You can retro fit a chain guard to your bike. However, it can be a little complicated. Therefore, you may want to opt for using the helmet of a knowledgeable bike mechanic from a local bike shop.

The best option is to choose a full chain case. That completely protects the chain, front chainring and rear cog from the elements, as well as protecting your clothes. However, it’s more likely your bike is equipped for a partial chain case. I outline three good options below.

SKS Chainboard

The Chainboard is a strong yet lightweight option by SKS. Thanks to a universal fitting design, it can accommodate both from and rear derailleurs. It also works with hub gears.

You can get the SKS Chainboard in three different sizes, depending on the number of teeth on your cogs. Installation is somewhat painful, so be prepared to put some hours in if you choose to do it at home.

The downside of the SKS Chainboard is of course the looks of it. There’s no escaping that it’s big, plastic and ugly. However, many people couldn’t care less about this.

It is available from Amazon for around £15.

FreeDrive Chain Cover

The Biologic FreeDrive is a good option for single speed, fixed gear bikes and internal hub gear bikes. It looks a lot sleeker and installation is easier when compared to the SKS Chainboard. It should also go a long way towards protecting your clothes.

The design is unique, in that it moves with your chain.

It is available from Amazon for £19.99.

Herbie Chainglider

Another good looking option is by the Herbie Chainglider. It costs around £35 and is available from SJS Cycles.

This is designed for hub geared bikes and you must buy the exact size to fit your specific range of ring and sprocket sizes.

Fortunately, installation is easy as it doesn’t require fixing to your frame and you won’t need any special tools. Unfortunately, this does mean that it will rub slightly on your chain but it shouldn’t be noisy.

Does your bike have a chain guard or would you consider retro fitting one? Leave a comment below!

The post Fitting a chain guard to your bike appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Note that I’ve not found a good book with repair instructions for hub gears and hub brakes. If anyone has – please leave a comment below!

Total Bike Repair and Maintenance

I’ve yet to find a more complete bike maintenance book than Total Bike Repair and Maintenance. Each repair is thorough, easy to follow and understand. The clear pictures make it easy to see what you should be doing next. This “magbook” should be used as a reference manual for how to do a good bike maintenance book. Buy it!

Available for £8.99

Park Tool Big Blue Book of Repairs

Most bike shops have got a copy of the Park Tool book lying around somewhere. That’s because it goes in to thorough coverage of many different components. Therefore, if an odd bit of kit enters the shop, it can be used as a great reference manual. It perhaps isn’t the best book for beginners but better for those who have previous experience. The book is well illustrated and repairs are well explained.

Available for £20

Bike maintenance books I’d avoid like the plague

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance and Bicycle Maintenance and Repair by Todd Downs.

I know the two above will be slightly “controversial” decisions, as they’ve got plenty of loyal fans. When I first started maintaining my bike myself, I picked up a copy of Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance. Reading it nearly put me off bike maintenance for life!

It was hard to find the right section, instructions were hard to follow and the illustrations didn’t help makes things clear.

I put it in the recycling bin. I have similar feelings about Todd Down’s book.

The Total Bike Maintenance Book: DIY Repairs Made Easy

I love Mel Allwood. Back when I first started maintaining my bike, and was nearly put off for life by Zinn and Todd, I bought a copy of Mel Allwood’s book. I found it much easier to follow. I’ve not yet had the pleasure of taking a look at more recent additions, but I’m sure it has only been improved upon.

To add to the charm of this bicycle maintenance book, the author is a Londoner, working at Brixton Cycles.

Available for £12.15

The post Best bicycle maintenance books appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

The essentials to bike maintenance – Allen keys and a bottle of wine!

Slow changing gears, brakes that don’t bring a bike to a quick stop and strange creaks coming from near your pedals.

Everyone recognises the symptoms of a bike in need of attention.

Most people would love to have a bike that runs as smoothly as the day you bought it, without any weird noises and responsive brakes and gears. The sort of bike that leaves you to enjoy the pleasure of a bike ride.

