Welcome to our page of cycling hints and tips.

No matter your experience or ability, we have a series of videos and posts covering basic bike maintenance and essential tools & accessories.

We hope these will help build your confidence and equip you with the knowledge to keep you cycling throughout the year.

If there are any topics you would like to see covered, we would be more than happy to share our friendly, expert advice.

Just get in touch!

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Videos

Quick Tips & How To’s:

Some quick tips to try at home. No fancy tools required!

How to: Basic Gear Indexing

Fine tuning using the barrel adjuster on the rear derailleur.

There can be many reasons why your gears may not be shifting as smooth as they used to.

Provided everything is as it should be, you can easily index your gears at home without any fancy tools.

A little knowledge of how the gears work is a good place to start. Without going into too much detail, when you are shifting up into the bigger cogs on your cassette, your cable requires more tension to allow the chain to move up the gears and when shifting into the smaller cogs, the cable needs to slacken to allow the chain to fall back down.

Step 1: Assess whether you need to tighten or slacken

Pop your bike on a repair stand if you have one or flip your bike upside down (be careful to to damage your shifters etc.) and shift through the gears as you use your hand to pedal. If your chain is struggling to shift into bigger cogs, you need to tighten the cable. If your chain is having trouble moving down into the smaller cogs, you need to slacken.

Step 2: Use the barrel adjuster to re-tension

First, locate the barrel adjuster. Your barrel adjuster will probably be on the rear derailleur where the cable meets the derailleur (see picture). For the front derailleur, it’s usually near the shifters.
Turn your barrel adjuster clockwise (outwards) to slacken the cable and anti-clockwise (inwards) to tighten it. Turn the adjuster a quarter turn at a time and check the gear shifting.

It really is as easy as that!

If you are still having problems shifting, it could be down to one of the following:

  • Worn chain;
  • Worn cassette;
  • Misfiring shifter;
  • Incompatible parts;
  • Cursed by a witch;
  • Bent/damaged derailleur, hanger or frame;
  • Damaged cable or housing (including dirt and grime causing friction)

Get in touch and we can help diagnose any more serious issues.

Quick Tip: Correct Tyre Pressure

Keep your tyres inflated to the correct pressure!

Proper tyre pressure will improve your ride quality, comfort and help you avoid flats! Tyres leak over time, so get into the habit of checking your tyre pressure regularly.

But what is the correct tyre pressure I hear you ask?

Most tyre manufacturers will state a recommended min-max range on the sidewall of the tyre itself in P.S.I (pounds per square inch), so simply check the side of your tyres.

The pressure recommendation will either be in P.S.I or Bar. Most decent pump gauges will display both.

Just pump up somewhere in between this range and you can’t really go wrong. Heavier riders will require a little more pressure, so factor in your body weight.

Oh, and invest in a decent floor pump with a gauge to make life easier!

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