cause it's bound to the next one.
Now in addition to hatching the cables together
with the tape, something I also like to do
is I'm not really a fan of the clear patches,
because I do find that they discolour
and come off in time.
So what I actually like to use
is the same rubber mastic tape
I use in my chain stays
and just put a little patch
just under where the cables contact.
So not only does it stop them rattling around
and sort of rubbing on the frame as well.
And at the end of the day,
it's all about making a bike silent,
so, for me, anyway.
So that's my little custom tip there.
So the last one's not really a custom set up tweak as such,
it's more something I like to do before going riding.
Now, I really like to pay attention to my suspension
and view that lower leg services quite frequently
to keep them running nice and smooth.
But if I've been riding a lot of wet conditions
or dry conditions,
the seals can still dry out.
So you can do a super fast little tweak
just to get your forks running smoothly before you ride.
Now the obvious choice would be to flip
your bike upside down,
so that lower leg lube is in sight there
for coating the bushings,
but another little cheater one you can do
is just by simply rolling the garter spring down
on the fork and taking the end of an uncut cable tie
and just slide it between the stanchion and the wiper seal.
You can just apply some decent suspension lube
directly into the seals.
Now using the plastic end of a cable tie is good
'cause it won't scratch your stanchion.
Just make sure you don't do this
with a screwdriver or anything else
that's likely to damage either the seal,
or more importantly, the stanchion.
It's a super fast little way
or just applying some suspension lube,
wipe off the excess,
go and hit the trails.
Happy days.
So hopefully seven of my little favourite tips
have been helpful for you, guys.
I'd like to hear if you've got any little
set up tips and tweaks you've got.
So don't forget to leave a comment below.
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And I must refer you to a couple
of really helpful videos.
One of them is how to set up a new bike
so if you want to click down here,
really informative video.
And the other one is how to silence a bike.
And that's not only from chain slap,
also creaks and stuff.
So click down here.
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