Why You Should Learn To Take Off Your Wheels

One of the first things I taught myself after deciding to go on longish trips with my car out of town, was how to replace a wheel. Those were the pre-tubeless days. A flat meant an immediate halt and replacement of the wheel. How to change the wheel is a critical thing to know if you are travelling on your own. This knowledge has come in pretty handy for me on several occasions. It's my good luck that I have never had a flat while travelling long distances in India. But I know if needed I can do it. 

While changing the wheel of a car is relatively easy, changing the wheel of a bike is not. Different bikes use different techniques to fix the wheels. Taking them off was never easy when we were young. You needed wrenches. You needed to take this off and that off etc etc. But it wasn't so critically important for us because a. we were not travelling long distance on our cycles. b. the road side mechanic could get the flat fixed without taking the wheel off. 

However, modern bikes come with a very simple quick release system that makes the job of replacing the wheel like a piece of cake. My Merida has such a system and today, well after owning the bike for more than a year, I mustered up enough courage to take the two wheels off. 

While taking off and putting the front wheel back on was really a piece of cake, the rear wheel wasn't so easy, particularly putting it back on. Finally it happened. But I couldn't quite understand how exactly it happened. I guess I will have to do it several times more to be able to do it confidently. There is no rocket science involved here. 

Now comes the questions why I want to learn this. 

A. It is a cool thing to do/know. If someone did this in my childhood in front of me, I would have been very envious of him and would have wanted to do it and would have made my father's life miserable asking him to get me a cycle with quick release mechanism. 

B. It makes cleaning the bike very easy and you can do a thorough job of it if you can take the wheels off. Not only can you clean the wheels nicely, you can also clean the insides of the fork, brakes, chain stays, seat stays, derailleurs, cassettes etc. These places gather a lot of dirt and it is a good thing to give the bike a thorough shampoo after a dirty run. 

In fact today's decision to take off the wheel was prompted by this morning's ride over a wet patch of road near Science City. The bike's frame was literally plastered with dirt - essentially sand particles. Terrible to look at and would have surely spoilt the bike's paint if I allowed them to sit there for long. 

I had to see the various youtube videos several times to gather the confidence but in the end I did it. Youtube videos make everything look very simple. Real life is not always so simple, but except for putting the rear wheel back on, there is nothing that requires any special ability or knowledge or experience. Any ten year old can also do these. 

C. You can confidently go anywhere with your bike, a spare tube, a couple of levers to take out your tyre and a handy pump. That's it. You can easily fix a flat. I have all these except the pump. It's on my Amazon wish list though. 

Essentially you are not fixing the flat (even that can be done) but on the road you are replacing your tube really. You do that on the desolate section of your road and then the moment you see a tyre repair shop (they are everywhere), get the punctured tube fixed. To fix a punctured tube you need the additional help of some water and of course the patches. 

D. No knowledge goes unused in life. However, trivial it might be.

My next target is to learn how to take the tube out and put it back on. 

  

The First Non-Stop 50K

Today I achieved two cycling firsts. As the title suggests, I cycled non-stop to cover a distance of 50+ km. In terms of time, it took me 2:26 min to cover a little over 51 km. Sitting constant on the saddle for close to two and a half hours without a break is not easy. But surprisingly I don't feel any soreness on the ass. In fact I noticed this last Thursday (Kalipujo holiday) also when I felt the bum was remarkably pain free after the 35 km ride. The Sunday before that - which is just last Sunday - I felt the pain on the ass for two days.

Actually after that Sunday pain, I did a lot of stretches for the glutes. I guess that helped. It's a remarkable thing really to not feel any pain after non-stop two and a half hours of sitting on a saddle.  Coming back to the other cycling first - I took off the front wheel of my bike and surprise surprise - I put it back on as well (after washing it nicely in the bathroom) !!! While it took about ten seconds to do the first job, it took about 20 seconds to put it back on. I have never owned a cycle with clip on type wheels. This is the first time I did this. It's a nice feeling :-) Like finally doing something that you always wanted to do as a child but were afraid to try.

My next ambition is to take off the rear wheel, which is slightly more complicated because the chain and derailleur come into play there. But I will do it. I would have done it today itself but I have to go out to attend to a lunch invitation party for a colleague's son's annaprashan. 

Next on my "to do" list is taking the tube out and putting it back on. If I can do this I can confidently go for long road trips. I will need a portable pump for that though.

Now back to the morning's ride. I had meant to do this yesterday with Chenku. But due to really bad weather we couldn't go out. So I went out alone today to do what I had intended to do earlier. I think I started off at around 5.15 am. I got a little delayed waiting for the Garmin to get a fix on the satellites. It took an inordinately long time. In fact I turned it off and turned it on again. This trick often works. The Forerunner can be totally unpredictable when it comes to getting a fix on satellites. 

