Basic Maintenance
Where should I oil my bike and how often?
What is the wee rubber tube found in some puncture outfits?
Bike Lights and the Law
What is the law regarding bike lights?
About Bike Helmets
Why does my 5 year old helmet probably need replaced?
How can I prevent the chin strap on my helmet continually loosening off?
Different Types of Road Bikes
What are the differences between road racing, time trial and triathalon bikes?
Cleaning and Polishing Bikes
Is it OK to ‘jet wash’ my bike?
Which biodegradable degreaser do you recommend for my chain cleaning kit?
How do you clean tarnished alloy components?
What is the best thing for keeping the paint on my bike shiny?
Useful Tips for Cycling Holidays
What’s your suggestion for a 3-week tour of Scotland?
How should I prepare my bike for going on holiday, and what tools should I take?
About Chains
The chainrings on my new bike have broken or missing teeth. What is going on?
How many miles should I run each chain before changing it?
How much longer do steel chainrings last compared to alloy rings?
How many miles should I run each chain before changing it?
Technical FAQs
Is there anything that can be done with a stripped thread on a crank?
What does the B-tension adjustment bolt on Shimano gears do?
I have noticed that there are different styles and sizes of headsets and stems, what are they?
Miscellaneous FAQs
Any tips for carrying Sunday papers on a racing bike?
What does a Scotsman wear under his cycling shorts?
Basic Maintenance
Where should I oil my bike and how often?
A drop of oil or grease in the right place ensures that your bike’s various mechanisms move as they should. And keep on doing so 2-to-3 times longer than unkempt components.
A guide to lubricating the bike:
a. Brakes – Front and Back
Lubricate all moving parts. Wipe any oil spillage off the wheel rims with degreaser or hot soapy water
Lubed cables make for smooth-working brakes. Running a lightly lubed rag over all exposed cable every few months helps ward off corrosion. Lube is especially crucial at those high-friction zones where the cables exit the levers and housings.
At least once a year, remove the cables from their housing. If there is any sign of wearing or fraying, replace the cables. Otherwise, grease the sections of the cables that are enclosed in housing, then refit.
Remove V-brakes or cantilevers (found on most mountain bikes and hybrids) once or twice a year to regrease the frame’s brake bosses.
b. Gears
Lubricate the pivot points and all moving parts of your front and rear mechs approximately once a month (for a bike in regular use) or after cleaning.
As with the brakes, gear performance depends upon lubed cables. Pay particular attention to where the cable enters and exits the cable guides such as under the bottom bracket. Running a lightly lubed rag over the exposed cable helps ward off corrosion.
If your bike has slotted cable guides (most modern bikes do), you can lube the whole length of the gear inner without having to undo the cable.
Here’s how. Shift the gear to the largest cog and chainring. Then without turning the cranks, change gear as you would if you were shifting to the smallest cog and chainring. This introduces enough slack to make it easy to unship the cable housing from its slotted guide. You can then slide the housing out of the way and treat the now revealed inner cable to a replenishing shot of lube. (If you have a Shimano Rapid Rise rear gear such as a Nexave, the cable is at its highest tension on the smallest gear so here, you would shift the chain to the smallest rear cog, then shift the lever as you would if you were changing to the biggest cog – again without pedaling forward so the chain stays put and the cable goes slack enough to pull it out of its housing.)
c. Hubs Front and Rear
Don’t oil hubs (unless it’s a Sturmey Archer-style internal gear hub). Oil might wash out the grease – your bearings’ life blood. Instead, strip the hub once or twice a year. Clean everything and reassemble with fresh grease. New ball bearings are not expensive, so replace them if they show the slightest sign of wear.
d. Bottom Bracket
Traditional ball-and-cone-style bottom brackets should get by with an annual overhaul – 11 new quarter-inch ball bearings and fresh grease on each side.
