Free Advice and Information
Free tip sheets to download and print out
What type of bike is best? (PDF document - 50 KB) - What to look for and how much to spend when buying a new or used bike
Basic maintenance (PDF document - 46 KB) - A basic guide to the routine maintenance of your bike: what to do and when; how to oil the chain; and some tips on fixing a puncture
Long-term maintenance (PDF document - 685 KB) - A more in-depth guide to long-term bike care: bearings; chain wear; wheel rim wear and more
Locking advice (PDF document - 45 KB) - How to choose a good lock, and how to lock up your bike securely
Cycle Touring Kit (PDF document - 43 KB) - Recommended tools and equipment for longer cycling trips
Recommended Books and Guides (PDF document - 67 KB) - Further reading
Bike Check (PDF document - 25 KB) - A basic safety-check and assessment of the whole bike to determine what condition it's in and whether any maintenance work is required. See also our schedule of work (PDF document - 21 KB) for more information
Below are a few other hints and tips which may be used in future tip sheets:
Don't buy a cheap bike!
A few customers have recently brought us very cheap, low-quality bikes which are almost impossible to service or repair. Some of these bikes are so bad, frankly their sale ought to be illegal on safety grounds. Others may be just about safe, but are a completely false economy because they will cost so much more in terms of maintenance and repair, even only in a year or two of ownership. (Some people refer to them as "Bicycle Shaped Objects" or BSO's: they look like bikes, but if used as such they will quickly fail). One customer bought a £170 bike 6 months ago and hardly even used it, yet had to pay us another £140 to repair and reassemble it correctly (we did try to talk her out of having the work done, but to no avail). If she'd only spent the combined total in the first place she would have had an infinitely better bike.
The perils of buying a BSO from a department store or mail order website don't end there. Even when brand new, such bikes are heavy, sluggish to ride, and uncomfortable thanks to hard saddles and cheap grips. People with BSO's who test-ride a good quality hybrid bike are always amazed at the difference. How many novices up and down the country have been put off cycling for life because they assume all bikes are as unpleasant to ride as their new £99.99 BSO from the supermarket?
Remember also that any BSO bought online or from a mail-order catalogue will arrive flat-packed and will require assembly. Although they come with instructions and very basic tools, it's easy to get wrong. All too often we see self-assembly bikes we see with pedals on the wrong side, loose wheels or dangerous brakes. Some manufacturers' warranties are also valid only if the bike is assembled by a bike shop - a service which typically adds £35 to the price of a mail-order bike.
There is one sure method of avoiding the BSO trap: if you are buying a brand new bike which will be used regularly and you want it to last more than a year or two, don't spend less than £300. And nowadays this represents the bare minimum price for getting even a basic, no-frills bike. If you want luggage racks and mudguards, don't spend less than £350. And if you want a new bike for mountain biking or serious cycle touring, don't spend less than about £600. There really is no point in cutting corners. This is what it costs to get a new bike that's worth having, and anything cheaper will be both unpleasant to ride and unreliable in the longer term.
What if you can't afford e.g. £350? Your money is much better spent on a £200 second-hand bike (in good condition) which would have cost around £350 when new, than a £199.99 new bike that will fall apart in 6 months time.
See also our What type of bike is best? tip sheet
Avoid using an expensive bike as your everyday city bike
If you have the storage space available, why not buy a second bike for everyday use around the city? It can be used and abused on a daily basis without loosing too much of its value, and it can be left locked up almost anywhere without undue concern about it being stolen. A cheaper bike is not only less attractive to thieves, but it also matters less if it is stolen.
Fitting very sensible accessories such as mudguards and a luggage rack could also make the bike less stealable because it will be less easy to sell: the sort of person who buys a stolen bike from a dodgy bloke on a street corner for £20 is the sort of person who wants a shiny-looking, generic modern bike, and would not even consider an old road bike with mudguards, a child seat and a bell fitted, especially if these made it more distinctive and recognisable to its owner.
If you do use an expensive bike on a regular basis you absolutely must use at least one expensive lock - and preferably two of different types, so that even a thief equipped to cut a cable lock will be defeated by the D-lock, or vice-versa. Also, do not lock an expensive bike in the same place every day. Much better to lock it in a variety of places in order to defeat a pre-planned theft.
Brakes which start grinding or scraping
If your brakes start making a grinding, scraping or hissing noise, check the brake blocks immediately. They will either be worn right down to the metal, or there will be a small stone or piece of glass embedded in the rubber material of the brake block.
Worn blocks must be replaced immediately. Continued use of a brake block which is completely worn out will very quickly wear out your wheel rim as well, a much more expensive problem to repair.
