Sport Watch

“Chain Tool”

Once your mountain bike chain becomes damaged, you should immediately replace it with a new one.  It is possible however, to repair a broken chain using a chain tool. For this very reason, most mountain bikers travel with a chain tool.

Your chain has three basic components – the metal side plates, the rollers between the side plates, and the rivets, or pins which go through the rollers and help to hold the plates together.  These pins allow the rollers to freely turn as the chain moves around the cogs.

If your chain happens to break, you’ll need to remove the broken link and replace it with a spare link. To do this, simply reattach the two ends of the broken chain and ride on a shorter chain until you can get it replaced.  Read more…

“Lube Mountain Bike”

A mountain bike is a lot of fun although it does require some maintenance.  You should always lube your bike 15 hours or so before riding, as quick jobs right before you take off normally doesn’t get everything lubed.  Some lube jobs will last for more rides, although if things get loud or shifting gets sticky, it’s time to lube. Read more…

“Mountain Bike Gears”

The gears in mountain bikes just keep getting more and more intricate.  The bikes of today have as many as 27 gear ratios.  A mountain bike will use a combination of three different sized sprockets in front and nine in the back to produce gear ratios.

The idea behind all these gears is to allow the rider to crank the pedals at a constant pace no matter what kind of slope the bike is on.  You can understand this better by picturing a bike with just a single gear.  Each time you rotate the pedals one turn, the rear wheel would rotate one turn as well (1:1 gear ratio). Read more…