Most better bikes (around £250-up) now come fitted with a sealed cartridge bottom bracket. Sealed bottom brackets require no maintenance and usually last for years. When the sealed bottom bracket does eventually wear out (you’ll feel the play) replace the whole unit.
Whether it’s sealed or ball-and-cone, you can ‘kill’ a bottom bracket with overzealous use of the jet spray hose or the can of WD40, so once your bottom bracket is fitted, leave well alone.
Lubricating the Chain
Keeping the chain oiled will triple it’s useful life. Running a worn-out chain will halve the life of anything it touches – the cogs, chainrings and jockey wheels.
What to do: Inspect the chain every week and look for a nice silky finish as on the chain below. If the chain has lost it’s silky look and takes on a highly polished chrome look, you have left it too long. If it turns to brown (rust) you have definitely left it too long.
As a rule of thumb, if you are a year-round cyclist, lubricate your chain at least once a week in the rainy season(s), and once a month when it’s dry. Plus make a habit of lubing the chain every time you get home from a rainy ride. X-Lite or Scottoiler FS365 water-dispersing bike spray is especially handy here.
Chain lube frequency depends on whether you use a dry lube or a wet lube. Dry lube is much cleaner but washes off more easily. Wet lube hangs on longer. Many of us reserve our dry lube for the summer and switch to a wet lube such as Finish Line Cross Country in winter.
The best way to lube the chain is to slip into top gear (big chainring/small rear cog). Then, while slowly backpedalling, drip or spray the lube till every chain link is oiled. Run through all the gears to distribute the lube over the sprockets, and to help it penetrate the chain’s rollers.
Whenever you lubricate any part of the bike, allow the lube to penetrate, then wipe off the excess with a dry cloth. Beware that too much lube is almost as bad as too little. Excess oil attracts dirt, and that kind of defeats the purpose of keeping the bike clean and lubed.
Seatpost and stem
An unlubricated seatpin can seize inside the frame. When this happens, it might not budge should you ever want to alter your saddle height or replace the seatpin. To avoid this disaster, the wise cyclist occasionally (once a year will do) removes and greases the length of seatpin that’s hidden inside the frame.
Same with the handlebar stem if it’s the quill type. Grease the stalk which is inserted inside the fork once a year.
Quill stem
The stalk that’s inserted inside the fork steerer should be greased.
Aheadstem
This type of stem has been superseding the
traditional quill stem since the early 1990s.
Clamped over the fork steerer, rather than
inserted into it, no grease is required.
How can I stop brake squeal?
1. Clean the rims with soapy water or Muc-Off. Then rinse well.
2. Check to ensure all fixing bolts are secure. If brakes are loose or rattly, bad vibrations will inevitably ensue, hence noise.
3. Toe in the brakes so the front of the brake block is closer to the rim. This eliminates vibration and hence about 90% of squeaky brake problems.
4. Check your brake blocks for uneven wear. Trim off any raggedy edge with a penknife or borrow Stanley’s. At the same time, remove any foreign bodies, such as aluminium shards, embedded in the pads.
5. Replace the pads when they are worn – i.e. when there is no raised tread left.
If in doubt, bring your bike to one of our shops. Brakes are something you don’t want to gamble with.
What is the wee rubber tube found in some puncture outfits?
This tube is for fixing leaky Woods valves, once common on 26″ non-metric (pre MTB) wheels. Woods valves are now nearly extinct.
Bike Lights and the Law
What is the law regarding bike lights?
‘From half an hour before darkness till half an hour after sunrise, bicycles must display a working white front lamp and red rear lamp which must be seen from a regular distance.’‘
Mount the lights where the motorist can see them. Fit the rear light at least 70cm off the ground. That’s where the motorist would expect to see the rear lights of a car. Mount the front light on the handlebars, if possible, so it’s level with most car drivers’ line of vision rather than pointing the beam down.
Flashing LED lights are more eye catching (and economical) than constant-beam lights. After years of ambiguity about their legal status, the Highway Code has been updated as follows: ‘Flashing lights are permitted but it is recommended that cyclists who are riding in areas without street lighting use a steady front lamp.’
