I am leaving for training camp in Lake Placid tomorrow and I am trying to pack my bike, by myself. if it doesn’t work, I will take it to the bike shop… Few questions…
1- About the pedals… i have the tool, but I am struggling… i am going clockwise right? or not? any trick to loosen those up?
2-Packing the zipps… Took the air out of one tire… the other one has an extended piece because the valve is too short… how do I reach in there to let the air out?
These might be newbie questions but I usually have a guy packing my bike for me, just trying to learn to be independant here:)
I can answer your pedal question, I learned the hard way. They both turn towards the back of the bike to loosen and towards the front to tighten. One side is left hand threads the other is right hand threads. And it makes a difference which side they go on for reassembly. Don’t ask me which is which, just turn towards the back tire to loosen.
The pedals have one right handed and one left handed thread. Pull the wrench over the top of the pedal toward the rear of the bike to loosen them. Best way to remember is that the normal pedaling motion will tend to tighten the pedals.
Poke into the extender with a wire hanger or something to release the air.
For the pedals, I just remember that the right pedal is threaded the conventional way (righty tighty etc) and the left pedal is reverse threaded. For the valve, I use a ballpoint pen refill piece. But lately I’ve been buying the tufo valve extenders which basically let you put the valve core above the wheel so you don’t have to mess with wire hangers, etc. Have a good trip!
I’ve got a new zipp 404 tubular with a valve extender. I’ve pumped it up a few times, but I can no longer put air into it. It is acting like the valve is closed. I’ve pushed a flattened nail down into it, but I can’t tell what the state is. Does anyone have any ideas, or do I have to rip off the new tubular and check it out?
Not working:( I am frustrated… i have a bloody finger, the pedals are on tight… tried poking the valve, I don’t feel a valve… I guess I will take my bike to the shop or call a friend over. But thanks for your help.
Hello, pedals can be on very tight. Easiest way for me to rember is to put the wrench on the pedal, then hold the wrench and pedal the bike forward. this is the proper direction to loosen both pedals. You must have a long wrench and carefully use some muscle. Best to put the chain on the big ring so that when the pedal lets go your hand hits the chain not the big rings teeth.
For the wheel, leave the air in, it wont hurt anything and the inflated tire with provide the rim with some cushion. Also, if you can inflate the tire the valve is open and you should be able to stich a small allen wrench down and deflate the tire. ou may have to push somewhat hard to deflate. If you cant inflate either then you have to take off the valvle extender and unscrew the valve head a little. This is unlikely the case as you would remeber screwing it close.
Air…use a spoke. No issues. I do it all the time. If you cant get air in, it is possible that you screwed the stopper in putting on the extender.
Pedals…use a PEDAL wrench!!! that is about the only SAFE way to do it…and make sure that your chain is ON the big chainring! I have a nasty scar on my arm from a chainring digging into my bone trying to take off a pedal with an allen wrench and the chain off…that was not a free trip to the ER.
for the valve, i usually use the narrowest allen wrench (1mm?), but not all mini tool kits will have this. a toothpick should work fine as well. i can’t imagine that the valve itself is closed, since air shouldn’t have gotten into the tire in that case. the valve head may just be slightly off-center, so a little poking around may eventually get it.
for the pedals, i usually line up each pedal at 3/9 o’clock position (pointing towards front of bike), then apply pressure down and forward, while torquing the wrench away from the bike. i find that using a suitable length wrench, this should give sufficient leverage. a little grease on the bolt edge may help as well.
couple of other tips - if you need to remove the stem and/or aerobars, a ziploc baggie is useful to keep the bolts, washers, and other small pieces together. plus, measure your seat height, and any other adjustments you may need and jot it down on a piece of paper.
hope this is of help, and have fun at lake placid.
Yeah, just learned that! i have a messed up finger now… Bike is packed, in the car. i am a little scared that it will mess up my zipps. things are quite compressed in there… Now gotta get thru the airlines and customs in Canada… What a pain…
ask to watch them unpack your bike and repack it at the security checkpoint. I bet on 3 seperate occasions the tried to repack it wrong by either stacking wheels directly on top of each other or directly on top of the frame. Just explain that it’s worth about $5k.