Many people try to learn how to maintain their bikes themselves by looking on YouTube. There are a huge number of videos on there, on nearly every bike maintenance topic. However, none of them tie everything together, in to an easy to follow, step by step system.

Therefore, while you can dive in to different topics, you never get an overview that allows you to run through your bike, spot any issues early on and easily resolve them.

Typically, a weekend course that will teach you this will cost around £200.

However, this week we’ve launched our online bike maintenance course. The course  shows you how you can maintain your bike at home, in a weekend. It is available for just £20. Then, once we’ve given London Cyclist readers the chance to join, the price will be doubling to £20.

A complete system for bike maintenance at home

Inside you’ll discover:

• How to run through the entire of your bike in 5 minutes and identify any issues you need to look at
• How to adjust your gears so that they instantly respond and how to replace gear cables. (This would cost £30 in a bike shop)
• How to adjust your brakes so that when you pull your brake leaver 2/3rds of the way down, your brakes are fully engaged and your bike comes to a quick stop. We also show how you can easily replace your brake cables and brake pads (This would cost £25 in a bike shop)
• How to spot when your chain and cassette are worn and how to replace them (£55 in a bike shop)
• How to quickly repair a puncture at the road side (£13.95 in a bike shop)
• How to true your wheels so that they don’t wobble side to side (£18.95 per wheel in a bike shop)
• The basics to bike fitting
• Plus how to service your pedals, headset, crank and bottom bracket.

Save over £100 per year on bike shop fees

Yearly bike services cost around £100. By repairing your bike at home, you save this money and you can fix your bike without having to rely on the bike shop fitting you in.

A £20 toolkit for completing 70% of the repairs in the course

Once you’ve got a puncture repair kit and a pump, you only really need a few basics to maintain your bike at home:

• A set of Allen keys (£3.25)
• Screwdriver (£1.50)
• Chain tool £6)
• Lubricant and grease (£9)

This should allow you to do most adjustments on your bike and complete around 70% of the course. Then, as your confidence grows, you can add extra tools.

Even if you don’t have much space at home

Not everyone has access to a garage or a garden. However, there are some excellent ways you can work on your bike, even in the smallest of flats. You just need to set things up correctly. Inside the course you’ll discover exactly how to maintain your bike at home, even if you feel you don’t have the space.

Easy to follow, even for those who hate DIY

If you are a little like me, and even putting up a photo frame on the wall seems scary to you, then you’ll be pleased to see how easy the course is to follow. This is largely thanks to Tom, an instructor from the London Bike Kitchen, who has taught 100s of cyclists before. He knows the typical questions people have and can explain bicycle maintenance in a way that even a complete beginner can understand.

Who the course is for

• If you want to save money on bike repairs (even a simple puncture repair costs £13.95)
• If you want to spot problems on your bike, before they become an issue
• If you want a squeak and creak free bike
• If you’d like to be proud of maintaining your bike yourself (and you are willing to accept that your friends will start coming to you for bike maintenance advice!)
• If you’d like your bike maintenance to become a relaxing experience rather than a chore

Who the course isn’t for

• Anyone that is unwilling to invest £20 for a basic bike maintenance toolkit
• We’ll be adding disk brake repairs by mid December and hub gear repairs should follow soon after. Note that we currently have no plans to include Campagnolo component instructions (not that common on most bikes).

Try the Weekend Bike Maintenance course risk free for a full 60 days

I’m certain that what you’ll learn inside will pay for itself at LEAST 5 times over in the coming year. Go through this course and see for yourself. If you don’t save a load of money on bike shop repairs and you don’t gain the confidence to start repairing your bike yourself, then I’ll issue you a full refund. No questions asked.

P.S. The course is available for just £20 and can save you over £100 per year. You get lifetime membership, so you can follow the content whenever is convenient for you.