You cannot be too visible. As Richard Ballantine’s 21st Century Bicycle Book starkly puts it: ‘Our risk of fatal collision with a motorist is 4 times greater at night.’ Why? Because the other road user didn’t seen you in time.
That’s why we recommend running flashing and constant beam lights, front and rear – i.e. 4 lamps in all. That’s not over-the-top when you consider that LEDs are so lightweight and economical-to-run compared with bike lights of yore. Running 4 lights also guarantees you’ll get home, legal and safe, in the unlikely event of one of your lights failing.
In addition, consider reflectors. In many circumstances, they’re more conspicuous than lights. By law your bike must be fitted with a red rear reflector and amber pedal reflectors. Retro-reflective ankle bands and helmet bands, which glow when car head lights shine on them, come especially recommended.
About Bike Helmets
Why does my 5 year old helmet probably need replaced?
The Snell Memorial Foundation – a non-profit organization dedicated to research, education, testing and development of helmet safety standards over the last 40-odd years – recommend you change your helmet about every 5 years.
‘The 5 year replacement recommendation is a consensus position from both the helmet manufacturers and the Snell Foundation. Glues, resins and other materials used in helmet production can affect liner materials, plus general deterioration as a function of hair oils, body fluids, cosmetics, and normal ‘wear and tear’ all contribute to helmet degradation.
Additionally, experience indicates there will be a noticeable improvement in the protective characteristic of helmets over a five year period due to advances in materials, design and standards.’
If your helmet looks like this…
and it doesn’t have something like this…
Giro Roc Loc integral retention device
you should be looking at something like this…
Specialized Aurora Helmet
or this…
Specialized Chamonix
A new helmet such as a Giro Targa or a Specialized Chamonix will be about 33% lighter and will fit infinitely better than your old hardshell, so why not treat your brain to a new lid? After all nothing, not even your bicycle helmet, lasts for ever.
One promise: when you do get round to replacing your old one, you’ll be amazed how much helmets have come on in the last 5 (or was it 10?) years since you last bought one.
What are the differences between the various styles and models of helmet, and what specific features should I look for when buying one?
Good fit is all. Good fit means that the helmet is comfortable to wear. Good fit means that the helmet stays in place if it’s ever required to fulfill its head-protecting destiny.
Thanks to the widespread adoption of Rear Retention Systems to augment the traditional chin strap, helmet fit has taken a quantum leap in recent years. Variously called RocLoc, BrainTrust and so on, the Rear Retention System is a nape-hugging strap that restrains the helmet, and helps prevent it from rocking back uselessly. If you have failed to find a good-fitting helmet up till now, you owe it to yourself to try one with a Rear Retention System.
Ventilation is also crucial. Wide slots encourage air flow, and help prevent you overheating when you climb. The trick is to produce a helmet with as much ventilation as possible without compromising its impact resistance. The best-vented helmets demand more advanced materials and manufacture. That’s why the best-vented helmets, such as the Specialized Air 8, tend to be the most expensive.
If you’re into downhill, trails and trials, full-coverage is more important than ventilation.
Choose between the motocross-inspired full face, or the delightfully-named skateboard-style pisspot helmet.
How can I prevent the chin strap on my helmet continually loosening off.
One neat tip is to sew a couple of loop stitches to the chin strap. Hold the two straps together close to where they enter and exit the chin buckle. Then simply stitch through both straps a few times so they’re tightly held together. Voila – no more loosening straps.
Different Types of Bikes – What’s All That About?
What are the differences between road racing, time trial and triathalon bikes?
Road racing, time trial and triathalon bikes have each evolved to perform a specific function. All share many similar traits and differences are quite subtle.
A: Tri bars. Usually on time trial and triathalon bikes
B: Wheels. A full disc wheel is common on the rear of time trial bikes. Triathalon bikes often favour deep section rims or aero wheels (as seen above).