The route had a few bad sections and we learn from our mistakes. Like I will never take the short cut to Bijan Setu through Kakulia. That section is full of bumps. The section in front of Science City on the Park Circus connector had water logging. This made riding difficult as only the central part of the road was dry and the small pick up trucks drive at break neck speed there. Riding here made the bike and my back very dirty. This is the reason why I took off the wheel. I gave the bike a thorough wash,  with the pipe jet downstairs. But I did it without any shampoo. I will get a foam and some shampoo for this soon.

I felt a little hungry when I hit the VIP Road. This is after around 30 km, I think. I had started the morning with 4 biscuits. I think I was feeling a little extra hungry today. I didn't feel thirsty at all. Towards the end perhaps yes but then I had to prove that I could ride non-stop. So I didn't stop for any water break. Since I use a normal water bottle I need to stop to drink from it.

I guess I am now going to go for 100 km quite seriously. I will go step by step. Next Sunday will be 60, followed by 70 and then 80 etc. No point hastening things up and invite an unnecessary injury.

I also need to learn to ride with both the hands off. When I was in class XI I could ride for hours on end with the hands off. Even in the dark (on familiar roads, of course). But on this bike riding with hands off will take some time to learn. All I need to do is practice a bit. But I was afraid, it would slow down my average time. So I kept on pushing.

A major advantage of being able to ride hands free is that you can give your back a little rest. Let me see.

5 PM: Sunday, 22nd October 2017

After writing this far, I went to Sankhadeep's son's annaprashan. After coming back home at around 3 I did the rear wheel with some help from Monisha. Now taking the rear wheel off is easy but putting it back in wasn't so. The wheel has to be perfectly aligned between the brake pads. Then you have to engage it on the chain. But while doing it the wheel has to be held in such a position that the rest of the things fall in place perfectly.
That wasn't happening smoothly. After some struggle, suddenly things got engaged properly. I am not sure exactly what I did right but it happened. This means I will have to take the wheel off several times and truly master it. Because what happened today was more by fluke. I must know how it works.
Initially I tried with the cycle upright. Monisha was holding it. Then I turned it upside down with the cycle sitting on the saddle. Anyway, managed to clean the wheel nicely when it was off the bike.

Stem Change

The OE 110 stem

Today I changed the stem of my Red Roadie. It initially came with a 110 mm stem. I thought the reach was too far. So, I got a new Merida stem in 90 mm size. Two centimetres can make a lot of difference to riding comfort. I am yet to ride with the new stem. Let me it check out.

I procured it from a guy in Bangalore called Venkatesh Shivarama. He owns a cycling store called Wheel Sports. It cost me Rs 1500. Extreme Adventures quoted me a price of Rs 3000. I am sure that material is different. Though they said it is not carbon but alloy only.

The decal on the new stem is a little different. Otherwise fitting size is same. There is no need to remove or add spacers.

I spoke to Someswar about the fitting. He explained it is nothing difficult and asked me to try and promised he would fix it if something went wrong. So I did, and something did indeed go wrong. The central bolt was tightened so strongly that everything inside came off when I unbolted it. It's somewhat similar to when you try to unscrew the cap of a fountain pen and it comes out with the nib still fitted inside.

The OE stem came off fine but I could not fit it back on.

Someswar, who had a delivery to make in Jadavpur for a new bike was coming to this side of the town in any case. He turned the bike upside down and out came several small bits and pieces. He reassembled the whole thing and fitted it back. I asked him not to tighten the bolts too much as I would like to fine tune the angle of the handle.

He checked the bike for wheel balance and found it was not true. He did some tightening of the spokes. The wheels are quite true now. This is an art you have to master from experience.

He also tightened the cable of the gear.

Few Adjustments

I did a few adjustments last night to the bike before my morning 20 km ride today. First I reduced the pressure on my tyre and next I tilted the handle a wee bit up. Both added to a more comfortable ride this morning.

First the tyre pressure. I was keeping the tyre pressure at 110 psi. That's the recommended and suggested number that you see everywhere on the internet. The ride always felt very hard on the small potholes or uneven surfaces. I reduced it down to 80 psi last night on the advice of one particular blog. My weight being between 60 and 65 kg, 110 psi was too tight for me.

The potholes became more bearable this morning. Of course, I didn't wear my cycling bib today, choosing to go with the general Slazenger running shorts that Chenku gave me, otherwise it would have been more comfortable for my bums.

Now the handlebar angle. My bike came with a 110 mm stem. That's the usual norm for a racing cycle, where you are supposed to lean forward on the handlebar to make your body more aerodynamic. But it made my reach a little too long and leaning forward on a long ride is not comfortable. I ride on the hoods. The hand grip on the hoods was angled down a little, making braking a little difficult and uncomfortable. I have the option to change the stem and go for something shorter like 90 mm, which I will probably do. But in the meanwhile I decided to tilt the handle up a bit so that I can grip the brifter (brake and shifter lever) more comfortably.

I loosened up the four allen bolts and tilted the bar up a bit. The guy who fitted my bike, Someswar Rao, kept it at a neutral position. I was a little hesitant to change it. But once I did, it made a lot of difference.