Feedback from first members

“What I especially liked was the mechanic was very soft spoken, easy to understand, and did not talk down, as you see in many YouTube videos. I just wish I had access to these videos years ago when I got into bicycle maintenance. Great course!” Steve, New York

“Clearly explained and thorough enough for a novice to follow, without feeling that steps were being skipped. I think Tom from the London Bike Kitchen is the perfect person to front this maintenance course – he has a great manner: always clear without ever being patronising. I particularly loved the fact that I could easily browse the site and watch the videos using my iPad.  This is really handy for portability when performing the maintenance, but also great for lazing on the sofa and dipping in and out of the videos to learn something new.” Daniel

The post A step by step system for easily maintaining your bike at home appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

The M Check answers two important questions:

• Is my bike safe to ride, or will a wheel come flying off, just as I start to pedal?
• Are there any areas of my bike that I should be looking at?

It’s one of the most useful tools for anyone who wants to maintain a bike themselves and it is easy peasy to use, as it follows the well known letter M.

That’s the reason we show it as the first video inside our new online bicycle maintenance course. The course gives you an easy, step-by-step system you can follow, for maintaining your own bike at home.

Please note: Our course will be doubling in price from £10 to £20 this Sunday night, once we’ve given London Cyclist readers the opportunity to join. You can join now here.

How to run the M Check on your bicycle

Tom Martin from the London Bike Kitchen explains the bicycle M-Check in our video above. Here’s how to do it on your bike:

Wheels

At the bottom of the M, is the rear wheel. Here’s what you should check:

• Lift the bike up and give the wheel a spin. Check it doesn’t wobble side to side and that there’s no grit and knocking.
• Check for any cracks or splits in the tyre. Also, check that there is still tread.
• Check your tyres are fully inflated. When you press down on them they shouldn’t budge. Ideally, use a pump with a pressure gauge.
• Check the rims to see if they are worn by using the wear line indicator if your bike has one. Otherwise look for excessive grooves that could indicate your brake pads have worn out the rim.
• Check the quick releases and wheel nuts are firmly tightened.

You’ll need to repeat this test on the front wheel.

Rear derailleur

• Shift through the gears and check they change smoothly without any hesitation.

Brakes

• You shouldn’t be able to press your brake lever more than 2/3rds of the way down. At this point, your brakes should be fully engaged.
• Check if your brake pads need replacing.
• Check your brake cable for any fraying or corrosion.

Repeat this on the front brake.

Seat post

You can quickly check that the “minimum insertion” line isn’t visible on your seat post. You can also try to move the saddle to check it is securely tightened.

Front derailleur

• Check you can run through the full range of gears
• Check the gear cable is not frayed or corroded.

Bottom bracket

• Put one hand on each crank and rock them back and forth. You shouldn’t feel any play.
• Spin the cranks backwards and check that you can feel a smooth rotation, without any resistance.

Pedals

• Spin pedals to check they spin freely.

Headset

• Spin handlebars back and forth and check they move smoothly, without any knocking.
• Hold down your front brake and try to rock your headset. You are checking if there’s any clicking, which will need to be dealt with.

To see the rest of the course, head to:

http://maintenance.londoncyclist.co.uk

The post The Bicycle M Check appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Some of the feedback I’ve been receiving from the first 50 people who tested the Bike Maintenance in a Weekend course has been amazing:

“What I especially liked was the mechanic was very soft spoken, easy to understand, and did not talk down, as you see in many YouTube videos. I just wish I had access to these videos years ago when I got into bicycle maintenance. Great course!” Steve, New York

“A lot of thought and effort will have gone into these videos with the view to answer pretty much all the questions anyone would have when taking on bike maintenance.” Javed

“Clearly explained and thorough enough for a novice to follow, without feeling that steps were being skipped. I think Tom from the London Bike Kitchen is the perfect person to front this maintenance course – he has a great manner: always clear without ever being patronising. I particularly loved the fact that I could easily browse the site and watch the videos using my iPad.  This is really handy for portability when performing the maintenance, but also great for lazing on the sofa and dipping in and out of the videos to learn something new.” Daniel

The course is now live and you can be one of the first people to get access:

http://maintenance.londoncyclist.co.uk/

Having the right instructor is the key element

The course is taught by Tom from the London Bike Kitchen.

Tom has taught hundreds of cyclists about bike maintenance before, and he knows the sort of questions people have and the best way to explain things.

