Buying Basic Cycling Tools

As part of my efforts to improve the efficiency and enjoyability of my “green transportation,” I’ve determined to purchase some tools to help me with the following:

1)    maintain my current, cheap mountain bike, so that my parts last longer and I can save money, not have to throw out the parts for new ones, and have a smoother ride

2)    fix up my nicer, old mountain bike, which has:

a.     rust on many parts

b.     a broken chain

c.     suspicious cogset (set of gears on the rear wheel hub)

d.    broken spokes and spoke nipples

One of the things people don’t know about bikes – at least in the U.S., for the casual rider – is that you are supposed to apply lubricant to your chain rather frequently. If you don’t do that, the chain is likely to stretch over time.

Riding with a stretched, improperly sized chain will cause the teeth in the cogset (the gears in the back) in the rear wheel to deform. Then, you have to replace not only the whole chain, but the entire cogset.

Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way, and that’s why my old mountain bike has both a broken chain and a suspicious cogset (the teeth on the cogset are deformed).

Ideally, you’re supposed to lube your bike chain frequently. Lubing it gives it an extra coating that prevents dirt and debris from getting trapped within the chainlinks (each part of the chain), which leads to wear.

And, lubing generally provides for smoother action. I imagine it’s similar to changing the “engine oil” in a car.

I found out that there are two types of lube: dry and wet. Dry lube is for dry conditions, wet lube for wet. Dry lube has the potential to get washed off in the rain, but if the weather is too dry, wet lube, which is stickier, can attract more gunk.

I wasn’t sure which to use, and thought it might be redundant, or a bit costly, to have both of them. Even though wet lube probably works better for New England’s weather conditions, which are looking wetter and wetter as winter approaches, I wasn’t sure if I would lube my chain and wipe it down enough to prevent the potential buildup of gunk.

So, I opened my copy of Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance and found that the author recommended ProGold Chain Lube. After scrolling through Amazon and looking at the top chain lube products, I decided to stick with that, as multiple reviewers mentioned it noticeably lengthening the life of their chain.

I’d like to also know more about how to maintain bikes. One of my dreams has been to go on a bike tour; as I roadtripped across my car in my SUV, I felt guilty about how much gasoline I was consuming. So, if I were able to bike tour, I would be able to still go on a “roadtrip,” but by consuming less petroleum, having fun, and getting ripped. Of course, it’s not realistic to think that I could ride all the way from here to Grand Teton and then through other mountainous regions, as I’m nowhere near the level of fitness that’s required for that. But, maybe a short tour – like from Boston to Cape Cod – would be doable.

One of the things that has most prevented me from bike touring, however, is this lack of knowledge regarding bike maintenance. If my bike breaks on a random trail in the middle of the woods, knowing how to fix some basic things on it is crucial. Not knowing could make the difference between life or death, or even of having a good time versus a terrible one.

To that end, I want to at least be able to fix some basic things – that urban bike commuters don’t necessarily need to know – such as how to deal with a bent rim, or a messed-up chain, or a broken spoke.

The current state of my old mountain bike – which has a bunch of problems – is the perfect opportunity for me to explore that.

Even though I already have a sort of generic “toolbox” with a lot of stuff in it, like hammers and wrenches, for biking you need more specialized tools. As such, I decided to buy a bike multitool, which is a like a Swiss Army knife, but for bikes. The set that I got, this Crank Brothers M19 set on Amazon, has received great reviews. It’s about $20 and includes hex keys (apparently, they have to be metric hex keys, as in, written in mm rather than in 16ths), spoke wrenches, chain tool, one Torx thing, and screwdriver heads.

Also, because I know I’ll eventually have to mess a lot with the wheels of my old mountain bike, I threw in a $5 set of tire levers, which are like these tiny hinged arms you stick between the rim of the wheel and the tire, to pop off the tire.

So, total cost of chain lube, multitool, and tire levers: $33 including tax.

Regarding rust, I read somewhere that Coca-Cola would do the trick. So, I’ll update once I start to fix the rust. I imagine that finding a way to store my bike inside, or at least shield it with some sort of tarp, could help with that. It’s been rainy here the past couple of days.

Fortunately, I already have a bike pump, and some rags I can use to wipe and clean. I’ll continue this when I get my stuff in the mail!