530farm

Hi i just purchased a specialized sequoia Elite, and the person had it packaged at a bike shop. I currently lack tools as of i am at college in dorms. But lack funds for a estimated 75 dollar assembly at a bike shop. The guy said it wasnt complety disasemblyed, mainly just frotn wheel off, and somethign about the handlebars. How hard is it to do that kinda of assembly myself, and are there any manuals maybe on the sequoia?

Proximo

The sequoia is no different than any other run-of-the-mill modern bike with an integrated threadless headset. I suspect they pulled the handlbars off the stem to fit it in a flatter box. You'll need a hex wrench of the appropriate size to put it back on. 4 bolts, no big deal. You may still have to have the bike tuned up at a bike shop depending on how bad it was out of tune when shipped.

There are excellent bike repair/assembly howtos with nice photos at parktool.com. The Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance book is also a good reference.

jsharr

See if your student union has a bike shop. At Texas A&M, there was one in the basement of the Memorial Student Center, where you could present your valid student ID and get tools and a work stand. Another option is to see if you school has a cycling club. If so, I bet someone there could get you going in a jiffy.

Best of Luck.

530farm

thanks for the responses. also you say it might need to be tuned. like what is involved in tuning?

Proximo

Depending on what's needed: Cleaning/repacking bearings in the hubs/bottom bracket/headset and adjusting bearing load. Cleaning or replacing cables/housings. Derailleur adjustment. etc. There are articles at parktool.com that describe the process. This is something you can do yourself with the right tools, careful attention to instructions and patience.

In the end, particularly if you don't plan to work on your bike in the future, it will probably be easier and cheaper to have the bike shop do it.

Edit: as far as bearings, the stock sequoia bottom bracket is a sealed unit so there's no maintenance possible. If it doesn't spin smoothly, you have to replace it. I haven't looked but if the stock hubs have sealed cartridge bearings and they don't spin smoothly, they may need replacing. You can pop the seal, clean out the old grease with some brake cleaner and repack them but if doing it yourself it'll be easier to replace them. I'm not sure about the headset bearings but if they are sealed the same thing applies.

530farm

got the biek was able to put it together myself, everythign seems to runs moothly so im not in the mood to bring it to a bike shop. but i was wondering on how i should adjust the handlebars, the like handle bar hub thing, and seat for me, im 5'11". Also what kind of back racks will fit on it that are cheap. And what is a good shoe for there clip pedals if i plan on using it for long like tour rides.

530farm

oh yeah its a 57" frame

530farm

meant cm

Proximo

I have the same frame and am also 5'11". Ideally, I should have had a 55cm frame but the bike was on sale at a 30% off and I couldn't resist. The top tube length on that frame is 56.5cm which for me was 1 to 1 1/2cm too long. I ended up swapping the stock 120mm stem for a 110mm to bring the bars closer to me and take some weight off my hands. I have the saddle positioned 52cm from the tip of the saddle to the back edge of the handlebars.

For a rack, I use a Topeak Explorer. You could use any standard rack but I like the Explorer because of the integrated rails for the Topeak MTX bags. The MTX bags are more for commuting than touring so if you plan to tour get any standard rack and a nice set of panniers.

As for shoes, if your bike already has clipless pedals then that'll dictate what type of shoes you need. If you need pedals, then get SPD style so you can use mountain bike shoes with them. MTB shoes are much easier to walk in and you can wear them around school in a pinch. I'd suggest Shimano PD-520 pedals with Specialized Taho shoes. My 2005 Elite came stock with Shimano PD-505 SPD pedals so if your bike has those all you'd need are shoes.

As far as the height of the seat and bars, if you plan on touring, you should try to have the top of the bars the same height as the top of the seat, more or less. I wear a 32" inseam pants (33" from floor to pubic bone) and have the seat set at 76cm from the center of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat (put a board across the top of the seat and measure to the bottom edge of the board). Everyone is different, though, but you could try starting with that. If the bars are an inch or two below the seat it'll be fine but if they are too low it may strain your arms and back over a long ride. The stock stem is adjustable for 4 different angles which allows you to add a small amount of handlebar height if necessary by changing the angle. If the bars still end up too low, it may be because the original owner shortened the steerer. In that case, you may have to go to a stem extension to get them raised. Really, if you end up at that point, take it to your local bike shop because it's probably beyond your current skills and tools to deal with.

Oh, and if you still have the standard Specialized Milano saddle with thick padding, consider replacing it. The padding will feel fine for about 5 miles then get uncomfortable. I replaced mine with a Brooks B-17. Leather saddles are an acquired taste but you'll find that most serious tourers use one because once you break them in they are the most comfortable for long days.

One last thing: if you plan to tour with any kind of load, you'll want sturdier wheels than the stock ones which are fine for commuting but don't have enough spokes to hold up to a lot of weight on rough roads. Performance Bike regularly has the near bulletproof Mavic Open Pro rims laced to Ultegra hubs on sale for around $200 the set.