This makes the 14 HD videos inside the course incredibly easy to follow, even to people such as myself, who look at a piece of IKEA furniture and rush to the kitchen to make a cup of tea instead.

We’ve also designed the course around the things that typically stop people from successfully maintaining their bike themselves.

We’ve included the M-Check, so you can quickly diagnose issues and check your bike is safe to ride. We’ve added instructions on how to maintain a bike, even if you don’t have a garage or a big garden. We’ve added details on a £20 set of tools you can get, that will allow you to complete 70% of the repairs we cover in the course.

Within minutes of joining the course, you’ll learn about the 2 quick things you can do, that will make you better than most cyclists at bike maintenance.

Found out more about what is included inside the course, by visiting our launch page:

http://maintenance.londoncyclist.co.uk/

See you inside!

The post Learn to effortlessly maintain your bike in a weekend appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

• “I really need to adjust my brakes, I’m pulling them far back and its taking too long for my bike to come to a stop”
• “I’d love to replace my front tyre, I wonder whether it is too worn to ride any more but I’m worried replacement will be expensive.”
• “I should really give my bike a clean, but how on earth am I supposed to do that when I live in a flat on the fourth floor”
• “My chain keeps rattling when I’m in that gear and it is too slow to change. I wish it would shift smoothly like the first day I bought it”
• “What is that strange creak coming from near the pedals, I hope my bike can get me to work”

I wasn’t able to just relax and enjoy my bike ride. One of the favourite parts of my day.

These days, there’s a very different thought running through my mind:

• “Ahhh, the pleasure of a noise free bike. I love that comforting feeling of brakes that bring me to a safe halt when I pull them and nothing but the rhythmic, gentle sound of my wheels spinning to accompany my ride”

How did I get there?

I believe I took much the same course as many other cyclists. After trying to ignore the problem (that didn’t last long) and then speaking to an employee in a bike shop (I checked behind my sofa and couldn’t find a spare £100) I loaded up YouTube searching for solutions.

There were some good videos in there, but the quality really varied. I tried a few things but it never really tied everything together for me in a way I could really get a whole overview of what I needed to do for my bike. 

My confidence never really grew. 

I even bought a few bike maintenance books, but I didn’t really get it and I just thought to myself “I guess bike maintenance is one of those things that only mechanically minded people can do”.

I remember the day when everything changed. Something just clicked in my mind.

Suddenly I was thinking “wow, there really isn’t that much to it. There are some really basic things I can do here, that make a big difference, how come it has taken me so long to get it?”

It was after I’d taken a two day bike maintenance course costing £200. The course presented everything in a way I could really understand. It wasn’t just separate bits of little knowledge in YouTube videos, it was an entire system for looking after my bike myself.

The course gave me the confidence boost I needed. From the basics such as puncture repairs (I was forgetting to really check the inside of my tyre to make sure I don’t get a repeat puncture 5 metres down the road) to more advanced repairs such as replacing a creaking bottom bracket.

It explained things in such a way that finally made perfect sense to me. After the course I was able to identify problems by knowing what symptoms to look out for and then take the steps needed to fix the problem.

It was a great feeling knowing I no longer had to rely on the local bike shop having some time to repair my bike. I knew I could handle it myself.

I also immediately knew I wanted to bring this course to London Cyclist readers, as so many had told me about maintenance issues they were having. However, I felt the course shouldn’t cost £200 and people should be able to access it at any time from home.

Tomorrow, I’ll be revealing how you can be one of the first people to get access.

The post Have you ever had any of these thoughts while riding your bike? appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Clean and oil your chain once every two to three weeks.

It’s that simple and it will probably take you 5 minutes.

Will most people do anything about this?

Probably not.

In fact, I can give you a bunch of these tactics that can really help. But, unless there’s a way of tying them all together and making them extremely easy to take action on, they will mostly be little more than words on an email.

Why do we know we should do these things, yet we never get round to them?