C: Seat Tube angle – greater on time trial and triathlon bikes giving a steeper seat tube. More power but less comfort.
D: Fork Rake. This distance influences how the bike handles. The smaller the distance the more nippy the bike will be. The longer the distance the more stable and relaxed the bike will be.
E: Headtube angle – steeper on time trial and triathlon bikes.
The road racing bike is the ‘Jack of all trades’. The head-tube and seat-tube angles are comparatively shallow, seating the rider slightly back to make the bike more comfortable on longer rides. The wheels are generally 32 or 36 spoked with standard round or square-section rims. The bike usually comes with a minimum of 14 gears employing a wider gear ratio to cover varying terrain. Two sets of braze-ons for water bottles is standard.
The time trial bike is at the other end of the racing spectrum. The angles, especially the seat angle, are much steeper putting the rider in a more forward and powerful position. As time trials are usually raced over 10-50 mile distances with the sole emphasis on speed, comfort is largely sacrificed. The rear wheel is often a disc and the front may be smaller with a deep rim for aerodynamics. Weight is a major issue – components are kept to a minimum and are often made from titanium or carbon fibre. Gears are often in short supply, sometimes only 6. and in very close ratios. The bike often comes with Tri bars for aerodynamics but luxuries such as water bottle cages are often sacrificed.
The triathalon bike: The bike stage of a triathlon is usually longer than most time trials so more concessions are made for comfort. Triathalon bars, disc wheels and aero frame make the bicycle as efficiently aerodynamic as possible to spare the athlete some effort. Similarly, a wider range of gears helps you over more varied terrain. Extra bottle cages encourage the fluid replacement demanded by endurance sports. An exceptionally steep seat tube angle (up to 77/78° against the road bike 73/74° norm) positions you further forward. This does 2 good things. It puts you ‘on top of the cranks’ (like you are when you ride out the saddle), so you can pack more power into every pedal stroke, and it makes the aero bars easier to reach.
Cleaning and Polishing Bikes
Is it OK to ‘jet wash’ my bike?
Jet washing is OK up to a point. It’s excellent for blasting muck off your wheels and frame.
Don’t point that thing at your bearings however. The jet wash is equally efficient at blasting the grease from your hubs, bottom bracket, headset and pedal bearings.
Also, a jet wash doesn’t always budge oily grime off, say, the chainstays. That’s when you need old fashioned elbow grease, soapy water and scrubbing brush or new-fashioned Muc-Off.
And be aware that lube and solvent-abuse can wreck disc brakes. * Only clean rotors with a disc-specific cleaner such as Fenwick’s.
Which biodegradable degreaser do you recommend for my chain cleaning kit?
For chains and sprockets try Finish Line EcoTech or Citrus Degreaser. These are biodegradable and far more effective, yet more gentle, than old-school solutions, such as paraffin, for banishing the blackstuff that loves to accumulate on your chain.
Finish Line Degreasers are water soluble, so they can be diluted 50/50 for general cleaning.
Muc-Off is another favourite degreaser/cleaner, and it’s available in family-sized 5 litre bottles as well as regular 1-litre bottles. It’s even stronger than EcoTech. You just spray it onto an unclean bike, hose it off with water, and your bike is clean again. Miraculous!
How do you clean tarnished alloy components?
To restore those tarnished alloy components to their former glory you need some of that fail-safe product, elbow grease. To assist in your task those innovative people at Finish Line developed Pro Detailer Spray Polish, which can be used all over your bike and will provide endless hours of fun as you seek that perfect gleam.
What is the best thing for keeping the paint on my bike shiny?
Simply a lot of cleaning. The trick is not to let your bike get too grubby. Once the shine has gone completely it is harder to remove the buildup of muck. We recommend Finish Line Pro Detailer Spray Polish. Happy polishing.
