Bike Maintenance Class: Week 1, Introduction and Flat Repair

Bike Maintenance Class: Week 1, Introduction and Flat Repair

Component Identification and Basic Terminology

What's What on a Bike

Drive Side and Non-drive Side

The right side of the bike is referred to as the drive side while the left side is the non-drive side.

How to talk about gearing

Gears closer to the frame are referred to as inner gears while the ones furthest from the frame are the outer gears. High and low in relation to the gears describes the relative mechanical advantage of the gearing. An easy mnemonic for this is Higher gears are harder while lower gears are easier. The inner gears on a bike are always going to be the lower gears and the outer gears are the higher gears.

Right-hand vs Left-hand Threading

Almost every threaded component on a bike is going to be right-hand threaded, which means that turning it clockwise will tighten it and turning it counter-clockwise will loosen it. Pedals and bottom bracket cups are examples where you would run into left-hand threaded components. To identify the handedness of a component hold it in front of you as in the picture below. The direction that the threads slant up too corresponds to the components handedness.

Left-handed Right-handed

Valves: Schrader and Presta

The two types of valves you will see on 99% of bikes in America are schrader and presta. Schrader valves are the same type of valve that you see on cars and most other pneumatic tires. Presta valves are

Basic Upkeep

Inflating Tires

Flat Repair

• Understanding brake and wheel quick release mechanisims
• How to remove a tire with tirelevers
• Identifying puncture source (don't forget to keep everything lined up!)
• Patching

Hands On

Repairing flat tires on demo wheels.

Resources

More than you really need to know about flats: Sheldon Brown Tells All