jbhowat

My campus bike is a 8-10 year old Giant Rincon. It has a Sakae front "Power Ring" and a 7sp Shimano cassette in the back with a Shimano Altus C10 derailleur. The brakes are ok, but a little squeaky. Can anyone give any info on how to do a good, complete tune-up myself? One of my main problems is that the 5th "gear" in the rear cassette tends to jump or skip. I can't tell what's happening, but it seems like it it trying to shift to either 4th or 6th. I sometimes get the same problem in 4th gear. There is a way to adjust this, right? This bike hasn't had a tuneup for at least 5 years (minimal riding though). Can someone point me to a how-to or maybe just give me directions on how to do a good all-around tuneup on this bike, especially help with fixing the mentioned "skipping" issue?

Map tester

For an on-line sources, I suggest you try Sheldon Brown's articles articles on adjusting and working on your bike and the Park tool site for repair help. You can also download a few of the chapters from the Barnett's Manual site.

DanO220

How are you fixed for tools? Do you know another cyclist who does any wrenching at all and might consider giving you a hand for the afternoon if you buy the pizza and beer? Other enthusiasts, especially budding home mechanics, are usually eager to share their knowlege and help out a fellow cyclist.

There are a couple things you can do for sure. The first is to remove the wheels and give the whole bike a good wash. There are expensive cycle soaps 'n' brushes, but you can get by with Simple Green or grease cutting dish detergent, a used dish sponge and an old tooth brush.

Let your bike dry as you run down to the LBS for some econo replacement brake and derailleur cables. Also take a set of the old brake pads, they're probably the original equipments and need to be replaced. Be sure to ask the parts guys to sell you some aluminum end caps for the cables and crome ends for the housings (you'll be cutting them to size) for that professional look. Pick up some bike/chain lube.

Once you get home put the wheels back on and start fiddling about. Begin by removing the brake cables and pads. They're the easiest system to learn on. Do just the front first. A new pair of wire cutters will suffice for trimming the cables and housings. If the old cable and housing were working pretty good, just match those for length and routing. Be sure to remember to pull the cable out of the housing before you cut the housing. I've done this! You might have to file the end of the housing or work it with a pair of needle nose to smooth the end out. You definitely need the little chrome cap on both ends. Otherwise it will not seat into the caliper or lever properly and braking performance will quickly diminish due to the bare housing deforming. If you've got any amount of tinkering in you, replacing the break pads and hooking up the cables will come easy. The barrel adjuster on the lever should be turned all the way in before you adjust and tighted the cable on the caliper. Leave about two inches of cable, clip and clamp the little aluminum cap on. Looks good?

Do the same with the rear brake and then the front and rear derailleurs. The aforementioned websights can give you easy instructions for adjusting the front and rear derailleurs on your bike. In fact, there should be a barrel adjuster where the cable from the rear derailleur meets the shifter on the bar. Tweaking this adjuster one way or the other as you peddle around just might remedy that 5th gear skipping situation.

I can't tell you what a difference a stand makes when you're trying to peddle the bike while adusting the gears. If you can't beg, borrow or steal one, find a way to suspend you bike from hooks or something.

How is the chain? Is it all rusted, squeaking and maybe some links sticking? If you're not quite up to replacing it you might as well dose it with WD40, scrub it with your tooth brush, work the links loose, wipe it down then lube it and give it a try. In fact, do that before you bother adjusting your shifting.

Do the wheels spin freely without noise? If not, they're probably ball bearing hubs you can disassemble and regrease yourself. Heck, you can even get replacement bearings.

Sorry about the long winded answer, but in short, don't be afraid to take your bike apart and tinker with it - especially a ten year old one that's worth MAYBE twice what the LBS will want for an overhaul. It's the only way you'll learn to do it yourself - along with all the decent info available on line,that is. ONE THING AT A TIME NOW! Don't just disassemble the whole thing unless you like puzzles.

jbhowat

Cool. Thanks for the reply. I took off some old, useless crap today (kickstand + broken computer stuff). When I have more time I'll do as you suggested. There is a kid in my hall who worked at a bike shop for a year, between him and I we have probably all the tools needed for what you described. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm pretty mechanically inclined, I work on cars all the time and know quite a bit about that side of things. We'll see. Worst comes to worst I walk walk to class until i figure out how to put my bike back together.

latortilla

Another internet resource to check out is https://www.bikewebsite.com. It has good brief overview of some easy stuff you can do to tune up your bike without overhauling it.

jbhowat

Yeah I looked at the cables and they are all rusted and crap. I think it needs a complete overhaul. I will check out the link though, thanks!

seely

Just singlespeed it if its your campus bike... a lot less maintenance and 100% more reliable.

jbhowat

I could never ride a single speed bike. I'm a roadie, I enjoy going fast, even if its just going to class. And while I obviously don't go all out just riding to class and back I like to go at a brisk speed, and I don't feel like spinning in excess of 110rpms just to go my normal speed (this would not be a problem in my road clothes, but in jeans - No). I know i could gear a single speed to any ratio I want. But problem is I also have to stop at stop signs and then get going and get out of the intersection ASAP - and I don't wanna have to mash a crappy ratio....

Tree Trunk

Sounds to me like the drivetrain is worn out. I would suggest a new chain and cassette. You probably can get those parts for around $30-40. You may also want to replace the most used chain ring while you are at it.

Clean your bike, chain, cassette, etc. before spending the money. Sometimes it's amazing what cleaning will do for a bike!