Useful Tips for Cycling Holidays
What’s your suggestion for a 3-week tour of Scotland?
If I had 3 weeks to explore Scotland, and was looking for the quietest, most cycle-friendly, and most ‘other’ terrain, I would recommend the Western Isles above any other part of the country.
Easiest way to get there is by train to Oban. From there, it’s a quick ferry hop to Mull. You could easily spend 4 or 5 days there, just chilling out, and slowing down to island pace, taking day trips to Iona and Staffa (Fingal’s Cave!)
After exploring Mull, I would return to Oban from where you can catch a Ferry to the Outer Isles: Barra, then island hop to South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Skye, then up to Harris (my favourite place in the world). This route takes advantage of the prevailing south westerly winds we experience most of the year.
If this route doesn’t take you 3 weeks, you’re going too fast. If you want to see the mainland however, you can ride through North Harris to Lewis where you can catch the ferry from Stornaway to Ullapool, from where you can ride right up to the top of Scotland, or if time does not allow, over to Inverness (via the south banks of Loch Ness), from where you can get a train back to Glasgow or Edinburgh.
Also see A Visitor’s Guide to Cycle Touring in Scotland.
How should I prepare my bike for going on holiday, and what tools should I take?
Before setting off – check the bike
It doesn’t take long to give your bike a quick check over.
- Check the brake blocks for wear and adjustment.
- Test your gears before you rush off into the hills and find your day is spoiled by a jumping chain.
- Check your hubs, headset and bottom bracket bearings for any play.
- Check for any loose nuts and bolts.
- Check your wheels are true and spin freely.
These basic checks are very easy to learn from cycle maintenance books or by joining one of our Maintenance Classes. If you are unsure about checking your bike, bring it to one of our shops and we’ll give it a thorough checkover . No charge.
Things to take with you.
Day trips
Always carry a puncture repair kit and tyre levers. Carrying a spare inner tube always makes sense. That way, if you puncture, you can just replace the tube and mend the original one when you reach your destination. An Allen key set might come in handy too (or a dumbell if your bike is put together with conventional nuts and bolts rather than Allen Keys and QRs (quick releases).
Don’t forget the most essential tool – your pump. We’ve come across cyclists, stranded on the Edinburgh-St Andrews bike ride, who were toting a pannier-full of tools, but they had forgotten that basic essential – the pump. Check that your pump fits your bike’s tyre valves before you set off. (Many modern pumps have reversible head internals. This means the pump works on any tyre valve. Many pump owners don’t know this.)
For longer trips
As well as the pump and mini-tool, it’s a good idea to pack a spare brake cable and gear cable, plus a couple of nuts, bolts and zip-ties to fix, say, a rattling mudguard.
If you travel to exotic resorts such as Bettyhill or Borneo, regular 700c or 26″ tyres might be unavailable, so you might want to pack a spare one. Kevlar-beaded folding tyres are the very dab here. If you want to carry the bare minimum, a tyre boot designed to patch a gashed sidewall might keep you going till you return to ‘civilisation’.
Although it’s a rare occurrence, chains do break – even perfectly-joined perfectly-maintained new chains – so take a chain tool with you whenever you cycle far from town. If your chain breaks, dispose of the problem link, and rejoin the chain. Given that a new chain has 116 links, ditching one link shouldn’t compromise your gear capacity. Just to be on the safe side, it’s wise to check that you still have sufficient chain length to achieve the most extreme, big-ring-to-big-cog gear. If you can’t, limit the gears you run accordingly.
A spoke key is also a good idea. If you don’t know how to use one, consider one of our maintenance courses, which include wheel truing. If such tuition is not for you, a harmless way to learn how to true wheels is to practice on a redundant old wheel. Expedition tourists usually carry a few spare spokes. Spokes lengths vary, and not just by the size of wheel. One 26″ wheel with have smaller hub flanges and a deeper rim section than the next, so will require shorter spokes. That’s why we are obliged to stock around 40 different lengths of spoke. If you want to buy a spoke, either measure your existing spokes to the millimeter, or bring your wheels to one of our shops so we can measure the spokes for you.
