I’m doing some minor work on a buddy’s MTB tomorrow and have never worked on one before. He’s told me that in order to get the wheels off, it’s necessary to remove the brake calipers. Anyone know of a link that shows a step-by-step of how to do this?
I am not sure what kind of MTB you are talking about, but generally, you can release the brake cable at the brakes and pull apart the calipers to take off the wheel. By “release the cable,” I mean that for cantilevers, one side of the inverted cable “y” that attaches to each brake has a metal button that can be unhooked from pocket in which it rests. For V-brakes, you can squeeze the brakes together and pull the metal “noodle” out of its metal stop (usually on the left as you look at the brakes).
If the tire is still too big to get past the calipers (which happens sometimes with 2.4 tires), deflate the tire before removing.
I’m pretty sure that’s not the case with this bike. Most MTBs now come with disc brakes and many singlespeed designs (with horizontal dropouts) require removing the caliper to remove the wheel.
There are two bolts that hold the caliper on. It’s pretty obvious which ones they are. Just unbolt them and slide the wheel out. To reinstall put the wheel in place, bolt the caliper on but leave the bolts loose. Squeeze the brake lever and keep doing so while you tighten the bolts. That’s usually close enough.
That sounds like a pain in the ass. Not a big deal in the shop but it won’t be any fun fixing a flat on a muddy trail with the bugs biting.
I didn’t come up with it! With single speed bikes and their fixed chain length there are just limited options for being able to adjust the BB to axle distance to accomodate different cog sizes. All of them have their drawbacks. EBB’s are awesome for flats but typically require a mallet (or hammer) when you do need to adjust them.
Interesting assumption that this is a single speed bike, rather than assuming it is a normal MTB and the owner, who may have less repair knowledge than the OP, is letting his friend fix it. Considering the relative numbers of cantis/v-brakes to disc brakes, I am surprised you assumed a single-speed disc brake bike. Thinking further, if the guy is discerning enough to ride a single-speed disc brake bike, don’t you think he probably knows enough to work on it himself?
Just as an edit to earlier - I had asked my buddy what brand/model of bike it was so I could take a look at some specifics online. His response was “it’s a bike. I don’t think it has a brand.”
I’m going to guess that it’s a run-of-the-mill Trek/Mongoose/etc MTB. Wouldn’t put my money on a single speed disc braker.
I would say the most likely scenario is that it has V-brakes, in which case as others have said you have to squeeze the pads together at the rim and pull the “noodle” out from the opposite arm, its fairly self obvious.
Kevin
If you don’t know how to remove the wheel, then I’m not sure you should be doing work on any bike…“minor” or not. lol
Thanks for the additional info. If my earlier response and flyingwombat’s don’t help with what you are working on, you can get into greater detail in your questions on AllExperts.com. http://www.allexperts.com/ It’s free.