Bicycling - Road and Mountain

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Zen and The Art of Bicycle Maintenance

aakaakaak
aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
edited January 26 in Social Groups
So my bike is old and in need of some TLC. I'm absolutely clueless about what I need to do and would love a good resource for what needs to be done to properly tune up a bike.

I don't see any rust or anything, but it clicks and squeaks pretty good. It feels a bit like its dragging and hopefully I could get a few more MPH out of it if I could fix it up (only averaging about 13-15MPH). If it helps, this is the mountain bike I'm tooling around on (Schwinn Sidewinder 2.6 FS):

0Qy65.jpg

It has the built-in twisty gear shift thing that Schwinn still uses. I don't remember the exact name of it.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Replies

  • tonybalony01
    tonybalony01 Posts: 613 Member
    Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance. It's gone through several revisions over the years to keep it current, but you can probably find an edition from the era your bike is from on eBay or Amazon.
    You could also try checking out YouTube or http://bicycletutor.com
    Good luck.
  • verdemujer
    verdemujer Posts: 1,397 Member
    And if you see something that is beyond your skills or knowlege (worn teeth and stretched chains are ones for me), then see if there is a local bike shop (and I mean local - not some big smazzy place but a small place), they will sometimes give deals. We started off going into a local place for a tune up and now my husband practically lives there learning all kinds of stuff and trading. You might also see if there is a local place that deals with lessons for bike maintenance. We have a shop down town that says it has all the tools and they do classes, one on one lessons, etc just so long as you promise to restore one donated bike for them that they then give to charity.
  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
    Awesome. Thanks guys. I'll look for the book and I'll ask the local guy if he does classes. He's a recumbent bike guy who looks like a skinny santa claus. The shop is an old wood building with a tin roof, separated from pretty much everything. I don't think you could get any more local.

    Edit: Here: https://www.google.com/maps?q=&layer=c&z=17&iwloc=A&sll=36.699342,-76.186404&cbp=13,230.8,0,0,0&cbll=36.699531,-76.186114&sa=X&ei=_E-2Ue2LOfPd4APe8oGgCw&ved=0CC8QxB0wAA
  • Strangelyinsane
    Strangelyinsane Posts: 120 Member
    The shop is an old wood building with a tin roof, separated from pretty much everything. I don't think you could get any more local.

    Nice! Wish my town had a bike shop. I took a class many years ago from a guy who had a one man shop in Seattle. Best thing I ever did. I've maintained my bike for about 25,000 miles now. When I told that to a bike mechanic he said, "25,000 miles? You've just about got it broken in." A bicycle will last a long time with a little care and a lot of grease.
  • verdemujer
    verdemujer Posts: 1,397 Member
    Looks like a good place to go. Bet there are some great customers there Aakx3!
  • Dahamac
    Dahamac Posts: 213 Member
    Go to Bike Forums and look for links to the free repair books in the Repair Forum... IIRC it's stickied at the top of the forum.

    Otherwise, getting a set of folding bead slick tires for your bike will give you a remarkable jolt of felt speed versus the off-road tires you now have. Assuming you do most of your riding on the tarmac.

    I just switched from an cross tire to a street tire on my commuter and my average speeds are running higher with less perceived effort. My HRM monitor doesn't really show less effort for the same avg speeds but it sure feels like I don't have to pedal as hard :-D
  • aakaakaak
    aakaakaak Posts: 1,240 Member
    Thanks, I'll look into new tires. About 98% of my riding is on the street. The other 2% is in the grass next to the road so I don't get run over.
This discussion has been closed.

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