Don't Try This at Home: DIY Maintenance Shortcuts That Just Don't Work
After years in the bike shop trenches, few things surprise me about the ways people attempt to fix their bikes. When a customer pipes up with, “I fixed it myself, and all I had on hand was some duct tape, a bit of veggie oil, and a big hammer,” I don’t even flinch.
Cyclists should be handy with small fixes—say, swapping out an inner tube, changing the angle of your saddle, tightening a water bottle boss—but some repairs require a bit more experience behind the wrench.
Here are few of our favorite examples of DIY bike maintenance that—while they ostensibly work—probably shouldn’t be repeated. (If after reading this you're still tempted to go DIY, check out Bicycling's online maintenance course first.)
Lubing a chain with vegetable oil
While lubing your chain with vegetable oil will work for the short term (it is oil after all), it’s really not advisable. It will gum up your drivetrain more quickly than a purpose-made lubricant, attract more dirt, and is better left in the kitchen.
Best practice: Always keep an extra bottle of purpose-made chain lube in the house, and consider your riding needs before purchasing: Will you be cruising over dirt or gravel? Is being planet-friendly a priority? Check out our guide to chain lube for information about what’s in them, and the right way to lube your chain.
Trying to extend chain life by flipping the chain once it’s worn
This one relies on a fundamental misunderstanding of chain wear. One might assume that the chain is wearing only on the side that touches the cogs and rings, but the chain’s pins and bushings wear out over time, too. The chain “stretches,” getting longer over its whole length, which causes the profile of the teeth on the cogs to wear away.
Best practice: Measure your chain (or have your shop do it) a few times per year, and replace when it’s at 75-percent wear. This will help cassettes and rings (the more expensive bits) last longer and keep shifting crisp.
RELATED: 4 Common Bike Maintenance Mistakes
Using oil where grease should go—and vice versa
If you read about what pro mechanics do to bikes when in dire situations, it may seem wise to lube a chain with grease. Conversely, you might only have chain lube at hand when you’re installing those cleats on your shoes the night before an event, rather than the grease needed to lube the threads of the bolts. Each of these may work for the short term, but chances are, when you go to remove the cleats from the shoes, you’ll need to drill out the bolts, and the grease on the chain will never penetrate into the bits of the chain that ride on each other.
Best Practice: Use the correct lube for the job: chain lube and light oil for chains and cables; grease for bearings and things that bolt together.
Installing a carbon seat post with grease
Seems like a no brainer here, right? Wrong. Most carbon posts will just slip and slide their way to the wrong height if you use grease.
Best Practice: Install carbon posts with a paste made to add grip. Marketed under various names (Fiber Grip is one), these compounds have microscopic fibers or spheres embedded in a paste and are designed not only to isolate the post from the frame, but also to add grip between components.
Tightening all spokes to try to true a wheel
You hit a pothole or worse, wreck and tweak your wheel. You get home and toss it in the truing stand, or do the quick thing and use the bike's brakes as a guide, and commence tightening the spokes. The wheel probably doesn’t get any truer but the spokes sure are getting tighter.
Best Practice: Either method of judging where the rim is out of true is fine. But start by locating the middle of the out-of-true area, then, using a quarter-turn at a time, tighten the spokes opposite the out-of-true spot and loosen the spokes on the side that is out. Gradually work your way around the wheel, never turning spokes more than a quarter-turn at a time until the wheel runs true.
RELATED: 4 Surprising Ways You're Hurting Your Chain
Swapping cleats from your right shoe to your left, and vice versa
“Hey, I only clip out to the outside, so why not get a bit more time from the cleats by swapping them?” This may work for a little while, but the reality is that any cleat with float is wearing on both sides of the engagement point while in use. Cleats are inexpensive and easy to change out—especially if you outline them with a marker or sharpie before removing them from the shoes. Do yourself a favor and get a fresh pair if yours are not releasing smoothly or are cracked or coming apart.
Quick Fixes That Actually Work
1. Using ShoeGoo to patch a small sidewall rip on tubeless tires (paired with a duct-tape boot inside): Rough up the inside of the tire with sand paper and squeeze a bit of ShoeGoo over the tear. Once it’s tacky, cut a small piece of duct tape and press it into the ShoeGoo.
2. Rotating your tires: When using identical road tires, you can squeeze a bit more life out of the rear tire by swapping front to back and getting one new tire for the front.
3. Swapping just your cables if the housing looks OK (good for one-time use): Believe it or not, the housing is what really gets gunked up, not the cables. But once in a while, swapping the cables is all right. Just make sure you do get a fresh set if the shifting or braking is still hanging up.
4. Smacking a taco-ed wheel back into shape to ride it home: You crash your bike, or do something to knock your wheel out of true. One method that will work is to smack the out-of-true portion of the wheel on the ground. As cool as this looks to your buddies, it should be held for a last resort. Instead: Find the spot that is out, and place the apex of it over the front of your knee; then, pull the wheel from the side to straighten the rim. It works like a charm and makes you look like a magician.
5. Adding a bit of tire sealant into an inner tube to patch it: You’ve got a flat but no patch kits (shame on you), no spare tubes and the ride leaves in a half-hour. Adding a bit of tire sealant to the tube may do the trick. Leave the tube in the tire and add sealant in the regular manner through the valve stem (20-30ml seems to do it in a lot of tubes up to 29x2.1). It may get you through the ride, or it may not, but it’s worth a try.
6. Using a water bottle bolt on a cleat: You’re out on the trail and your cleat comes loose. You look and it turns out you are missing a bolt. There is a good chance that one of the water bottle bolts holding the cage to your frame may fit. It may sit a bit out of the cleat and scrape the pedal, but if the threads are the right ones then you’re all set—and you save your self a walk out of the woods. Works for the road too.
You Might Also Like