We know the advantages of maintaining our bikes ourselves:

• It means more money in your pocket to spend on other things you enjoy (I’m saving up for an iPad!)
• It means a quiet bike, that doesn’t squeal as you pedal down the road, causing everyone at the bus stop to turn round to face you
• It means you don’t have to be without your bike when something goes wrong

Yet, we continue to procrastinate on it.

How many of us can proudly say we are completely on top of our bike maintenance?

Here are some of the typical excuses people make, when you ask why they don’t maintain their bike themselves:

You need a bunch of expensive tools

In fact, you can complete around 70% of your bike repairs with a handful of tools totalling no more than £20. That’s what I spent yesterday buying a round of drinks for my friends at the pub! (I’m making a note now – they owe me a round!)

But I’ll mess things up

I’ve been maintaining my own bike for a long time and the biggest mistake I ever made? I put my front tyre on the wrong way round. This meant that in the rain, the water from the road was splashing on me, instead of on to the road. Hardly earth shattering right?

And I’m probably the opposite of the mechanical type. IKEA furniture scares me!

The truth is, with a clear set of instructions, presented by someone that knows how to explain things in such a way that even a complete novice can follow, anyone can maintain their bikes themselves. Let’s not forget, bicycles  are designed to be repairable.

But I don’t have any space in my apartment

This is a juicy one and I’ll reveal how to get around it.

All of the above are valid concerns. I know, because I’ve had many of the same thoughts, but as is so often in life, most our fears prove unfounded.

On Thursday, I’ll be revealing a new project I’ve been put a lot of thought and work in to.

It’s an online course, designed to be followed in just a single weekend. By the end of it, you’ll be able to maintain your bike yourself.

It will provide an easy to follow system, that overcomes the things that stop most people from succeeding.

There’s going to be some bonuses there for early joiners, so you’ll want to keep an eye on London Cyclist or join the newsletter below. I’ll be revealing more details over the next few days.

The post How to cut your bike shop visits in half appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Doing your own routine bike maintenance has many benefits. You can instantly fix your bike, without relying on the timetable of the local bike shop. You can save significant amounts of money on bike shop repairs. It can also be reassuring to know that if something goes wrong, you can fix it. So why don’t more people maintain their bikes themselves?

This was a question I set out to find the answer to, when we surveyed over 1000 London Cyclist readers about their bike maintenance habits.

The findings below are incredibly interesting and they are also the basis of a new online bike maintenance course that we’ve designed and will be launching soon.

Feel I’ll mess things up and it will be embarrassing to go to a bike shop to fix it

We’ve all had that moment where we’ve been putting together some Ikea furniture and we suddenly become stuck. With a puzzled look on our faces we consult the manual and then go and make a cup of tea, promising to do it later. On your bike, that’s your means of transport to work. It can’t wait till later.

There’s also a fear of messing something up and then been laughed at the local bike shop. Personally, I’d change my local bike shop if I was expecting to be treated like that, but that’s an issue for another blog post.

My wheel will fly off as I pedal down the road

“Still slightly scared I’m not doing things properly and that half way through my commute to work my bike will just fall apart!”

This is another common concern, and very similar to the one above. However, this is where the M-Check comes in so useful. It’s a simple checklist you can follow to discover any issues with your bike and make sure it is safe to ride. I’ll be sharing the M-Check video from our bike maintenance course here on the site next week.

I don’t have the space

“Space and the Mrs objection to using the hall as a workshop”

A concern that I can really relate to is a lack of space to maintain your bike. This is especially true in London. Bikes can be messy and take up a lot of space. If you’ve not got a garden or garage, then it’s hard to find a spot to maintain your bike. We’ll cover solutions inside the course.

Lack of tools

“Having all 1001 tools needed to do any repair that isn’t changing a tire and even then you need tire levers.”

A decent, full bicycle maintenance toolkit will set you back around £90. There are places in London, such as the London Bike Kitchen, where you have access to the tools you need to maintain your bike. However, that may be a little far away. There’s no easy way around this, other than to bite the bullet and buy the kit. You’ll make your investment back after two or three repairs. Another option is to start off with a cheaper kit at half the price and go from there. I bought my tool kit for around £90 and since then I’ve done countless repairs and even built my own single speed bike!

