Between Monday Maintenance and our Scoop’s Scooter build up features we’ve covered most maintenance and mechanical issues that can be easily sorted in the home workshop. However the summer months bring out a whole new set of cyclists who nobody has even shown how to do the most basic bike maintenance.

Maybe the bike shop owner just popped out the front wheel stuffed the bike in the boot and waved a cheery goodbye. Perhaps riding partners always sort out the grinding noises and punctures that occasionally appear. Well the trouble is, you’re then – through no fault of your own – totally reliant on other people in even the simplest to solve situations.

So for all those people who just get given things to hold, get tutted at, or have their biking trip ruined when they have to walk home with a punctured tyre, it’s time to overcome your fear and master the basic skills you need to keep on rolling. Sheesh, you might even enjoy it!

So we don’t leave anyone out we’re starting right from the very basics – putting a front wheel in. Anyone chuckling at the back can clear off now and go and do something useful with their spannering supremacy like helping out on the Maintenance section of the forum.

Release the brakes to release the wheel

Whipping your wheel out.
Getting the front wheel off your bike makes getting it into and out of cars or repairing punctures a load easier, but we’ve never seen it properly explained.

The first step is to loosen the brakes so that the tyre can actually move past them. Don’t be tempted to force it as you’ll push the brake blocks out of alignment. To undo the brake noodle (curved pipe) or straddle cable you have to have enough slack. First move the little rubber worm cover off the end of the noodle. Then – using one hand – push the brakes together as hard onto the wheel as you can. Now pull the noodle back (to the left if you’re looking from the front of the bike) in it’s little cradle and the end should pop out of the slot. The brakes will now fall open to let the wheel through.

Simple but superbly effective.

Quick Release?
The flippable lever that holds your front wheel in place (the quick release) is simple mechanical genius, but from bike shop and trailside experience, many folk use skewers completely wrongly and dangerously.

Developed by Tulio Campagnolo to replace the big aluminium wing nuts or steel bolts previously used on race bikes, the quick release lever is a ‘locking off centre cam’. This means as you push the lever from open to shut it increases tension in the skewer (long thin bit that goes through the middle of the wheel). Then in the last part of lever movement the tension reduces to let the lever lock into place and stop it springing back open again.

Safety tabs; a right pain until the moment you need them.

Anyway history and mechanics aren’t important now. To release the wheel pull the lever open by pulling it back on itself. If you’ve got Pace forks the wheel will now just drop straight out, but most forks have safety tabs on the dropout (the slotted end of the fork) to stop the wheel falling out accidentally. In this case you have to hold the knob at the left hand (looking from the front) side of the fork and then unscrew the quick release lever a few turns so there’s enough space either side to pull it out.

Note 1: Try not to undo the skewer totally, as you can lose the little helper springs off the end.

The wheel is now free for you to do anything you want with (don’t worry we’ll be talking tyre changes and puncture repair very soon) or just put in the boot of the car.

Enough tension to just shut tight without wobble.

Getting it together again
Putting the front wheel back in is theoretically just a simple reversal of procedures but then nothing is ever simple is it?

First thing to notice is where the wheel is likely to get stuck. This can be a tyre on a brake, or a disc rotor on a disc brake caliper, but if you don’t spot what’s likely to cause the obstruction it’s much harder to get alignment right. Once the skewer is sitting in the dropout you need to take off the slack that lets it past the safety tabs. Hold the nut at the far end and tighten the lever through a few turns (but not till it’s tight against the dropout) then close the lever to tighten it into the fork. Do not use the lever as a handle and crank it shut just by winding it round as it can easily rattle undone.

It will normally take several goes to get the tension right but persevere – the lever should have just enough movement to lock into place fully without any rattle or slack.

Straight wheels mean straight steering.

Note 1: Make sure the fork isn’t getting in the way of properly closing the Quick Release (or QR) or getting knocked open by accident. Shutting it so it points backwards or vertically upwards is generally the safest way.

Note 2: Most skewers are made curved, with a logo on the outside. The lever will curve back towards the bike when it’s in the shut position.

Note 3: Make sure the wheel is sitting straight in the fork by checking the tyre runs centrally under the fork. If in doubt hold the bike straight and undo and re-close the QR.

Note 4: Make sure you fix the brake back into position before riding – you might laugh but we’ve all done it and it’s not funny when it happens.

Next week, getting the back wheel in and out.