Debris in the brake block can normally be removed fairly easily using the tip of a very small screwdriver or similar. Often a stone or piece of glass will be obvious and can just be scraped away. But sometimes the brake block will look as though it has small flecks of metal embedded in its surface: these are in fact an accumulation of aluminium rubbed off the wheel rim by some piece of debris lodged underneath. Scrape these off the brake block as well as the offending stone or piece of glass underneath.
If the brakes have been grinding for a while and you have worn a groove into your wheel rim, get it checked immediately. A worn out wheel rim is not strong enough to safely support the pressure of a fully inflated tyre and can crack or even explode.
Are your brakes damaging your tyres?
All brake blocks wear out with use and must be replaced periodically. However, brake blocks sometimes need adjustment even if they are not worn out:
Brake blocks which are positioned too low down are less efficient and will eventually wear crooked, making them difficult to adjust and necessitating replacement.
Brake blocks which are positioned too high up are dangerous because if they come into contact with the tyre they will quickly rub a hole in the sidewall, probably leading to a loud explosion as the inner tube blows out!
Normally this happens as a result of the brake blocks being badly adjusted from the start, but on some brakes the position can change as the brake block wears down, so it's important to do a quick visual check of your brakes fairly regularly.
Squealing Brakes
Brakes which squeal aren't normally a problem in terms of reliability or safety, but they can be incredibly annoying and a real embarrassment to use in public. Here's what we do to cure squeaking brakes:
1. Toe-in the blocks: this means adjusting the angle of the brake blocks so that the front edge is approx 1mm closer to the wheel than the rear, and thus contact is made gradually when you apply the brakes. This prevents judder and often is enough to eliminate brake squeal altogether.
2. Grease the pivots: remove the brake arms (or disassemble the calliper), grease the pivot(s), and reassemble. If the joint is no longer dry and is tightened correctly, there should be less chance of vibration and therefore noise.
3. Clean the rims: Dirt, grime and grease on the wheel rims can be enough to cause noisy brakes. A quick scrub with something very mildly abrasive like a green kitchen scourer or wire wool should remove any contaminants and may help reduce noise when braking.
4. Replace the brake blocks: some brake blocks are worse than others, especially in combination with certain rims. If the steps above have failed to eliminate brake squeal, we normally just replace the brake blocks, and often this slight difference in rubber compound or shape makes all the difference.
5. Replace the brake arms: if your brake arms (or calliper) are cheap models with too much flex and/or too much movement in the pivots it can be almost impossible to eliminate brake noise. Replacing them with a better quality pair will not only eliminate brake squeal, but will probably improve braking performance as well.
Although this list makes it sound nice and simple, actually carrying out the adjustments above can be tricky, and there are a couple of other less common causes of brake squeal. If in doubt, give us a call to book your bike in for an assessment and brakes service.
Preventative maintenance: fix it before it breaks!
A lot of maintenance problems, which do not make a bike unsafe to ride, are nevertheless easier and cheaper to fix early than to leave until they're really, really broken. Every spring we see bikes that have suffered typical winter damage. By then it is often too late to repair and some of the components require replacement because they have rusted or seized. This is more expensive, and more wasteful.
Seized seatposts and stems can be difficult and expensive to extract. A seized seatpost means you won't be able to adjust your saddle height, and a seized stem will prevent you (and us) from servicing or replacing a headset. The solution is simple enough: once or twice a year, or more often if your bike spends much time outside, remove the seatpost and stem, grease them and refit. This could save you as much as £70!
Seized derailleurs (mechs) will prevent you from using some or all of your gears. We often see seized front derailleurs, sometimes simply because their owners have spent the entire winter using only the middle chainring. The solution? Change your gears regularly, as even occasional movement will prevent the problem, and oil the pivots once or twice during the winter. Fitting a full-length rear mudguard will also protect the derailleur pivot from spray.
Road grit can get lodged in your brake blocks and cause the wheel rims to wear more quickly. If your brakes make a rubbing, grinding noise (not squeaking), it might suggest that your brake blocks are contaminated. Undo the brakes if there is a quick-release mechanism, or remove the wheel, and with a very thin screwdriver remove any grit or debris from the brake blocks. This is much cheaper than replacing the whole wheel, which will quickly become necessary if the brake blocks aren't cleared of debris.
A general winter problem is rust and corrosion, which may affect any steel part of your bike. Make sure you keep cables, chains and bearings moving by using your brakes and gears, don't store your bike outside (or if you do, keep it under cover), and wipe and oil your chain regularly. The latter is especially important if roads are gritted, as salt will increase the rate of corrosion. More comprehensive advice on chain maintenance is available in our free Basic Maintenance and Long-Term Maintenance tip sheets, above.
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