The "Do it yourself" thread.

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The "Do it yourself" thread.
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flag matthewway
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 11:22 Quote
tho on thing ive never done is fit my headset, but i fitted my friends one, i built my bike, bled the brakes, serviced/sprayed the forks, grease the bvearings, service the free-hub, eventually you just learn and dont really need your lbs anymore except for parts.
flag marcel-dutch
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 13:41 Quote
matthewway wrote:
tho on thing ive never done is fit my headset, but i fitted my friends one, i built my bike, bled the brakes, serviced/sprayed the forks, grease the bvearings, service the free-hub, eventually you just learn and dont really need your lbs anymore except for parts.

Agreed, everyone starts with the little/easy things on their bikes and then move up to the more difficult things.

The only thing I did not do myself is service my rear suspension and my fork on my newest bike, but I will get around to that in time.Wink
flag Graphxxx
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 13:43 Quote
Is it hard to service a fork? I'd probably have to do that some time. Also, can you remove a bb without the proper tool?
flag jonbikes
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 14:41 Quote
Graphxxx wrote:
Is it hard to service a fork? I'd probably have to do that some time. Also, can you remove a bb without the proper tool?


Not drastically, no. It all depends on how your mind works I guess. If you see it once and you've learned it in that time, it is fairly easy to work on suspension forks. If you have to read it in a book, its not so easy to service them.

I may not know much about newer suspension technology, but that doesn't change the fact that a fork is a mechanical device. I only need to see something mechanical once and I've got it under control. I couldn't tell you how to replace the rings and pistons in an engine, but I guarantee you I could do it and make the engine run properly the first time.

As for the bb, you pretty much NEED a crank puller to get the crank arms off of the spindle. Beating crank arms off does NOT work as well as you may expect. When it comes time to get the shell out of the frame, you can make it work without the proper tools, but you probably won't get the shell back into the frame tight enough for it to stay there.

Bleeding brakes is rather simple, contrary to popular belief. Especially those hayes nines that people seem to be scared of for some reason. All you are doing is filling the system with a liquid, and eliminating ALL the air. Inside of a caliper is just two empty holes, there are no fancy little moving parts that you can screw up, just an empty space behind the pistons that gets filled with fluid. There is virtually NO way that you can hurt a brake in the bleeding process if you are using the correct fluid and you don't do something stupid like break the leaver body or strip the bleed nipple.
flag Graphxxx
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 14:55 Quote
Well thanks man. I know bleeding isn't very hard, just for now i don't feel like getting angry at such a thing lol. I don't have the 9s, i have Hayes HFX Mags. But same bleeding kit and same process.

I'll only get my brakes bled and get my next bb and crank set installed. That should cost me around 50-60$ to do both! Hopefully it won't be much more than that!
flag jonbikes
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 15:38 Quote
The hayes nines and the mags are identical in the bleeding process. You don't need hayes' ridiculous bleed kit either, a syringe and small length of hose works WAY better than their kit; most local shops use a syringe over the hayes system.
flag Graphxxx
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 17:29 Quote
Yeah thats why i don't want to use their kit.. i've seen so many bad comments about their bleeding kit. But anyway a 30$ per year for bleeding isn't so bad. I mean i bike for about 6 months. So at the begining of each biking season you get the bleeding done. Maybe i'll get it done this time and later if i need it done i might do it myself. I'll see.
flag jonbikes
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 17:33 Quote
You can figure out for under 5 dollars if you are any good at it. The smallest bottle of DOT fluid at canadian tire is about 3 bucks, a little less, and you should be able to bleed a brake upwards of 6 times with that much fluid. Pick up a syringe from the local animal hospital, make a nice donation of a few buck, grab a bit of hose (moto shops will have some that may work) and your good to go.
flag Graphxxx
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 17:36 Quote
Well i've heard you need 2 syringes. One to push to fluid in, the other to catch the fluid thats being pushed out of the hose. Okay so i could do it myself for about 10$ and have enough fluid to do it for 6 times you say? Damn i think i'll do it myself then lol. I need dot 3 or 4, 2 syringes and some hose. Eum i think thats what i'll do lol. Much less money and with syringes its going to do as good as a job and i've seen vids on how to do it. So thanks for the input mate!
flag jonbikes
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 17:39 Quote
I dunno if you can get a peice of hose to go into the lever body, I have tried and even the straw out of a wd40 can does not want to cooperate. You don't need the second syringe, that would just cause problems. Chances are you are going to make somewhat of a mess no matter what you do, so do it outside for the first time. It should be less than 10 for everything, more like 5.
flag ryan1212
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 17:42 Quote
see i dont really understand how to do the fork repairs, but i could probably do it myself, but i can re-build a motor no problem. as for the brake bleeding iv never done my bike yet (hasnt needed it) but iv done like 3 brake jobs on cars involving bleeding, and i figure its not much different. other than that everything is pretty easy exept i dont have the bb tool.
flag Graphxxx
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 18:54 Quote
Okay so you're telling me that i would just need to push the fluid into the brake hose..? But where will the air get out? Because you push fluid in, but the exceed of fluid has to come out by the master cylinder screw normally.
flag jonbikes
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 19:48 Quote
You push fluid in the bottom, at the caliper, and it, along with the air, flows out at the highest point, which is the lever. I normally just let it flow over the side of the lever body and then wipe it off if I am doing a set of hayes brakes. You can get a little thing that screws into the lever body, but it is expensive and only prevents the mess, doesn't really help the bleeding process.

Are we talking about the same thing?
flag Graphxxx
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 19:54 Quote
jonbikes wrote:
You push fluid in the bottom, at the caliper, and it, along with the air, flows out at the highest point, which is the lever. I normally just let it flow over the side of the lever body and then wipe it off if I am doing a set of hayes brakes. You can get a little thing that screws into the lever body, but it is expensive and only prevents the mess, doesn't really help the bleeding process.

Are we talking about the same thing?

Yeah yeah we're talking about the same thing lol Razz
Okay then i'll see if i can't find something to plug it into the screw. Also, what type of syringe (size) that you have?
flag joshizzle
Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 20:55 Quote
sorry to interupt this disc, but could someone explain how to biuld your own rims pleez

 


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