By Jim Langley This is the final installment of our upgrading components series. If you’ve successfully completed the previous 8 steps, your upgraded 11-speed thoroughbred is almost ready to rule the road. All that’s left is fine-tuning the brakes and derailleurs, checking your work, a test ride to ensure your adjustments are spot-on…
By Jim Langley Recapping how far we’ve come in the previous 7 installments of this series: all the new 11-speed parts are on your road rocket. All that’s left is hooking the levers to the brakes and derailleurs by sizing, routing, connecting, stretching, tightening and capping the cable and housings. Next week will…
By Jim Langley It may seem that installing derailleurs is as simple as bolting them on – especially if you’ve set up a drivetrain before. However, the designs keep changing. So I’m giving you 10 steps for the front and rear derailleur and chain to follow this week to ensure that your new…
By Jim Langley At this point in an upgrade, when you have the wheels, bottom bracket, crankset, pedals, handlebars and levers installed, you get to choose whether to install the brakes or derailleurs next. I’m going to cover the brakes first because there are fewer steps so it’s faster and ticks one more…
By Jim Langley I received a good question about a common bike part that can fail, from Mark Pryor of Alameda, California, who’s the co-founder of the Alameda Velo bike club. Mark wrote, “I’m proficient at breaking and loosening rear spokes. I never have problems with fronts; only rear wheels. I’m a 195-pound…
