6 Bike Repair Mistakes All Cyclists Should Avoid

Seized seatposts, saddle height woes, rounded bolt heads, missing internal cables, stuck pedals, parts in the wrong order and trouble removing your back wheel. All of these are completely avoidable bike maintenance mistakes, so watch this video and make sure you don't make them, too.

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[gcn]

Here are six incredibly irritating bike maintenance mistakes that we've often made.

What's your number one bike repair frustration? 👇

[pdvision]

I like these videos. They give the average joe just enough confidence to try some of these simple things, and when they mess it up, they bring it into my shop.

[ryanford]

I'm 15 so my saddle is always too low the next time I go for a ride

[brunospasta]

I am always fascinated how fast the pro mechanics can change back wheels!

[TheApothecaryAus]

I'll offer a free tip to you all, it's an aircraft mechanic's secret.

Those bolts that you feel you are going to round out - go to your local auto parts store and buy a small tube of Valve Grinding/Lapping compound (the more coarse the better) and smear it around the end of your tool, say, allen/hex key/wrench for example. It will "super" grip those bolts, and may turn a seized/rusted bolt into a winner - rather than drilling and tapping (You can also use this paste on the end of your screwdriver for screws!).

I'm fairly certain that Loctite offer a Diamond-grip product, however it is quite expensive and the valve paste will do the job at a fraction of the price.

Also to GCN/Simon - Grease/anti-seize lowers the coefficient of friction - when you have grease on a thread it will be more tight than you thought - that 30NM may be 35+ with grease - Keep this in mind when tightening bolts so you don't strip them out.

[paulhatcher]

1. Trouble removing back wheel even in the lowest gear? Lower the tyre pressure first, it helps a lot.
2. Always, put your chain on the largest front sproket when removing pedals or undoing the crank arms. It could save you an awful lot of blood and pain.

[rcuadro]

Half of my time working on the bike is spent looking the tool I JUST HAD IN MY F&%$#ING HAND a second ago!

[madeinuk]

I wish YouTube had been around 30 years ago, I have had to learn all of the tricks the hard way. By trial and error. All the tips on here were spot on.

[peterkiss]

Here is a tip to remove rounded allen head bolts:
You can use torx keys in it. Torx keys are made in different sizes than the allen keys so you can find a bit bigger than the actual key that rounden up the head. The torx key is a bit conical, so it tightens up in the hole easily and its teets are biting into the head a bit with a little force. If it doesn't work you can just cut a line into the head and use a flathead screwdriver.

[RomansFiveDotEight]

A rear light mount also makes a GREAT "seatpost position indicator"! Just mount it all the way down at the frame, so when you remove the seatpost, you just slide it in until the light mount touches the frame again.

[applesapple]

The fact that Si said permutations instead of combinations makes me very, very happy.

[Numeriwar]

use a sewing machine thread + a vaccum cleaner to guide it to the exit. Then attach it to the new cable and pull.

[icurt]

Great video! I've worked on my bikes since I was a kid. I remember taking the rear derailleur apart on my bike and not being able to put it back together. When my dad came home from work I showed him my mess and he quietly figured out how to put it back together : ) These days I get so focused when I'm working on my bike that I forget were I put my tools and parts. I sure spend a lot of time looking for things Lol

[masonv]

To keep headsets and BB pieces together - in order, I just zip tie them together. Keeps everything in order - especially if I'm not going to re-assemble until weeks later.

[Mannerzs]

This is great advice. I'm still relatively new to the sport but I've been into it for a couple of years now and it's easy to lapse into these simple mistakes. I find the GCN content has made what would have otherwise been quite difficult and daunting into something that's a lot more manageable. Thank you for helping this to become accessible!

[rchandos]

I would add to the list a mistake that cost me hours of grief: pushing the roller pin all the way out when breaking a chain with a chain breaking tool.

[DuTempete]

Definitely rounded bolts! Tried the drill method, recently, with no luck. But I did get it out by dipping an IKEA allen key in JB Weld and sticking it into the bolt head. Worked a dream! Now I'm just hoping I didn't ruin the frame threads with the drill...

[andrewkb]

Big thank you for tip on removing back wheel. Didn't know this! Thank you, you've prevented further future frustration. 🙏🙏🙏👍🙂

[radiostation]

"Most bike maintenance jobs are relatively straightforward."
And here I am taking ten minutes to put on my back wheel.

[nielsje]

This channel helped me a lot as a newbie rider, thank you so much guys! And keep up the good work!