Let’s turn our attention to your mountain bike’s wheels for this How To.

The widespread use of disc brakes and the addition of suspension (both front and rear) have made it far more difficult to detect wheel problems.

Rim brakes let you know immediately if your wheel goes out of true, because the rim will make contact with one of the brake pads without the brake being applied . That is sure to get your attention. This doesn’t happen with disc brakes. The rear wheel on a bike with disc brakes now has to wobble all the way to a chainstay or seatstay before a rider is going to hear that something is wrong.

The front wheel would have to reach a fork slider! In either case, it is more likely that you would feel the wobble through the saddle before it got so bad that it hit a stay or slider.

Your suspension masks wheel problems, too. A hardtail rider will feel a flat spot in a rim immediately. A rider isolated by three or four inches of suspension might not feel this . So, don’t blow off this ten-minute wheel check that you should perform a few times a month.

 SPIN THE WHEEL

Clamp your bike to a bike stand, hang it from a tree branch or flip it upside down (our last choice because you can damage or scratch the bike’s saddle, grips , levers or shifters). You need to be able to spin the wheels.

 WRITE IT OFF

If your rim has a big ding in it (usually from impacting a rock ), no amount of adjusting spoke tension is going to correct the situation. You will need to have a new rim laced up or go for a new wheel.

 WOBBLE CHECK

If you are building wheels from scratch, you will need a wheel truing stand. The rest of us can get by with a pencil and a steady hand. Position the pencil on the fork slider (or seat stay) and point the tip towards the rim. Don’t use a screwdriver, because it can scratch your rim if it makes contact. Spin the wheel and watch to see if the rim moves towards or away from the tip of the pencil. If the rim wiggles more than a few millimetres, you should true it. There are books written about wheel truing, and we are guilty of oversimplifying this process, but if the wheel is only slightly out of true, you should be able to true it with a spoke wrench and a little common sense.

CHECK SPOKE TENSION

If the wobble is minor, squeeze the spokes in the area of the wobble. The spokes on the left and right side of the rim won’t have the exact same tension , but there should be a consistency on both sides. Is there a loose spoke? Does a spoke feel overly tight? That could be the cause of your wobble.

 LUBE IT

Put a drop of lubricant on the spoke nipples you plan to adjust. In fact, a drop of lubricant on all your spoke nipples once a month is a good habit to get into. This will keep them from seizing to the spokes. A seized spoke nipple will trick you into thinking you are tightening a spoke, when in reality, all you are doing is twisting the spoke.

 SPOKE IT

Wheel spokes lace through the wheel’s hub and are secured into the rim by spoke nipples (some wheels are the opposite of this). The spokes pull from the left and right side of the rim. You can eliminate slight wobbles by pulling the rim in the opposite direction of the wobble and snugging the spoke nipples of the spokes that will do the pulling. Make sure the spoke wrench fits tightly on the nipple you want to tighten or loosen. It is best to make a number of 1/8th turns to correct the wobble, rather than one big turn. A little turn does a lot of rim moving. Make your adjustments , place the pencil back in position and give the wheel another spin. Check to see if the wobble is getting smaller.

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We know how it is, you’ve had a long, hard day at school, or the office, and all you want to do is get out and ride away the stress. We know you put in a long day, so let’s keep this one simple. We are going to run through your mountain bike’s drivetrain to make sure it’s ready.

 SPIN IT

Clamp your bike to a bike stand, hook it to a low-hanging branch or flip it upside down. (A last resort, because it is difficult to shift the bike in this position, if you have air in your hydraulic brakes the bubbles might go where they will diminish braking performance, and finally, you’re going to scrape your grips or shifters and saddle.) You want to be able to spin the cranks and have the chain and rear wheel rotate easily.

We are also assuming that you have correctly adjusted your derailleurs and the bike was shifting properly on your last ride.

Clean up the chain, chainrings and cassette using a toilet brush (gets in the nooks and crannies better than anything actually made for the job).

