How To Make Your Bike Look and Pedal Like New | The Family Handyman
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If your bicycle looks and feels a lilliputian tired, it may be time to requite information technology a facelift.
With supply-chain issues sparking problems throughout the cycle manufacture, new bikes are in short supply in near places. Only don't fret. There are plenty of ways to brand that dusty ten-speed or trusty mount bicycle hanging in your garage look and pedal like new.
Clean It
The easiest mode to rejuvenate any bike is to give it a proper, thorough cleaning. When it'due south time to replace parts, it's always better to beginning from a make clean slate.
Install New Bar Record or Grips
The most cost-effective way to give your wheel a facelift? New bar tape. After a flavour of sweat and difficult utilise, your existing tape is likely worn and dingy. Typically, I swap out my bar record each spring. An virtually overwhelming number of colors and patterns are out there, including multi-colored camo, dual-tones and more than.
Besides corrective improvement, there are also performance reasons to supplant your tape. Thicker record offers more shock absorption, while thinner record will give you a more tactile experience of the confined. I prefer tape with a tacky experience for a better grip. I usually go with Lizard Skins tape, which offers the best of both worlds.
Mountain bike grips are much hardier than bar tape and so y'all can usually get several years out of a pair, depending on how much and how hard you ride. Merely sometimes you might simply want a change. I swear by Ergon grips with a apartment base that allow me to ride longer and in greater comfort.
Replace Your Chain and Cassette
Even with proper cleaning and maintenance, all bike parts somewhen wear out. The more than you lot ride on a chain, the more it stretches, causing your wheel to shift poorly. If your concatenation seemingly jumps when shifting gears, it'south probably time to replace it. Expect to do this every 3,000 miles or so. And you can replace it yourself.
If yous replace your chain regularly, you can extend the life of your other drivetrain components. Merely as all things must finish, your cassette will need to exist replaced, and you can do that yourself as well.
Remember that not all bondage and cassettes are the same. If you lot ride a bike with an eleven-speed SRAM or Shimano drivetrain, yous demand a uniform xi-speed chain or cassette. Not only will a clean, new drivetrain look keen, merely it'll also pedal more efficiently and quietly.
Mount New Tires
Fresh rubber provides a multitude of benefits, including amend grip and puncture resistance. For about road riders, the all-time pick volition be Continental Gatorskins, offer the best puncture-resistance and durability of whatsoever tire I've tried.
Mountain-bike riders should choose a new tire based on the terrain they ride. Typically, the gnarlier the trail, the knobbier the tire. For a bang-up all-around tire, I recommend Maxxis Minions, which offer relatively low rolling resistance with groovy cornering traction.
Want to lower the take chances of a rogue thorn ruining your day on the trail? Get tubeless.
Replace Your Restriction and Shifter Cables
Cables habiliment, fray and rust when exposed to corrosive elements. Though I know cables demand to be replaced regularly — mostly once every season or two for most enthusiast riders — I almost ever overlook information technology until my shifting or braking begins to suffer.
If the cable housing is make clean and gratuitous of debris, you can reuse it, but information technology's typically best to replace the housing and the cables at the aforementioned time. Shimano makes cable and housing kits in different color varieties, assuasive yous to improve performance and amend match your cycle'southward colour scheme.
Bandy Out Accessories
Things fastened to your wheel can give information technology an entirely new look. A few of the easiest accessories to supervene upon are bottle cages and pedals.
I've used Speedplay pedals for about a decade and a one-half, and I just replaced my initial pair before this year. Unfortunately, Speedplay no longer offers multiple colors, simply basic black. Riders desiring a pop of color on the cheap should call back about replacing their bottle cages. Elite makes a lightweight plastic option in multiple colors.
Buy New Wheels (Or Light Upwards Your Old Ones)
Few upgrades offer as much performance difference as a new wheelset. For looks, new hoops tin be definite caput-turners.
Y'all can build up your own wheels, choosing hubs, rims and spokes. But that's rarely toll effective, particularly when considering the added costs of a truing stand. Likewise, a set of carbon racing wheels can really be more expensive than a new bicycle, and is overkill for most riders who volition never pin on a race number.
Given the vast differences in quality and materials amid manufacturers, I'd recommend nigh riders forgo the internet and visit their local bicycle shop to cull a new set of wheels. Bike riders who often pedal in the nighttime and want to show off their ride for vanity and safety tin can add bright LED lights to their wheels.
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