Don’t have the time

“The time it might take – I’d like to take a basic maintenance course but it’s hard to find the time!”

A number of respondents said they simply didn’t have the time. That’s understandable, everyone is busy these days. Bicycle maintenance definitely feels rather slow at first during the early hesitant stages. However, once you get past that initial hurdle, you grow in confidence. From then, armed with the right knowledge, you feel more willing to dive in and complete the repair.

Lack of knowledge

“I lack a real knowledge but I would love to learn.”

This is the most obvious one but I hope most people are open to learning!

I’m sure a few people will be able to relate to the above objections. I’ll have more details on the course we’ll be launching soon. If you’d like to be the first to know about it, please make sure you are subscribed to the newsletter below.

The post What is stopping people from maintaining their bikes themselves? appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Bar tape

If you’ve got road bike style, drop bars, then you’ve probably got some bar tape on there. This gets scruffy over time and doesn’t give you a nice feeling each time you grip it. Fi’zi:k’s Microtext is a great upgrade option. It is one of the most long lasting tapes you can buy and it feels really good to grip. You can either get the bike shop to install this for you (it shouldn’t cost too much) or you can do the upgrade at home. We’ve got instructions inside the Bike Doctor app. You also get to choose from a pretty wide range of colours!

Cost: Microtext tape £12

New tyres

A new set of tyres are a great upgrade. You can get better puncture resistance and a better handling on the road. The Schwalbe Durano Plus tyres come highly recommended, as do the Hutchinson Intensive Kevlar tyres.

Cost: Schwalbe Durano Plus £26

Upgrade your cables

Bicycle cables corrode and fray over time. You can get a new set for around £15. The effect on your bike’s performance will be immediately noticeable. Your brakes suddenly respond far more quickly and your gears shift more smoothly. For a guide on completing this repair, make sure you get a copy of our Bike Doctor App.

Cost: £15 from your local bike shop.

New brake pads

V-brakes, common in mountain bikes and hybrids, need replacing frequently. Road bike brakes less frequently and disk brakes even less frequently. You should keep an eye on the condition of your pads and grab a new pair when they are too worn. This will provide better braking and will stop your pads wearing down your wheel rims.

Cost: £10-£15 from your local bike shop.

New pedals

If you are still using the standard set of pedals that came with your bike, a clever upgrade can be a new set of pedals. I recently covered the advantages of mountain bike style, flat pedals.

I’ve gone down the new tyre, pedal and bar tape route and my bike feels great to ride. A pair of new cables will probably be next on the cards, as my breaking is starting to feel a little spongy.

The post 5 cheap and easy bike upgrades anyone can do appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.

Have you ever wondered why cycle hire scheme bikes from around the world hardly ever get punctures? If you look closely at the tyres, you’ll find the answer. They tend to use Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres.

These tyres have a “five millimeter thick Smart Guard puncture protection belt made from special india rubber that in conjunction with the tread and carcass brings the total to almost a centimetre of material between the tube and road.”

The tyres also come with a 3M reflective strip that helps with side visibility. You’ll have noticed this if you’ve ever shone a bike light on a Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre. The benefits don’t stop there. The tyres also last absolutely ages and provide a safe grip on the road when you are cornering.

It’s pretty easy to see why they were chosen for London’s cycle hire bikes.

Not all is perfect

The main downside to the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres is the stiffness that makes them a pain to remove when you get a puncture. Something that anyone who’s used these tyres for a long time will attest to.

For road bikes

The road bike equivalent of the Marathon Plus tyre is the Schwalbe Durano Plus. These offers better rollability, which means it will glide across the road with less resistance.

If you are interested in bringing one of these two tyres to your bike, you can discover the size you need by looking at the side walls of your current tyre.

Alternatives

It’s not only about Schwalbe tyres of course and there are plenty of great alternatives out there. The Specialized Armadillo, Continental Gatorskin and Hutchinson Intensive tyres all offer good performance and puncture resistance.

The post Why do Boris Bikes hardly ever get punctures? appeared first on London Cyclist Blog.