EYEBALL TRUING

Imagine looking down the drivetrain like you would look down the iron sights of a shotgun. The rear sight is where the chain leaves the cassette and the front sight is where the chainring picks up the chain. Run the bike through all its gears while sighting down the drivetrain in this manner. You are watching for wobbles or chain jumping.

 REAR CLEAR

If the chain is doing a little dance off the cassette, don’t rush out and buy a new cassette. First, take a thin screwdriver and clean out anything that might be packed in between the cogs. Nine-speed cassettes are notorious for being thrown off track by fairly small amounts of dirt or foliage.

 SNUG IT UP

It is unlikely that your cogs are loose, because you would have heard a jangling sound while riding. If they are loose, you need to snug the cassette lockring with a lockring tool. Pull the wheel off. Slip the lockring tool into the lockring and snug it up.

 WOBBLY RINGS

If there is a wobble where the chain contacts the chainring, check the mounting hardware to make sure it is all tight. If everything is tight and it still wobbles, there is a good chance that the rock you pegged (or riding with the hardware loose) bent the chainring (90 percent of the time it will be your big ring). If it is bent enough that you see it wobble or that it rubs on a perfectly adjusted derailleur, the chainring needs to be replaced.

 CHAIN WEAR

Measure a one-foot length of your chain, placing an inch mark of the tape measure in the middle of one rivet. Look at the corresponding rivet 12 links away. On a new chain, this rivet will line up exactly with the six- inch mark. With a worn chain, the rivet will be past the inch mark. If the rivet is less than 1/16-inch past the mark, you should replace the chain.

 FINAL TIP

If you do replace any component, don’t immediately head out for a long ride. Do a short test ride, including a significant hill, to make sure that the new parts are compatible with the old parts. You’ll know if there is a problem if the chain skips under maximum efforts.

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Addressing the cleaning of your bike may seem too rudimentary even for a beginner. We would agree, except that recently we watched in horror as a buddy took a high-pressure washer to his $7000 dual-suspension trailbike. Friends just don’t let friends take a pressure washer to their bike. Here is how you should do it.

Stuff you will need
1. a bucket
2. soap of your choice (we use CT10)
3. a brush
4. a sponge
5. a few towels
6. a hose attached to a water supply
1. Soften it up: Put your bike in a stand or lean it against a wall. Take the hose and just let the water fall over the frame tubes, wheels, saddle and bar. We don ‘t use a spray nozzle. Blasting your bike’s suspension pivots or your wheels’ hubs can push dirt into the bearing area or force grease out. Neither is good for the long-term welfare of your bike.

2. Warm bath: Dip your sponge in the bucket filled with warm water and your detergent of choice. Attack your bike with the sponge. Don’t worry about the wheels yet.

3. Another option: Muc-Off, is a cleanser formulated for cleaning bikes. After hosing off the bike, you spray on Muc-Off, let it sit a few minutes, loosen the big grime with a sponge and then hose it off. By the way, there are hundreds of soaps and cleaning formulas (like Muc-off) available to cyclists. There is nothing wrong with using them, but we’ve gotten along just fine using dish washing soap. Hose down the bike until the dirt is rinsed. Note again, we don’t blast the water in a stream.

4. The gross stuff: Dip your brush in the soapy water and rub down the drivetrain. If you lubed your chain properly it should only take one pass. If you glopped on the lube and didn’t remove the excess, you may have to attack small sections at a time to get the grime off.

5. Clean Gears: Spin the drivetrain while running the hose over it.

6. Water wheels : We saved the wheels for last because the drivetrain cleaning is liable to get the rear wheel dirty. Same drill as the frame. Get the wheels wet, rub them down with a soapy sponge (you can take the brush to the brake calipers) and hose everything off.

7. Towel it off: Use your towels to dry the bike. There are a number of bike waxes and polishes. We have not found that they make a big difference, but hey, its your baby. If you want to pamper it, go for it.

9. Dry links: Pay attention to drying your chain. Once dry, apply lube of your choice and wipe off excess.

10. Look and learn: Use your cleaning time to inspect your frame, suspension components and wheels for damage or signs of trouble. You can find a stress fracture whilst washing your bike or landing off a six foot jump. Which sounds better to you?

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