If you want to spare yourself the expense and weight of carrying a full tool roll, consider one of our great range of multi-tools.
Be prepared for rain and take a wee bottle of lube unless you prefer the squawk of a lubeless chain over the song of the nightingale when you take to the countryside.
A Final Word
Don’t let all this talk of mechanical hiccups put you off. If you set off with a clean, tight, well-oiled bike, there’s every chance you’ll come home with your tools and spares unused.
About Chains
The chainrings on my new bike have broken or missing teeth. What is going on?
‘Missing’ teeth is another Shimano innovation, near every other company now emulates. The odd missing tooth facilitates faster downshifting because it makes it easier for the chain to move onto a smaller chainring.
Similarly, ramps, pins and twisted teeth facilitate upshifting into a bigger ring.
Thanks to Shimano’s engineering ingenuity, Shane McGowan-like twisted or missing teeth do not prejudice the chainring’s primary responsibility which is to turn the chain.
Should I have 3 chains on the go and change them over at regular intervals if I want to get maximum wear out of the transmission?
How many miles should I run each chain before changing it?
How much longer do steel chainrings last compared to alloy rings?
How many miles should I run each chain before changing it?
Over time, the link bushings wear. This is called ‘chain stretch’. Initially the chain’s hardened coating resists this process, but once the hardened coating wears off, the stretched chain starts to wear down the rear cogs and front chainrings.
Chain wear depends on many factors. Is the chain kept clean and well lubricated? Are you cycling in winter on salty roads? Do you regularly go off-road through mud? Do you cycle hard, stomping on the pedals? Are you using the gears correctly? Do you ride in one gear all the time or do you ‘spread the load’? Are the gears, freewheel and chain-rings worn? Is your chain compatible with your gears and freewheel – e.g. super narrow 9-speed chain with 9-speed cogs?
Due to all these factors it’s not possible to give you a length of time, or mileage, over which a chain will last. One approach is to run 3 chains and swap them regularly to maximise the life of the whole drivetrain. This is sound in theory and works for some people, but it does sound a tad obsessive. Our recommendation is to use a chain checker. This is a tool which accurately measures chain stretch and alerts you when it’s time to replace the chain BEFORE it wastes the cogs and chainrings.
Technical FAQs
Is there anything that can be done with a stripped thread on a crank?
Stripped crank threads are usually caused by incorrect use of the crank extractor tool – i.e. screwing it in squint or not far enough, so use this tool with caution. Cue for a plug for our classes in bicycle maintenance and wheel building.
If the thread is stripped, our best advice is to keep on riding the crank till it reaches the end of its useful life, then book the bike into one of our workshops where intelligently-administered brute force will be applied to remove said dead crank prior to its replacement.
What does the B-tension adjustment bolt on Shimano gears do?
This bolt governs the distance between the rear gear’s top jockey wheel and the rear cogs. Basically you want the jockey wheel to be as close as possible to the cogs, but not so close that it rubs. The biggest cog is the test. If the jockey wheel doesn’t touch this, it should be okay in any gear.
I have noticed that there are different styles and sizes of headsets and stems, what are they?
Traditional headsets fit threaded fork steerers, Aheadsets fit unthreaded steerers. You can tell which system you have by looking at the handlebar stem.
Traditional quill stem for bikes with threaded steerers and headsets
Aheadstem for bikes with unthreaded steerers and Aheadsets
Traditional quill stem for bikes with threaded steerers and headsets
Aheadstem for bikes with unthreaded steerers and Aheadsets
When the fork is threaded, the stem’s quill fits inside the steerer. When the fork is unthreaded, the Aheadstem is clamped over the unthreaded steerer. Most better-quality mountain bikes and a growing percentage of road bikes have come Aheadset equipped since the mid 1990s. Note that headsets and stems made for unthreaded steerers are not interchangeable with headsets and stems made for threaded steerers. There are three common sizes.
