bike maintenance

The idea of this section is to allow riders, of any skill level, to completely break down and rebuild their bike from scratch. Keep in mind that working on bikes can take as much practice as actually riding them. So, don't expect to build a wheel from scratch perfectly on your first try. Wheel building can be the hardest element of bike maintenance.


BMX MAINTANACE

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BRAKES This is perhaps the NUMBER ONE question that people write about... "My brakes don't work well. How do I get them to work better?" Brakes are NOT just those things that are near your wheel that squeeze the rim. Brakes are a system that is composed of six different parts that need to be CAREFULLY balanced... Calipers- Everyone thinks of these as the brakes. But they aren't. They are just the thing that squeezes the pads together against the rim. There are two varieties that are used for freestyle- U-Brakes and Calipers. Dia-Compe 990's- The BEST U-Brake in the world. ACS Boa- Perhaps the best caliper? U-Brakes, specifically Dia-Compe 990's are THE standard for quality braking in freestyle. ALL the top of the line freestyle bikes come with them and those are what we are going to talk about installing and perfecting... But even with 990's there are other parts to your 'brakes'. The brake pads (in images above) play a MAJOR role in whether or not the brakes will actually grab onto the rim of the bike. Most stock brake pads are a little to hard to grab the rim. They are DURABLE but not usually%