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I watched some ~bicycle maintenance content~ on youtube because I wanted to learn to take care of my ebike after the warranty expires this fall and now I feel alienated. My bike is an EU ebike (250W/25 kph assistance limit). It is a strictly utilitarian machine for commuting, getting groceries and generally hauling junk around. Mid motor, hydraulic disc brake in the front, 5 speed internal hub gearbox in the rear. Permanently attached cargo basket in front of the handlebars, sturdy pannier rack in the back, step-through frame, upright seating position etc etc. I have a flatbed trailer for transporting particularly bulky junk. Basically all the content I've seen assumes I'm a completely different type of cyclist, one who has very little in common with me. Like, I was watching something about how to tell if your chain is worn out and they start talking about how it depends on how many gears you have in the rear cassette, and I'm like, I don't have a cassette you nerdlords??? Lubricating the chain depends on what conditions you ride in... well, I ride in snow and on ice and through road salt and on sunny summer days because I use this bike to commute to work and I don't really sit around and change the type of chain lube depending on the weather forecast. It's a good year if I lube the chain more than twice. Apparently this is going to ruin my cassettes, but, well, I don't have any so probably I never need to lube the chain then??? Apparently 30mm-ish tires are the gold standard now, up from the 20-ish that was in vogue not that long ago. Well, my tires are 50mm wide and I'm not sure 30mm will even fill up the width of my rims. It just goes on like this. Whining aside, what should I read/watch to get better at basic maintenance of my basic bitch commuter bike where I give zero fucks about weight and all the fucks about comfort and convenience? TheFluff fucked around with this message at 14:06 on Apr 10, 2024 |
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Apr 10, 2024 02:48
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| # ¿ May 17, 2024 16:40 |
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Thanks for the advice and encouragement, all of you!  I changed from winter to summer tires this weekend myself and it wasn't really any harder than I remember it being back when I was a teenager on the shittiest old bike imaginable, or at least not once I figured things out. I've never had a bike with a quick release front axle before but that wasn't too hard to figure out, just took some fiddling to experiment with how tight it should be. The rear wheel took some research to get off though, because I was staring at the hub and just could not figure out how the shifter cable was supposed to come loose. I've had hub gears before but for this e-bike hub Shimano has a new way to connect the shifter cable that I wasn't familiar with. As it turns out though all I had to do was to find the dealer manual for the hub, which tells you that it's super easy; you just push on the shifter arm thingy and it lifts right out:  After that the wheel came off easily enough. I pinched the tube by getting impatient about getting the tyre off but the local bike shop hooked me up with a replacement so no biggie. Heliosicle posted:Since you have a stadsfiets you should watch videos from the country that has the most of them: I know but I'll have to learn their alien tongue first  This is good advice, thanks. Imagine having a bike maintenance stand though??? I just flip it upside down and stand it on the pannier rack and handlebars when I need to wrench on it (I live in an apartment building so I'm wrenching in our bike/garden storage room):  I have a dealership for the bike brand nearby and surprisingly their service pricing does not involve skinning me alive, so I'm happy to let them do a yearly service. As I mentioned above the rear wheel is easy enough to get off without any special tools, you just need to know how the shifter cable is supposed to unhook from the pulley. I have a coaster brake in the rear though, which is apparently a concept totally alien to all of bike enthusiasm on the internet. That also means I can't back pedal and there's also a chain guard which makes cleaning the chain kind of an involved process that requires some disassembly. I've found some cleaning tools that apparently work even with my setup but it's still a fairly involved process that also seems to involve degreasing chemicals that I'm not sure how to dispose of. Once every 200 km for me is about once every week since my work commute is 10 km one way, so doing some kind of greasy chain lubrication job that often doesn't sound very appealing. I guess I'll try to do it more often though. The motor system is Shimano Steps E6100 btw, and I'm pretty sure the drive sprocket is replaceable without replacing the motor itself. TheFluff fucked around with this message at 11:32 on Apr 10, 2024 |
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Apr 10, 2024 11:24
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Invalido posted:I used to wrench on upside down bikes for the longest time until I got hydraulic brakes and learned the hard way that air bubbles float upward. Doesn't always happen, but can. Worth looking into, flipping the bike isn't exactly ideal for other reasons as well...
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Apr 10, 2024 13:21
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Invalido posted:I used to have a board with som blocks with divots to support the grips only to spare all the other doodads on the bars. But when I figured out the bubbles thing I got this thing (it's even on sale right now) Yeah, I looked at this after your previous post, but after lifting my bike by the saddle post I'm not sure how well it would work. The basket in the front makes it really front heavy when lifted from there. It's a great price though, so it's very tempting...
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Apr 10, 2024 20:09
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Invalido posted:You tested the balance with the battery removed, right? Yeah, battery removed. But an adapter bar might work quite well like Sentient Data suggests. Asking the guys at the bike shop or the dealership might not be a bad idea either, although they'll probably recommend a name brand thing.
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Apr 10, 2024 20:29
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