Standard or ‘one inch’ – found on most road bikes and first-generation mountain bikes.
Fork steerer diameter: 1″ (25.4mm).
Aheadstem clamp internal diameter: 1″ (25.4mm).
Stem quill diameter: 7/8″ (22mm).
Headset locknut is usually 32mm.
Avenger or ‘inch and an eighth’ – found on most better quality mountain bikes since the mid 1990s.
Diameter of fork steerer: 1 1/8″ (28.6mm).
Aheadstem clamp internal diameter: 1 1/8″ (28.6mm).
Stem quill diameter: 25.4mm.
Headset locknut is usually 36mm.
Evolution or ‘inch and a quarter’- popular in the early 1990′s, now rarely seen.
Diameter of fork steerer: 1 1/4″ (31.8mm).
Aheadstem clamp internal diameter: 1 1/4″ (31.8mm).
Stem quill diameter: 28.6mm.
Headset locknut is usually 40mm.
In short, if you need a new headset, stem or fork you’ll need to do some careful measuring. Alternatively, bring the old component to one of our shops to ensure you get the correct replacement.
Quill stems offer a little up-and-down height adjustment, but be aware of the stem’s minimum insertion line. This line should be out of sight, buried in the fork steerer, when fitted.
Aheadstems offer zero height adjustment. If you feel you’re bars are too low, swap the Aheadstem for a higher rise one.
What is Suspension All About?
Just about every mountain bike now comes with suspension forks. More and more MTBs have rear suspension too. Suspension helps you and the bike cope with bumps and drops that would otherwise jar you when you ride off road. And because you’ll be less fatigued, you can ride ride safer, longer, faster and further, thanks to suspension.
It’s a misconception that suspension is just for expert mountain bikers. Quite the opposite. Suspension helps keep the tyres ‘planted’ while the wheels roll over obstacles that might have otherwise pitched you off the bike. Suspension can help compensate for lack of skills when you start out. Then it helps you build confidence as you climb the MTB learning curve.
Travel
‘Travel’ is a key consideration when choosing a bicycle with suspension. 50-65mm travel will be all you’ll probably need on a hybrid bike used on towpaths and roads. An XC (cross-country) MTB will have 80-120mm travel. An ‘all mountain’ bike built for riding technical trails may well have 140-150mm travel. A dedicated downhill rig could easily have 180-200mm travel.
Obviously a longer-travel fork, built with longer, wider-diameter tubes to cope with bigger hits, will weigh more than an XC fork. As ever when choosing bicycle equipment, you have to consider your intended usage. If you think you’ll be riding as many offroad miles uphill as you do downhill, weight is a major consideration. If you’re more interested in surviving big hits, longer travel comes into its own.
Spring Types
Air/Oil is the favoured spring medium for the lightest weight forks (and you can usually adjust the preload with a pump). Good old Coil Steel Springs make up for their weight penalty by offering the most progressive spring rate over the widest range of conditions, and they tend to be the most reliable.
How Suspension Works
a) When your bike hits a bump the fork’s spring compresses to take up the shock.
b) Once over the bump the fork begins to travel back to its normal length.
A damper in the fork controls the rate at which the ‘spring’ expands back.
The time taken to return to normal length is determined by the damper setting.
Most suspension forks have an adjuster to control this setting and the loading of the ‘spring’.
c) Once the forks are back to their original length your bike is ready for the next shock.
Miscellaneous FAQs
Any tips for carrying Sunday papers on a racing bike?
Wrap them round your top tube and secure them with those toe straps you removed when you upgraded to clipless pedals.
What does a Scotsman wear under his cycling shorts?
Well – nothing. Regular underwear seams do not facilitate comfy saddle contact, exception being Endura Lites.
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Information courtesy: http://www.edinburghbicycle.com